# Difficulty in renewing letsencrypt certificate **URL:** \ **Category:** Help\ **Created:** [May 23, 2020, 2:14pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/difficulty-in-renewing-letsencrypt-certificate/123624 "2020-05-23T14:14:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dherve2020](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@dherve2020](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/dherve2020)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 2:14pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/difficulty-in-renewing-letsencrypt-certificate/123624/1 "2020-05-23T14:14:36Z")
Please fill out the fields below so we can help you better. Note: you must provide your domain name to get help. Domain names for issued certificates are all made public in Certificate Transparency logs (e.g. [https://crt.sh/?q=example.com](https://crt.sh/?q=example.com)), so withholding your domain name here does not increase secrecy, but only makes it harder for us to provide help. My domain is: [bestcash.me](http://bestcash.me) I ran this command: certbot renew also certbot renew --cert-name [bestcash.me](http://bestcash.me) --apache It produced this output: Processing /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/chronocash.me.conf * * * Cert not yet due for renewal All renewal attempts failed. The following certs could not be renewed: /etc/letsencrypt/live/bestcash.me/fullchain.pem (failure) * * * The following certs are not due for renewal yet: /etc/letsencrypt/live/chronocash.me/fullchain.pem expires on 2020-08-20 (skipped) All renewal attempts failed. The following certs could not be renewed: /etc/letsencrypt/live/bestcash.me/fullchain.pem (failure) * * * 1 renew failure(s), 0 parse failure(s) My web server is (include version): Apache2 The operating system my web server runs on is (include version): Debian 10 My hosting provider, if applicable, is: Digital ocean I can login to a root shell on my machine (yes or no, or I don’t know): yes I’m using a control panel to manage my site (no, or provide the name and version of the control panel): no The version of my client is (e.g. output of `certbot --version` or `certbot-auto --version` if you’re using Certbot): 0.31.0-1 ---
**Author:** ![Osiris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/839c29/32.png) [@Osiris](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Osiris)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 2:18pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/difficulty-in-renewing-letsencrypt-certificate/123624/2 "2020-05-23T14:18:27Z")
I’m pretty sure the output of certbot contains more information than that. Or look in `letsencrypt.log` if that’s not the case and post it here. Without the actual error message from the Let’s Encrypt validation server, it’s just a matter of guessing. Also: is the `--apache` option really required? If you previously got the certificate in the first place with the apache plugin, it isn’t necessary to add it again to the command line. ---
**Author:** ![dherve2020](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@dherve2020](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/dherve2020)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 8:50am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/difficulty-in-renewing-letsencrypt-certificate/123624/3 "2020-05-25T08:50:05Z")
2020-05-24 15:00:30,074:DEBUG:certbot.plugins.disco:Other error:(PluginEntryPoin t#manual): An authentication script must be provided with --manual-auth-hook whe n using the manual plugin non-interactively. Traceback (most recent call last): File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/plugins/disco.py”, line 132, in p repare self._initialized.prepare() File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/plugins/manual.py”, line 133, in prepare self.option\_name(‘auth-hook’))) certbot.errors.PluginError: An authentication script must be provided with --man ual-auth-hook when using the manual plugin non-interactively. 2020-05-24 15:00:30,075:DEBUG:certbot.plugins.selection:No candidate plugin 2020-05-24 15:00:30,075:DEBUG:certbot.plugins.selection:Selected authenticator N one and installer None 2020-05-24 15:00:30,075:INFO:certbot.main:Could not choose appropriate plugin: T he manual plugin is not working; there may be problems with your existing config uration. The error was: PluginError(‘An authentication script must be provided with --man ual-auth-hook when using the manual plugin non-interactively.’) 2020-05-24 15:00:30,075:WARNING:certbot.renewal:Attempting to renew cert (bestca [sh.me](http://sh.me)) from /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/bestcash.me.conf produced an unexpected err or: The manual plugin is not working; there may be problems with your existing c onfiguration. The error was: PluginError(‘An authentication script must be provided with --man ual-auth-hook when using the manual plugin non-interactively.’). Skipping. 2020-05-24 15:00:30,076:DEBUG:certbot.renewal:Traceback was: Traceback (most recent call last): File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/renewal.py”, line 452, in handle_ renewal\_request main.renew\_cert(lineage\_config, plugins, renewal\_candidate) File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/main.py”, line 1187, in renew\_cer t installer, auth = plug\_sel.choose\_configurator\_plugins(config, plugins, “cer tonly”) File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/plugins/selection.py”, line 237, in choose\_configurator\_plugins diagnose\_configurator\_problem(“authenticator”, req\_auth, plugins) File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/plugins/selection.py”, line 341, in diagnose\_configurator\_problem raise errors.PluginSelectionError(msg) certbot.errors.PluginSelectionError: The manual plugin is not working; there may be problems with your existing configuration. The error was: PluginError(‘An authentication script must be provided with --man ual-auth-hook when using the manual plugin non-interactively.’) 