Arch Linux

MegaMexican

Member

Registered: 2021-10-08

Posts: 29

[SOLVED] Server Indicated a Failure on pacman-key --refresh-keys

I just installed Arch Linux on another machine, and I cannot run `sudo pacman-key --refresh-keys` successfully. Every single key has an error that reads:

gpg: error retrieving 'john.doe@example.com' via WKD: Server indicated a failure
gpg: error reading key: Server indicated a failure
gpg: refreshing 1 key from hkps://keyserver.ubuntu.com
gpg: keyserver refresh failed: Server indicated a failure 

I ran the same command on an older machine and it worked just fine, with one of the lines saying "gpg: refreshing 1 key from hkps://keyserver.ubuntu.com" so I know it's not an issue with the server. The /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/gpg.conf files are identical for both machines. They're both on the same LAN as well. I updated all packages on the problem machine. I don't know what to do from here.

EDIT: There's a joke in IT that the issue is always DNS. Well, surprise surprise, it was DNS. I edited /etc/resolv.conf and added:

search lan
nameserver my.router.ip.address

then restarted systemd-resolved, and now it's working. Hopefully this helps someone

Last edited by MegaMexican (2025-05-23 01:30:23)

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 14,482

Re: [SOLVED] Server Indicated a Failure on pacman-key --refresh-keys

When running systemd-resolved /etc/resolv.conf is normally a symlink to  /run/systemd/resolve/stub-resolv.conf .

Changes to that file are typically lost on reboot .

If that happens to you you need to investigate further. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-resolved should help to get started with that.

---

Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky

MegaMexican

Member

Registered: 2021-10-08

Posts: 29

Re: [SOLVED] Server Indicated a Failure on pacman-key --refresh-keys

Is there any point to using systemd-resolved if I have DNS= set in my .network file for systemd-networkd?

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 14,482

Re: [SOLVED] Server Indicated a Failure on pacman-key --refresh-keys

systemd-resolved is not about setting dns server addresses, but a DNS Server with additional options over the standard nss/glibc method.

Check https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Domain_name_resolution for an overview.

There are some usecases where running your own DNS Server is a good thing, but majority of users don't need them for good network name resolution.

---

Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky