# Problem renewing certonly

**URL:** <https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/problem-renewing-certonly/17130>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [June 17, 2016, 12:59am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/problem-renewing-certonly/17130 "2016-06-17T00:59:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![GAEfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@GAEfan](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/GAEfan)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 12:59am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/problem-renewing-certonly/17130/1 "2016-06-17T00:59:54Z")

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Previously created several certs using `./letsencrypt-auto certonly --debug -a manual -d www.domain.com -d domain.com`

Now, when I run `./certbot-auto --debug renew --dry-run`, I get the following error:

**PluginError(‘Running manual mode non-interactively is not supported’,). Skipping.**

Checking the config, I see `noninteractive_mode = False` but that does not seem to make a difference. If I change `authenticator = manual` to `authenticator = standalone`, The renewal process tries to do the challenge to a strange IP address: `74.125.193.121:443` (Hosted on Google App Engine, so the IP address is not dedicated to the site).

Ideas? Thanks in advance!

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**Author:** ![schoen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/schoen/32/79_2.png) [@schoen](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/schoen)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 9:38pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/problem-renewing-certonly/17130/2 "2016-06-17T21:38:04Z")

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If you’re planning to do your renewals interactively (with you at the keyboard), you can just do them at the appropriate time with

`./certbot-auto certonly --debug --force-renew -a manual -d www.domain.com -d domain.com`

Apart from the fact that it will work with `manual`, that will produce the same result for that certificate as running `./certbot-auto renew` during the renewal window would (assuming you have only one certificate installed that covers those two names).

The reason for the error is that `certbot renew` is meant to be run from an unattended automated process like `cron`, and so it expects that it will be unable to prompt for any kind of user input or confirmation.

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**Author:** ![GAEfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@GAEfan](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/GAEfan)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/problem-renewing-certonly/17130/3 "2016-06-17T22:13:09Z")

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Thanks, schoen.

Perhaps the issue is that I was expecting something easier, to do a renewal. This isn’t really a “renewal”, per se. It is simply reissuing another cert. I still have to go change all the challenge urls/responses. It is the same as starting over from scratch.

Isn’t there a way to do a renewal that retains the old challenges?

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![schoen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/schoen/32/79_2.png) [@schoen](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/schoen)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 10:32pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/problem-renewing-certonly/17130/4 "2016-06-17T22:32:19Z")

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> [@GAEfan](#):
>
> Isn't there a way to do a renewal that retains the old challenges?

I don't think this feature is available in Certbot yet. It should be available in a future version.

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**Author:** ![klb331](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@klb331](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/klb331)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/problem-renewing-certonly/17130/6 "2016-10-08T17:25:15Z")

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> [@schoen](#):
>
> ./certbot-auto certonly --debug --force-renew -a manual -d [www.domain.com](http://www.domain.com) -d [domain.com](http://domain.com)

Schoen! I was having the same problem and your solution worked like a charm, THANKS!

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**Author:** ![klb331](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@klb331](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/klb331)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/problem-renewing-certonly/17130/7 "2016-10-08T17:32:09Z")

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I added an option to generate a 4096 key

sudo ./certbot-auto certonly --debug --rsa-key-size 4096 --force-renew -a manual -d [www.domain.com](http://www.domain.com) -d [domain.com](http://domain.com)