immich-app/immich · error · Error

No /dev/dri devices found. If using Docker, make sure at lea

Error message

No /dev/dri devices found. If using Docker, make sure at least one /dev/dri device is mounted

What it means

Thrown by VideoInterface.validateDevices (server/src/utils/media.ts) when the list of /dev/dri devices discovered on the host is empty. This path is taken for Intel/Linux hardware-accelerated transcoding (Vaapi/Qsv) which requires a DRM render node. The message points at the Docker mount as the usual cause.

Source

Thrown at server/src/utils/media.ts:437

    return this.config.cqMode === CQMode.Cqp;
  }
}

export class BaseHWConfig extends BaseConfig {
  protected device: string;

  constructor(
    protected config: SystemConfigFFmpegDto,
    protected interfaces: VideoInterfaces,
    tune?: VideoTuning,
  ) {
    super(config, tune);
    this.device = this.getDevice(interfaces);
  }

  validateDevices(devices: string[]) {
    if (devices.length === 0) {
      throw new Error('No /dev/dri devices found. If using Docker, make sure at least one /dev/dri device is mounted');
    }

    return devices.filter(function (device) {
      return device.startsWith('renderD') || device.startsWith('card');
    });
  }

  getDevice({ dri }: VideoInterfaces) {
    if (this.config.preferredHwDevice === 'auto') {
      // eslint-disable-next-line unicorn/no-array-reduce
      return `/dev/dri/${this.validateDevices(dri).reduce(function (a, b) {
        return a.localeCompare(b) < 0 ? b : a;
      })}`;
    }

    const deviceName = this.config.preferredHwDevice.replace('/dev/dri/', '');
    if (!dri.includes(deviceName)) {
      throw new Error(`Device '${deviceName}' does not exist. If using Docker, make sure this device is mounted`);

View on GitHub (pinned to 199723261c)

Solutions

Pass the GPU to the container: docker compose `devices: ['/dev/dri:/dev/dri']` or `--device /dev/dri:/dev/dri`.
On the host, confirm /dev/dri/renderD128 and /dev/dri/card* exist and the i915/amdgpu driver is loaded.
If no suitable GPU exists, switch ffmpeg.accel to 'disabled' (software transcoding).
For non-root containers, ensure the immich user is in the 'render'/'video' group with permissions on /dev/dri.

Example fix

# before — docker-compose (no GPU)
services:
  immich-server:
    # no devices

# after
services:
  immich-server:
    devices:
      - /dev/dri:/dev/dri

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// before enabling hardware accel, verify devices exist
import { readdirSync } from 'node:fs';
let dri: string[] = [];
try { dri = readdirSync('/dev/dri'); } catch {}
const hasGpu = dri.some(d => d.startsWith('renderD') || d.startsWith('card'));
if (!hasGpu) config.ffmpeg.accel = 'disabled';

Type guard

const hasDriDevices = (dir = '/dev/dri'): boolean => {
  try { return readdirSync(dir).some(d => d.startsWith('renderD') || d.startsWith('card')); }
  catch { return false; }
};

Try / catch

try { await transcode(assetId); }
catch (e) { if (/No \/dev\/dri devices found/.test(e.message)) { /* fall back to software */ config.ffmpeg.accel='disabled'; } else throw e; }

Prevention

Mount /dev/dri into the container and verify with `ls /dev/dri` before enabling hardware accel.
Default to software transcoding when no GPU is present.

When it happens

Trigger: A transcode job initializes a Vaapi or Qsv hardware video config while the container/host has no /dev/dri devices (no GPU device nodes passed through).

Common situations: Running Immich in Docker without `devices: - /dev/dri:/dev/dri`; running on a host without an iGPU/DRM driver loaded; running in a VM or cloud instance with no GPU passthrough; driver not loaded (i915/amdgpu).

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of immich-app/immich@199723261c (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/169eceeb3a2b6941. Report an issue: GitHub.