Bug: Cannot set up Chromium user profile using noVNC

Provide a screenshot and describe the bug

I followed to the letter the wiki guide to set up a Chromium user profile using noVNC, but it unfortunately does not work, even with the most simple docker-compose.yml on a local machine.

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a `docker-compose.yml`
2. Start the `novnc` container
  
  docker compose up -d novnc
  
3. Start Chromium inside ArchiveBox's container
  
  docker compose run archivebox /usr/bin/chromium-browser --user-data-dir=/data/personas/Default/chrome_profile --profile-directory=Default --disable-gpu --disable-features=dbus --disable-dev-shm-usage --start-maximized --no-sandbox --disable-setuid-sandbox --no-zygote --disable-sync --no-first-run

Logs or errors

docker compose run archivebox /usr/bin/chromium-browser --user-data-dir=/data/personas/Default/chrome_profile --profile-directory=Default --disable-gpu --disable-features=dbus --disable-dev-shm-usage --start-maximized --no-sandbox --disable-setuid-sandbox --no-zygote --disable-sync --no-first-run
[7:66:1013/132219.681451:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:69:1013/132219.688938:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:69:1013/132219.688992:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:7:1013/132219.689245:ERROR:message_box_dialog.cc(190)] Unable to show message box: Failed To Create Data Directory - Chromium cannot read and write to its data directory:

/data/personas/Default/chrome_profile
[7:66:1013/132219.692374:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1013/132219.692424:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1013/132219.692656:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1013/132219.692716:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1013/132219.692755:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1013/132219.740498:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1013/132219.752568:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1013/132219.752607:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")

(process:7): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: 13:22:19.766: g_settings_schema_source_lookup: assertion 'source != NULL' failed
[7:62:1013/132219.766405:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1013/132219.776767:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1013/132219.776787:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:7:1013/132219.819569:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.NameHasOwner: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: unknown error type: 
[7:7:1013/132219.824676:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.NameHasOwner: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: unknown error type: 
[7:74:1013/132219.824749:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:132:1013/132219.826998:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:132:1013/132219.827034:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:132:1013/132219.827080:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:132:1013/132219.827109:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:132:1013/132219.827140:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:7:1013/132219.832315:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.NameHasOwner: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: unknown error type: 
[7:62:1013/132219.832389:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:7:1013/132219.834474:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.NameHasOwner: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: unknown error type: 
[7:63:1013/132219.834538:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:7:1013/132219.837013:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.NameHasOwner: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: unknown error type: 
[7:62:1013/132219.837069:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:7:1013/132219.837450:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.NameHasOwner: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: unknown error type:

ArchiveBox Version

0.7.3
ArchiveBox v0.7.3 COMMIT_HASH=069aabc BUILD_TIME=2024-12-15 09:54:03 1734256443
IN_DOCKER=True IN_QEMU=False ARCH=x86_64 OS=Linux PLATFORM=Linux-6.16.7-200.fc42.x86_64-x86_64-with-glibc2.36 PYTHON=Cpython
FS_ATOMIC=True FS_REMOTE=True FS_USER=911:911 FS_PERMS=644
DEBUG=False IS_TTY=True TZ=UTC SEARCH_BACKEND=ripgrep LDAP=False

[i] Dependency versions:
 √  PYTHON_BINARY         v3.11.11        valid     /usr/local/bin/python3.11                                                   
 √  SQLITE_BINARY         v2.6.0          valid     /usr/local/lib/python3.11/sqlite3/dbapi2.py                                 
 √  DJANGO_BINARY         v3.1.14         valid     /usr/local/lib/python3.11/site-packages/django/__init__.py                  
 √  ARCHIVEBOX_BINARY     v0.7.3          valid     /usr/local/bin/archivebox                                                   

