Wayland problems in the April 2026 release

parnic

My MagicMirror installed on an rpi with Raspbian Bullseye was failing to start up with the following errors:

[27320:0401/071435.406601:ERROR:ui/ozone/platform/wayland/host/wayland_connection.cc:202] Failed to connect to Wayland display: No such file or directory (2)
[27320:0401/071435.406797:ERROR:ui/ozone/platform/wayland/ozone_platform_wayland.cc:281] Failed to initialize Wayland platform

As per https://github.com/MagicMirrorOrg/MagicMirror/pull/4011, I was able to modify my startup scripts to use start:x11 instead of start and it came back online. I’m concerned that the no-longer-default startup method will not continue to work into the future, so what steps do I need to take to ensure my installation continues to work in the future without special start targets? I assume this means a full RPi OS update, which I’m dreading as that typically means having to reconfigure everything I’ve setup for display rotation and touch support and etc.

sdetweil

@parnic how did you upgrade? And how did you start MagicMirror before this release?

parnic

@sdetweil upgrade:

git pull
npm i

Running with pm2 executing a shell script. Prior to this release, that script was

ELECTRON_ENABLE_LOGGING=true DISPLAY=:0 npm run start

now it’s

ELECTRON_ENABLE_LOGGING=true DISPLAY=:0 npm run start:x11

which works, I’m just concerned that the non-default path will not be checked regularly going forward. Maybe there’s a way to install wayland onto my rpi.

PRETTY_NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)"
NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="11"
VERSION="11 (bullseye)"
VERSION_CODENAME=bullseye
ID=raspbian

sdetweil

@parnic got it.

If you had used my installer it would have created a script to detect Wayland… and start () but oops I see a bug there too, fixed bug for new installs, have to fix for upgrades

rkorell

@parnic said:

I was able to modify my startup scripts to use start:x11 instead of start and it came back online

Dear parnic,
if you can start your mirror with x11 - than you have configured your pi for x11 - and wayland will not work! As far as I know this is either-or, not in parallel…

This is not related to the mirror upgrade, I guess.

You can change X11/wayland with raspi-config (with sudo) …

Hope this helps - good luck!

Ralf

parnic

@rkorell said:

This is not related to the mirror upgrade, I guess.

It’s related insofar as the default compositor changed which can break installations that have been working for quite a while. Fortunately the fix/workaround is straightforward, my concern is the stability of the fix going forward.

You can change X11/wayland with raspi-config (with sudo) …

Good to know - I’ll see if this works for me!

karsten13

@parnic

bullseye support ends in 5 month. But I don’t think we will remove the x11 start option because there are many other os which have no wayland support.

This is an electron option, wayland needs an extra param -ozone-platform=wayland. This is all defined in the package.json.

So as long as electron supports x11 I see no reason to remove the x11 option from mm.

With the new release we only switched to wayland as default option (when you use node --run start) because we think the majority is meanwhile using wayland.

parnic

@karsten13 I appreciate the info!

It does sound like a full reimage is advised if Bullseye will be out of support soon.

And to close the loop for others finding this, it looks like I just overlooked the notes about x11 in the forum post that was linked from the release: https://forum.magicmirror.builders/topic/20138/upcoming-release-april-1-2026-breaking-changes-some-operational-changes

sdetweil

@parnic use my backup/restore scripts to migrate your setup to next release
Backup existing, copy backup folder off or use GitHub
Flash sd with os, install MagicMirror (scripted)
Copy backup folder on or use GitHub source
Run restore

See
https://github.com/sdetweil/MagicMirror-backup-restore

howest

@rkorell

Today was the first day I actually heard of Wayland, so the update broke my setup, which has been running for several years. After reading all the discussions I could find, I used raspi-config to turn on Wayland (which said it was experimental), and the MagicMirror started, but my keyboard no longer worked. I use a combination wireless mouse/keyboard on my Raspberry Pi. The mouse worked fine, but no keyboard. I couldn’t stop the MagicMirror, or make changes to my startup script. I dug up a wired keyboard and turned off Wayland, and added x11 to my startup script. Everything is working fine now. I am assuming this was an elaborate April Fools joke.

rkorell

Dear @howest,

Glad you got it working again! The Wayland transition is indeed a bit of a bumpy ride if it hits you unexpectedly.

Just to share a different experience: I’m running MagicMirror on a Raspberry Pi 5 with Raspberry Pi OS Trixie, and Wayland works fine for me – including keyboard input.

The wireless combo keyboard/mouse issue you described is a known pain point; Wayland handles HID devices differently than X11, and some receivers just don’t play nice out of the box.

If you ever feel adventurous and want to try Wayland again: check if your keyboard receiver shows up cleanly under

libinput list-devices.

Sometimes a powered USB hub or simply a different receiver firmware makes all the difference.
But honestly – if X11 runs stable and you’re happy, there’s zero pressure to switch. Wayland on the Pi is still maturing. Your setup, your rules! 😊

Warm regards,
Ralf

VinGroot

@howest
You are not the only one. I’ve never heard of it before until it broke my mirror (I’m using x11).

howest

rkorell Thank you for the encouragement! I will give it a try. I have also heard the receiver may need a firmware update.

Thanks again!

CyberD

@rkorell So… Glad to hear you got it working with Wayland. I attempted to upgrade from Bookworm to Trixie (RPi 3b running Raspbian) and torked my system. I decided to reinstall fresh and have a fully working Trixie with Wayland. I’ve upgaded to latest for both Node.js and NPM. Unfortunately, I still can’t get MagicMirror to start. This is where I’m at:
[7904:0415/203748.805365:ERROR:ui/ozone/platform/wayland/host/wayland_connection.cc:202] Failed to connect to Wayland display: No such file or directory (2)
[7904:0415/203748.806445:ERROR:ui/ozone/platform/wayland/ozone_platform_wayland.cc:281] Failed to initialize Wayland platform
[7904:0415/203748.806688:ERROR:ui/aura/env.cc:246] The platform failed to initialize. Exiting.
/home/josh/MagicMirror/node_modules/electron/dist/electron exited with signal SIGSEGV

I’ve run through a bunch of different start up options for the display from the forum but just can’t seem to make electron happy.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

sdetweil

@CyberD how are you starting MagicMirror?

If you go to the MagicMirror folder

npm start

Should start MagicMirror on a Wayland system

npm run start:x11

Should start MagicMirror on an x11 system

CyberD

@sdetweil Good evening, I tried npm start, npm run start:wayland --disable-gpu, node --run start, and a variety of other variations that I ran across while troubleshooting. I did read through your install script to see if there was something in there I may be able to try. I didn’t see anything that helped point me to how to correct the issue.

I’ve been using MM2 for a long time and I know that you’ve provided lots of great support so decided to rename my MagicMirror folder, run your raspberry.sh installer and see if that would get it working.

Good news, it is working [HUGE THANK YOU]! Bad news, I’m not sure what fixed it.

Since I started with a vanilla install from the official docs I’ll probably start over in a couple days to see if I can recreate the issue. I’ll report back if I find out what the issue was and what fixed it in case it may help someone else, but now that I know it will run on my RPi 3b with Trixie running Wayland I don’t want to take up any more of your or the other devs time on.

I truly appreciate what you do for this project and the help you provide on this forum!

-Cheers

sdetweil

@CyberD great feedback. I don’t know what is different either
But glad it is working