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Tailscale (Docker) – Troubleshooting Guide

Introduction

This guide provides common troubleshooting steps for issues encountered while running Tailscale inside a Docker container.

Common Problems and Solutions

Problem: Container is not connecting to Tailscale network

Symptoms: - tailscale status shows stopped or no connection - Node does not appear in the admin panel

Solution: - Ensure the auth key is valid and preapproved - Restart the container: docker-compose restart - Check logs: docker logs tailscale

Problem: Subnet routes not available

Symptoms: - tailscale status does not show routes: ... - Internal IPs (e.g. 10.10.0.1) are not reachable from other nodes

Solution: - Verify --advertise-routes= is set correctly in TS_EXTRA_ARGS - Approve routes in the Admin Panel - Enable IP forwarding on the host (net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1)

Problem: DERP fallback for all connections

Symptoms: - tailscale netcheck shows relay-only - High latency and unstable connections

Solution: - Check that outbound UDP port 41641 is allowed - Inspect firewall/NAT rules for restrictive behavior

Problem: MagicDNS is not working

Symptoms: - Cannot resolve hostname.tailnet.ts.net - Only IP-based access is functional

Solution: - Enable MagicDNS in the admin panel under DNS settings - Check that the Tailscale client has DNS configuration enabled

Diagnostic Commands

tailscale status
tailscale netcheck
tailscale ip -4
ping 10.10.0.1