# Node-red cannot start after killing its process

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-cannot-start-after-killing-its-process/92955>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [7 November 2024 06:08 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-cannot-start-after-killing-its-process/92955 "2024-11-07T06:08:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TH19](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TH19](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TH19)\
**Post date:** [7 November 2024 06:08 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-cannot-start-after-killing-its-process/92955/1 "2024-11-07T06:08:25Z")

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Hi,  
Node-red GUI was pretty slow. I've stopped it but its process was still alive then I killed its own process. After that I cannot start it again with error log below

nodered.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE  
nodered.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.  
nodered.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 192.  
Started nodered.service - Node-RED graphical event wiring tool.  
nodered.service: Referenced but unset environment variable evaluates to an empty string: NODE\_RED\_OPTIONS  
Error loading settings file: /home/user/.node-red/settings.js  
nodered.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE  
nodered.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

I've stopped- started multiple times with no joy. I've tried to start it in safe mode it wasnot working at first then it worked but stuck at below

user@ubuntu-1:~$ sudo node-red --safe  
7 Nov 05:47:07 - [info]

# Welcome to Node-RED

7 Nov 05:47:07 - [info] Node-RED version: v4.0.5  
7 Nov 05:47:07 - [info] Node.js version: v20.18.0  
7 Nov 05:47:07 - [info] Linux 6.8.0-48-generic x64 LE  
7 Nov 05:47:07 - [info] Loading palette nodes

How can I fix it? also where are my flows stored as the flows directory is empty

user@ubuntu-1:~/.node-red/lib$ ls  
flows  
user@ubuntu-1:~/.node-red/lib$ cd flows/

user@ubuntu-1:~/.node-red/lib/flows$ ls -al  
total 8  
drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Oct 17 15:11 .  
drwxr-xr-x 3 user user 4096 Oct 17 15:11 ..

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [7 November 2024 08:13 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-cannot-start-after-killing-its-process/92955/2 "2024-11-07T08:13:32Z")

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> [@TH19](#):
>
> sudo node-red --safe

Don't use sudo, that makes it look root's .node-red folder for the flows. Use  
`node-red --safe`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/1X/d073cd938eafa2e558d7c2cd59003b3ef4963033.png) [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [5 February 2025 08:14 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-cannot-start-after-killing-its-process/92955/3 "2025-02-05T08:14:10Z")

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