 √  CURL_BINARY           v8.10.1         valid     /usr/bin/curl                                                               
 √  WGET_BINARY           v1.21.3         valid     /usr/bin/wget                                                               
 √  NODE_BINARY           v20.18.1        valid     /usr/bin/node                                                               
 √  SINGLEFILE_BINARY     v1.1.54         valid     /app/node_modules/single-file-cli/single-file                               
 √  READABILITY_BINARY    v0.0.11         valid     /app/node_modules/readability-extractor/readability-extractor               
 √  MERCURY_BINARY        v1.0.0          valid     /app/node_modules/@postlight/parser/cli.js                                  
 √  GIT_BINARY            v2.39.5         valid     /usr/bin/git                                                                
 √  YOUTUBEDL_BINARY      v2024.12.13     valid     /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp                                                       
 √  CHROME_BINARY         v131.0.6778.33  valid     /usr/bin/chromium-browser                                                   
 √  RIPGREP_BINARY        v13.0.0         valid     /usr/bin/rg                                                                 

[i] Source-code locations:
 √  PACKAGE_DIR           23 files        valid     /app/archivebox                                                             
 √  TEMPLATES_DIR         3 files         valid     /app/archivebox/templates                                                   
 -  CUSTOM_TEMPLATES_DIR  -               disabled  None                                                                        

[i] Secrets locations:
 X  CHROME_USER_DATA_DIR  missing         invalid   ./personas/Default/chrome_profile                                           
 -  COOKIES_FILE          -               disabled  None

How did you install the version of ArchiveBox you are using?

Docker (or Podman/LXC/K8s/TrueNAS/Proxmox/etc)

What operating system are you running on?

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian/Arch/Alpine/etc.)

What type of drive are you using to store your ArchiveBox data?

some of data/ is on a local SSD or NVMe drive
some of data/ is on a spinning hard drive or external USB drive
some of data/ is on a network mount (e.g. NFS/SMB/Ceph/GlusterFS/etc.)
some of data/ is on a FUSE mount (e.g. SSHFS/RClone/S3/B2/Google Drive/Dropbox/etc.)

Docker Compose Configuration

services:
    archivebox:
        image: archivebox/archivebox:latest
        volumes:
            - ./data/personas/Default:/data/personas/Default
        environment:
            - CHROME_USER_DATA_DIR=/data/personas/Default/chrome_profile
            - DISPLAY=novnc:0.0
            
    novnc:
        image: theasp/novnc:latest
        environment:
            - DISPLAY_WIDTH=1920
            - DISPLAY_HEIGHT=1080
            - RUN_XTERM=no
        ports:
            - "8080:8080"

ArchiveBox Configuration

dbus errors are a red herring, those are normal for all working browsers in docker, need full error logs to see whats wrong + more detailed description.

"does not work"

does that mean it wont launch any of the containers at all, or you cant connect via vnc, or you cant connect but you dont see the browser open, or you see the browser open but it's stuck? etc. need more detail

What additional error logs and description do you need? I followed the guide as I described and VNC does not show anything.

I just remembered that the container does not run as root and I chowned the data folder so it is owned by 911:911. The logs now differ, but noVNC is still stuck to "Connecting".

archivebox logs:

[7:66:1014/083135.169318:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:69:1014/083135.450748:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:69:1014/083135.450893:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:66:1014/083135.456407:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1014/083135.456449:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1014/083135.456477:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1014/083135.456525:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1014/083135.456570:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1014/083135.541977:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1014/083135.564705:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1014/083135.564804:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")

