If you came here because a connection is being blocked by Portmaster, check these first:
When you run into any other troubles with Portmaster, here are some first steps you can do:
If you are sure your problem is not a configuration error and that there is likely a bug, please report it from within Portmaster while the bug is occuring.
The Debug Info is our main tool of investigating issues. It holds various important information from the moment where it is collected - similar to a snapshot of what is currently happening. There also is a detailed description of it.
This data is automatically collected when reporting a bug from within Portmaster - please redact any sensitive or private information.
Alternatively, you can copy the Debug Info from the tools menu in the lower left of the UI.
In contrast to the Debug Info, the logs provide a timeline of major events that have happened, but do not portray the current state of Portmaster well. We might sometimes request this, but most of the times, the Debug Info will have everything we need.
The remaining guides on this page require you to enable the Development Mode - not the Developer UI Mode.
Easiest way to activate this is to go to global settings and search for "Mode", then enable Development Mode.
Please note that in Development Mode, security restrictions are lifted/softened to enable unrestricted access for debugging and testing purposes. Only enable as as long as you need. Any local application will be able to connect to Portmaster API and change settings, for example. Web pages in browsers are restricted from accessing the API due to cross origin access control (CORS).
In case you are experiencing high CPU usage, please collect a CPU profile and send it to us.
In case you are proficient with Golang, you can also run this to immediately view the data in your browser:
go tool pprof -http :8888 http://127.0.0.1:817/api/v1/debug/cpu
In case you are experiencing high memory usage, please collect memory profiles and send them to us.
There are two memory profiles, the heap profile shows where the memory is used currently and the allocation profile shows where the memory moves the most.
In case you are proficient with Golang, you can also run this to immediately view the data in your browser:
go tool pprof -http :8888 http://127.0.0.1:817/api/v1/debug/heap
go tool pprof -http :8888 http://127.0.0.1:817/api/v1/debug/allocs
If the Kext has any issues that are not apparent in the normal debug info or logs, there might be something in the Windows event logs.
You can query the relevant Windows event logs in powershell with:
Get-WinEvent -FilterHashtable @{ProviderName='Service Control Manager'} | where-object { $_.Message -like '*PortmasterKext*', "*error*" } | Select TimeCreated, Message | ConvertTo-Csv
This will look something like this:
#TYPE Selected.System.Diagnostics.Eventing.Reader.EventLogRecord
"TimeCreated","Message"
"7/3/2024 4:14:00 PM","The PortmasterKext service failed to start due to the following error:
Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source."
"6/28/2024 11:52:54 AM","The PortmasterKext service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified."
"6/28/2024 11:51:53 AM","The PortmasterKext service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified."
"6/28/2024 11:51:51 AM","The PortmasterKext service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified."
"6/28/2024 11:51:43 AM","The PortmasterKext service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified."
"4/29/2024 3:36:24 PM","The PortmasterKext service failed to start due to the following error:
Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source."