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How to fix OpenWRT opkg Failed to send request: Operation not permitted

Problem:

When running opkg update or other opkg commands in OpenWRT, you see these error messages:

opkg_error.txt
Failed to send request: Operation not permitted

Full log example:

opkg_full_error_log.txt
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/19.07.5/targets/ath79/generic/packages/Packages.gz
Failed to send request: Operation not permitted
*** Failed to download the package list from http://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/19.07.5/targets/ath79/generic/packages/Packages.gz

Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/19.07.5/targets/ath79/generic/kmods/4.14.209-1-b84a5a29b1d5ae1dc33ccf9ba292ca1d/Packages.gz
Failed to send request: Operation not permitted
*** Failed to download the package list from http://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/19.07.5/targets/ath79/generic/kmods/4.14.209-1-b84a5a29b1d5ae1dc33ccf9ba292ca1d/Packages.gz

[...]

Solution

This problem is typically caused by no DNS servers being set.

First, check if you have internet access using

ping_ip.sh
ping 1.1.1.1

The output should look like this (otherwise, you have no internet access):

ping_ip_output.txt
root@OpenWrt:~# ping 1.1.1.1
PING 1.1.1.1 (1.1.1.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=0 ttl=59 time=36.078 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=1 ttl=59 time=33.538 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=2 ttl=59 time=33.350 ms

Now try to ping techoverflow.net:

example.txt
root@OpenWrt:~# ping techoverflow.net
ping: bad address 'techoverflow.net'

This verifies that you have internet connectivity but no DNS.

Now go into LuCI, go to Network/Interfaces and edit each interface. Set Use custom DNS servers to:

example.txt
1.1.1.1

and

example.txt
1.0.0.1

This might not be possible for some interfaces since they have a different IP address configuraton (in that case, just proceed with the other interfaces). The configuration for the interface should now look like this:

Don’t forget to Save & Apply!

After that, retry opkg update which should now look like this:

example.txt
root@OpenWrt:~# opkg update
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/19.07.5/targets/ath79/generic/packages/Packages.gz
Updated list of available packages in /var/opkg-lists/openwrt_core
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/19.07.5/targets/ath79/generic/packages/Packages.sig
Signature check passed.
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/19.07.5/targets/ath79/generic/kmods/4.14.209-1-b84a5a29b1d5ae1dc33ccf9ba292ca1d/Packages.gz
Updated list of available packages in /var/opkg-lists/openwrt_kmods
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/19.07.5/targets/ath79/generic/kmods/4.14.209-1-b84a5a29b1d5ae1dc33ccf9ba292ca1d/Packages.sig
Signature check passed.
[...]

 

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