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# Connecting a Windows client
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## Goal
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This documentation has the goal of showing how a user can use the official Windows [Tailscale](https://tailscale.com) client with `headscale`.
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2024-09-11 18:43:59 +02:00
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!!! info "Instructions on your headscale instance"
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An endpoint with information on how to connect your Windows device
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is also available at `/windows` on your running instance.
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2024-09-09 13:18:16 +02:00
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## Installation
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Download the [Official Windows Client](https://tailscale.com/download/windows) and install it.
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2024-09-09 13:18:16 +02:00
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## Configuring the headscale URL
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Open a Command Prompt or Powershell and use Tailscale's login command to connect with your headscale instance (e.g
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`https://headscale.example.com`):
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2023-04-04 00:58:32 -06:00
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```
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tailscale login --login-server <YOUR_HEADSCALE_URL>
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```
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Follow the instructions in the opened browser window to finish the configuration.
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## Troubleshooting
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### Unattended mode
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By default, Tailscale's Windows client is only running when the user is logged in. If you want to keep Tailscale running
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all the time, please enable "Unattended mode":
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- Click on the Tailscale tray icon and select `Preferences`
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- Enable `Run unattended`
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- Confirm the "Unattended mode" message
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2024-09-09 13:18:16 +02:00
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See also [Keep Tailscale running when I'm not logged in to my computer](https://tailscale.com/kb/1088/run-unattended)
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### Failing node registration
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If you are seeing repeated messages like:
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```
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[GIN] 2022/02/10 - 16:39:34 | 200 | 1.105306ms | 127.0.0.1 | POST "/machine/redacted"
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```
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in your `headscale` output, turn on `DEBUG` logging and look for:
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```
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2022-02-11T00:59:29Z DBG Machine registration has expired. Sending a authurl to register machine=redacted
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```
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2022-02-11 18:36:53 +00:00
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This typically means that the registry keys above was not set appropriately.
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To reset and try again, it is important to do the following:
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1. Shut down the Tailscale service (or the client running in the tray)
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2. Delete Tailscale Application data folder, located at `C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Tailscale` and try to connect again.
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3. Ensure the Windows node is deleted from headscale (to ensure fresh setup)
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4. Start Tailscale on the Windows machine and retry the login.
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