2020-05-24 15:00:30,077:INFO:certbot.storage:Attempting to parse the version 0.3 6.0 renewal configuration file found at /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/chronocash.me.c onf with version 0.31.0 of Certbot. This might not work. 2020-05-24 15:00:30,079:INFO:certbot.renewal:Cert not yet due for renewal 2020-05-24 15:00:30,079:DEBUG:certbot.plugins.selection:Requested authenticator dns-ovh and installer None 2020-05-24 15:00:30,079:ERROR:certbot.renewal:All renewal attempts failed. The f ollowing certs could not be renewed: 2020-05-24 15:00:30,079:ERROR:certbot.renewal: /etc/letsencrypt/live/bestcash.m e/fullchain.pem (failure) 2020-05-24 15:00:30,080:DEBUG:certbot.log:Exiting abnormally: Traceback (most recent call last): File “/usr/bin/certbot”, line 11, in load\_entry\_point(‘certbot==0.31.0’, ‘console\_scripts’, ‘certbot’)() File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/main.py”, line 1365, in main return config.func(config, plugins) File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/main.py”, line 1272, in renew renewal.handle\_renewal\_request(config) File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/renewal.py”, line 477, in handle\_ renewal\_request len(renew\_failures), len(parse\_failures))) certbot.errors.Error: 1 renew failure(s), 0 parse failure(s) ---
**Author:** ![9peppe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/9peppe/32/31596_2.png) [@9peppe](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/9peppe)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 9:15am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/difficulty-in-renewing-letsencrypt-certificate/123624/4 "2020-05-25T09:15:55Z")
Please tell us what did you do to get the certificate the first time. Also show us this file: ``` /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/bestcash.me.conf ``` It looks like you used the `manual` plugin, and that doesn’t support automatic renewals. You should probably get a new certificate using another plugin. ---
**Author:** ![dherve2020](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@dherve2020](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/dherve2020)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 8:15pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/difficulty-in-renewing-letsencrypt-certificate/123624/5 "2020-05-25T20:15:31Z")
# renew\_before\_expiry = 30 days version = 0.36.0 archive\_dir = /etc/letsencrypt/archive/bestcash.me cert = /etc/letsencrypt/live/bestcash.me/cert.pem privkey = /etc/letsencrypt/live/bestcash.me/privkey.pem chain = /etc/letsencrypt/live/bestcash.me/chain.pem fullchain = /etc/letsencrypt/live/bestcash.me/fullchain.pem # Options used in the renewal process [renewalparams] authenticator = manual account = d0f3d0da79f5afca8fcd8843bfaccabb pref\_challs = dns-01, manual\_public\_ip\_logging\_ok = True server = [https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory](https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory) ---
**Author:** ![9peppe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/9peppe/32/31596_2.png) [@9peppe](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/9peppe)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 8:28am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/difficulty-in-renewing-letsencrypt-certificate/123624/6 "2020-05-26T08:28:18Z")
> [@dherve2020](#): > > authenticator = manual eh, this doesn't work with `certbot renew`. you have ~~two~~ **three** options: - use `certbot renew --debug-challenges` and set up the appropriate challenge - re run the command you used the first time - get a new certificate using _another_ authentication plugin (using whatever challenge you need/want). I'd go for this one, as the first two will put you in the same situation every three months, this should get you automatic renewals. ---
**Author:** ![dherve2020](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@dherve2020](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/dherve2020)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 12:41pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/difficulty-in-renewing-letsencrypt-certificate/123624/7 "2020-05-26T12:41:48Z")
thank you for your promptness to answer me but can you help me on the last option that you proposed? ---
**Author:** ![9peppe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/9peppe/32/31596_2.png) [@9peppe](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/9peppe)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 1:11pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/difficulty-in-renewing-letsencrypt-certificate/123624/8 "2020-05-26T13:11:47Z")
there are too many options for me to tell you what to do. choose one authenticator plugin (an appropriate one) and then read how it works. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/original/3X/c/a/ca6c06ea1ea201324bba7048c6841ce60236468d.png) [@system](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 1:11pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/difficulty-in-renewing-letsencrypt-certificate/123624/9 "2020-06-25T13:11:51Z")
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