FAQ & Troubleshooting

This page collects the most common questions you may run into while using AuraTerm, covering where configuration lives, forgotten passwords, SSH host-key changes, serial port detection, cloud sync conflicts, and privacy. Each question comes with clear steps to follow.

Where is my configuration stored?

AuraTerm stores all of its data in the operating system's app-config directory. The main files include connection metadata, encrypted credentials, SSH known-hosts records, cloud sync configuration, and a security audit log. Uninstalling the app usually leaves these files in place, so you can upgrade safely.

settings.json

connections.json

credentials.enc  (+ credentials.key in device-local mode only)

ssh_known_hosts.json

sync_config.enc

security_audit.log

Of these, connections.json holds only connection metadata (host, port, username, etc.) and never any passwords or keys; all sensitive material lives in credentials.enc, encrypted with AES-256-GCM.

I forgot my master password. What now?

The master password derives an encryption key (via Argon2id) that protects your saved credentials. If you forget it, your stored passwords, private keys, and passphrases cannot be recovered — that is exactly what end-to-end encryption is for, and not even we can decrypt them.

You can still reset, however: setting a new master password discards the old encrypted credential store. Your connection entries (host, port, username) remain intact — you simply re-enter and re-save the password or key for each one.

I forgot my AuraXLabs account password. Can I recover the synced data?

Yes. Reset the password by email on the AuraXLabs site. Bookmarks, the settings subset and known-hosts are stored encrypted on the server and are unaffected by the reset; each device will ask you to sign in again, and everything is still there afterwards.

A cloud copy uploaded by an older version under the sync passphrase triggers a one-time migration on the first sync after upgrading: enter the old passphrase to merge and convert it, or — if you no longer have it — replace the cloud copy with this device’s data (the copy was only ever a mirror of some device’s local data).

SSH warns that the host key has changed. What should I do?

AuraTerm uses trust-on-first-use (TOFU) per host:port: the first time you connect, it records the host's SHA-256 fingerprint. If the server later presents a fingerprint that doesn't match, the app shows a mismatch prompt and, by default, rejects the connection after 180 seconds — so you don't unknowingly connect to a spoofed host.

• If the change is expected (e.g. the server was reinstalled or its host key was rotated), verify the new fingerprint with your administrator before choosing to accept it.
• If the change is unexpected, it may signal a man-in-the-middle attack — keep rejecting and investigate the network and server immediately.

Every time you accept a change (overriding the stored fingerprint), it is written to the security audit log (security_audit.log). You can view, manage, or reset the trusted-host list in Settings.

AuraTerm doesn't detect my serial port. How do I troubleshoot?

AuraTerm auto-enumerates the serial ports available on your system. If your device doesn't appear in the list, check the following in order:

• Confirm the USB-to-serial adapter is plugged in correctly and its driver is installed (e.g. CH340, FTDI, CP210x).
• Make sure the port isn't held by another program — a serial port can be opened by only one application at a time. Close other terminals or flashing tools and try again.
• Reopen the serial port picker to trigger a fresh enumeration; if needed, replug the device or restart the app.

Once the port is recognized, set the baud rate, data bits, stop bits, parity, and flow control as your device requires. AuraTerm ships with common presets — 115200-8N1, 9600-8N1, and 57600-8N1 — that you can apply in one click.

The network serial session connects but nothing shows up — how do I debug it?

A connection only proves the TCP side works; it says nothing about the serial end matching. Check in this order:

• Look for framing or parity errors in the status bar — if they are there, the baud rate is almost certainly wrong. Change it live from the status bar dropdown; there is no need to disconnect and reconnect.
• Confirm the port on the device server really is the device you want. On a multi-port console server, which TCP port maps to which serial line is decided by the server's configuration.
• If the terminal reported that the session degraded to a byte pipe, the peer does not support RFC 2217 and your parameters never took effect — you have to change them on the device server itself.
• With “adopt the server's configured parameters” ticked, AuraTerm sends no parameters at all; clear it if you want your local settings to apply — bearing in mind that on a shared console server this changes the settings someone else is using.
• The device may simply have nothing to say. Send a newline, or use Send BREAK to interrupt a bootloader that is already running, and see whether it responds.

Is RFC 2217 safe to use outside the office network?

No. RFC 2217 sits on top of plain Telnet and has neither authentication nor encryption: anything on the network path can read everything on that console and type into it. The right approach is an SSH local port forward (AuraTerm's own tunnels will do), mapping the device server's port onto your machine, and then connecting to 127.0.0.1. The connect dialog reminds you whenever the host is not a loopback address.

Cloud sync returns a 409 (AuraXLabs account). What does it mean?

For the AuraXLabs account provider, a 409 means the server already holds data newer than yours. It's a safeguard that prevents your push from overwriting more-recent changes made on another device.

The fix is simple: Pull first, then Push. Pulling merges the server's newer content into your local data per the merge rules, after which pushing no longer conflicts. You can also use "Sync now" (two-way) to do it in a single step.

Merges follow fixed rules: bookmarks merge by id with the most recently uploaded copy winning on conflict; known-hosts merge as a union with the local trust winning; the settings subset overwrites wholesale; credentials merge by connection id. Knowing these helps you predict the outcome.

Can the AuraXLabs server read my data?

There are two tiers. Bookmarks, the settings subset and known-hosts are stored encrypted on the server, and AuraXLabs can read them to provide the service — which is why they survive an email password reset. Saved credentials (passwords, private keys, key passphrases) are encrypted before they leave your device under a key derived from your master password (Argon2id + HKDF + AES-256-GCM); the server holds only ciphertext and cannot read a single credential.

Because the credentials’ decryption key (your master password) never leaves your device, even if the server is breached or compelled to hand over data, an attacker gets nothing but unreadable ciphertext. Keep your master password safe, and use the same one on every device that takes part in credential sync.