# Warning "Encrypted credentials not found"

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/warning-encrypted-credentials-not-found/79891>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [17 July 2023 17:05 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/warning-encrypted-credentials-not-found/79891 "2023-07-17T17:05:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![BitEater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dc4da7/32.png) [@BitEater](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/BitEater)\
**Post date:** [19 July 2023 19:13 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/warning-encrypted-credentials-not-found/79891/21 "2023-07-19T19:13:10Z")

</div>

ls after reboot:

```auto
admin@raspberrypi:~ $ ls -l ~/.node-red/*.json
-rw-r--r-- 1 admin admin 0 Jul 19 21:09 /home/admin/.node-red/flows_cred.json
-rw-r--r-- 1 admin admin 1144 Jul 19 21:06 /home/admin/.node-red/flows.json
-rw-r--r-- 1 admin admin 448 Jul 17 18:49 /home/admin/.node-red/package.json
-rw-r--r-- 1 admin admin 22560 Jul 17 18:49 /home/admin/.node-red/package-lock.json

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [19 July 2023 19:29 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/warning-encrypted-credentials-not-found/79891/22 "2023-07-19T19:29:05Z")

</div>

> [@BitEater](#):
>
> In ~/.node-red/settings.js I have set the credentialSecret value.  
> After deploying changes I don't see any file with "creds" in the name

Deploying what?

Did you actually set a credential value (e.g. username and password in an MQTT node) and deploy.

There are no credentials if you don't deploy any!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BitEater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dc4da7/32.png) [@BitEater](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/BitEater)\
**Post date:** [19 July 2023 19:48 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/warning-encrypted-credentials-not-found/79891/23 "2023-07-19T19:48:47Z")

</div>

Sorry for confusion - I am a newbie to Raspberry Pi and Red Node.  
With deploying I meant click on the Deploy button on the Red Node UI.  
As far as I remember on my Windows installation of Red Node I only gave a value for credentialsSecret and httpNodeAuth in the settings file and the message was gone.  
Where else should I give credentials? I don't understand the relation to MQTT here. Sorry.

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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:** [19 July 2023 19:56 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/warning-encrypted-credentials-not-found/79891/24 "2023-07-19T19:56:49Z")

</div>

You need to add a node that uses credentials, such as an MQTT node. If you don't have any nodes that use credentials then possibly the file will not get created.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [19 July 2023 19:57 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/warning-encrypted-credentials-not-found/79891/25 "2023-07-19T19:57:27Z")

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Where is no relation. Just that you set one type of credential and deploy. That will generate the creds file.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jbudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f8ce5/32.png) [@jbudd](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jbudd)\
**Post date:** [19 July 2023 20:58 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/warning-encrypted-credentials-not-found/79891/26 "2023-07-19T20:58:29Z")

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> [@BitEater](#):
>
> `/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/nodered.service: No such file or directory`

That surprises me, it doesn't seem to throw any light on the current problem though.  
At least you seem to have established that Node-red is not installed on a filesystem which has gone read-only.

The encrypted credentials file is used to store things like passwords and usernames for various nodes. It allows them to be kept secure and separate from your flows.  
It looks like there is no file because you have not set up any nodes which use credentials.

Anyway, since there is now an empty flows\_cred.json file I imagine that the warning will go away.  
It's safe to ignore the other start-up warning about Projects too.

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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:** [20 July 2023 08:26 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/warning-encrypted-credentials-not-found/79891/27 "2023-07-20T08:26:57Z")

</div>

> [@jbudd](#):
>
> > [@BitEater](#):
> >
> > `/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/nodered.service: No such file or directory`
> 
> That surprises me,

That means that the service has not been enabled to autorun on boot. A better command to run to check the user might be  
`grep User= /lib/systemd/system/nodered.service`

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