(process:7): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: 08:31:35.584: g_settings_schema_source_lookup: assertion 'source != NULL' failed
[7:62:1014/083135.590274:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1014/083135.606534:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:66:1014/083135.606591:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:7:1014/083135.663186:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.NameHasOwner: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: unknown error type: 
[7:7:1014/083135.673053:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.NameHasOwner: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: unknown error type: 
[7:72:1014/083135.673144:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:130:1014/083135.678168:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:130:1014/083135.678207:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:130:1014/083135.678247:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:130:1014/083135.678291:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:130:1014/083135.678316:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Failed to connect to socket /run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory
[7:7:1014/083135.683190:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.NameHasOwner: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: unknown error type: 
[7:62:1014/083135.683305:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:7:1014/083135.687165:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.NameHasOwner: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: unknown error type: 
[7:64:1014/083135.687274:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:7:1014/083135.690965:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.NameHasOwner: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: unknown error type: 
[7:62:1014/083135.691144:ERROR:bus.cc(407)] Failed to connect to the bus: Could not parse server address: Unknown address type (examples of valid types are "tcp" and on UNIX "unix")
[7:7:1014/083135.692074:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(576)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.NameHasOwner: object_path= /org/freedesktop/DBus: unknown error type: 
Warning: vkCreateInstance: Found no drivers!
Warning: vkCreateInstance failed with VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER
    at CheckVkSuccessImpl (../../third_party/dawn/src/dawn/native/vulkan/VulkanError.cpp:106)

Warning: vkCreateInstance: Found no drivers!
Warning: vkCreateInstance failed with VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER
    at CheckVkSuccessImpl (../../third_party/dawn/src/dawn/native/vulkan/VulkanError.cpp:106)

[175:175:1014/083435.639557:ERROR:gpu_blocklist.cc(71)] Unable to get gpu adapter

novnc logs:

2025-10-14 08:31:32,617 CRIT Supervisor is running as root.  Privileges were not dropped because no user is specified in the config file.  If you intend to run as root, you can set user=root in the config file to avoid this message.
2025-10-14 08:31:32,617 INFO Included extra file "/app/conf.d/fluxbox.conf" during parsing
2025-10-14 08:31:32,617 INFO Included extra file "/app/conf.d/websockify.conf" during parsing
2025-10-14 08:31:32,617 INFO Included extra file "/app/conf.d/x11vnc.conf" during parsing
2025-10-14 08:31:32,617 INFO Included extra file "/app/conf.d/xvfb.conf" during parsing
2025-10-14 08:31:32,620 INFO supervisord started with pid 1
2025-10-14 08:31:33,624 INFO spawned: 'fluxbox' with pid 8
2025-10-14 08:31:33,626 INFO spawned: 'websockify' with pid 9
2025-10-14 08:31:33,628 INFO spawned: 'x11vnc' with pid 10
2025-10-14 08:31:33,631 INFO spawned: 'xvfb' with pid 11
2025-10-14 08:31:34,644 INFO success: fluxbox entered RUNNING state, process has stayed up for > than 1 seconds (startsecs)
2025-10-14 08:31:34,644 INFO success: websockify entered RUNNING state, process has stayed up for > than 1 seconds (startsecs)
2025-10-14 08:31:34,644 INFO success: x11vnc entered RUNNING state, process has stayed up for > than 1 seconds (startsecs)
2025-10-14 08:31:34,644 INFO success: xvfb entered RUNNING state, process has stayed up for > than 1 seconds (startsecs)

@axeleroy

Hi @axeleroy Did you manage to solve this, I am having exactly the same problem?

Thanks

No, I did not and unfortunately the website I wanted to archive has since been closed down. Since I wanted to configure SinglePage, I tried to give it a configuration file but could not, my discussion on the subject has not yet received any response #1704

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Bug: Cannot set up Chromium user profile using noVNC #1701

Provide a screenshot and describe the bug

Steps to reproduce

Logs or errors

ArchiveBox Version

How did you install the version of ArchiveBox you are using?

What operating system are you running on?

What type of drive are you using to store your ArchiveBox data?

Docker Compose Configuration

ArchiveBox Configuration

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Bug: Cannot set up Chromium user profile using noVNC #1701

Description

Provide a screenshot and describe the bug

Steps to reproduce

Logs or errors

ArchiveBox Version

How did you install the version of ArchiveBox you are using?

What operating system are you running on?

What type of drive are you using to store your ArchiveBox data?

Docker Compose Configuration

ArchiveBox Configuration

Activity

pirate commented on Oct 13, 2025

axeleroy commented on Oct 14, 2025

axeleroy commented on Oct 14, 2025

RobinGhost commented on Jan 25, 2026

axeleroy commented on Jan 25, 2026

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