Failed to save thread network credential

[fiskerendk (Thomas N)]

Hi,

Im seem to be experiance the same error while trying to connect Matter devices from IKEA to the Home Assistant ZBT-2.

I have today tried setup my first Thread network using a Home Assistant ZBT-2 to Home Assistant OS.

• The hardware is found by the HA as a device Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 (OpenThread RCP 2.4.4.0)
• A device/service as Open Thread Border Router is found
• The Thead prefered network is ha-thread-5fef using that device/hardware with use for android and iOS credentials activated (the little mobile icon)
• IPv6 is set to automatic and both the iOS device and the Home Assistant OS have the automatic IPv6 prefix to fd6e:2485…
• The iOS is the newest, but tried both from and old and new device.

The error occures when trying to add a Matter device Error:
Thread network credentials does not match with any of the active thread networks around.
Also the same error occurs when using “Send credentials to Phone” from Thead pane.

What could be the problem?

Best Regards
Thomas Nissen

[wmaker (Tommy Long)]

@fiskerendk

Thread network credentials does not match with any of the active thread networks around.

Check to make sure the iOS device is on the same LAN as HA and in particular that it is on the same IPv6 network as HA.
Also, double-check that the OTBR is sending out mDNS advertisements…UI->Settings->Network->ZeroConf Browser, and make sure there is a _meshcop._udp.local with the name of your HA Thread network.

[fiskerendk (Thomas N)]

They are indeed on the same VLAN and same ipv4 subnet 10.x.0.0/16
They are however connected directly to core Cisco switch from VMware (HA OS) and wifi using Cisco Aironet (with ME controller).

ipv6 is not configured nor dhcp enabled but they are enabled, and they get automatic config within the same subnet.

[Paul-Reed (Paul)]

Im using Home Assistant OS OS v17.0 on a Pi5, with a ZBT 1 fitted.

• Matter Server v8.2.2 installed as a Add-on
• Home-Assistant-Matter-Hub (RiDDiX) v1.7.50 installed as an Add-on
• OpenThread Border Router v2.16.0 Installed as an Add-on

I’m trying to add an IKEA Timmerflotte temperature sensor which uses Thread/Matter, but cant connect it.
When I go to add the device using my Android Phone > Home Assistant Companion app > Settings > Devices & Services > Matter > add new device it tries to connect and I get You’re device requires a Thread Border router, and fails…

Checking Devices & Services > Thread > Configure I see;

AI has led me around in circles, and I’m totally lost where to go from here.

[wmaker (Tommy Long)]

@Paul-Reed

I get You’re device requires a Thread Border router, and fails…

First, with the HA Companion app, make sure you do a Sync of credentials. You should do it a couple of times to make sure.
If you have already done this, and you still get the same error message, then it either means that the credentials in the phone are incorrect, or the phone is on a different LAN network than HA is on (if you have a single LAN network, then this is not the case).

[Paul-Reed (Paul)]

@wmaker

First, with the HA Companion app, make sure you do a Sync of credentials. You should do it a couple of times to make sure.

Yes I’ve done it several times now, and have checked to see if they have been saved. Even the timestamp appears to indicate recent updating;

➜  ~ docker exec -it addon_core_openthread_border_router ls -la /data/thread/
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jan 31 19:59 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jan 31 17:22 ..
-rw------- 1 root root  233 Jan 31 19:59 0_9035eafffed2bdc4.data

Although the blue sync button is still present (I assume it should be).

@wmaker

…and you still get the same error message, then it either means that the credentials in the phone are incorrect

How can they be incorrect? I’m new to HA and this is a very new installation, including this first Matter device.

@wmaker

or the phone is on a different LAN network than HA is on (if you have a single LAN network, then this is not the case).

It’s a single local network.

[wmaker (Tommy Long)]

I believe what is happening is that the phone is waiting to receive an IPv6 _matterc._udp discovery message coming from the LAN side of the OTBR and is not getting it, so thinks its the absence of a TBR causing the problem, when it could be other things.

So if this is the first time you have done a sync to the Android HA Companion App and you did it twice and got a green check mark twice in a row, then it is likely you have the correct credentials.

The next thing is that the device is trying to join the Thread network and so has to be reasonably near a Thread router to do this. Assuming this is working, then the device tells the TBR to start sending those matterc_udp based messages. The TBR then starts sending those out, but if there is anything in the way like layer2 switches blocking multicast, or in some cases routers like UniFi may be blocking these messages from reaching the phone.

[Paul-Reed (Paul)]

Sorted!!
So far, I’ve been sending my credentials to HA via Settings > Devices & Services > Thread > Send Credentials to Home Assistant, and every attempt to pair my Timmerflotte device failed.

However, Google Gemini offered me an alternative suggestion;

• Open the Home Assistant app.
• Go to Settings > Companion App > Troubleshooting.
• Tap Sync Thread Credentials.
• If it asks which network to use, select the one managed by Home Assistant. This transfers the security keys from your HA server to the phone’s “Google Play Services” keychain so the phone can successfully hand the device over to the network.
• The app then confirmed that it had saved the credentials.

I then restarted HA, and tried to pair the Timmerflotte again, this time it succeeded, and the sensor data started flowing

[kitus]

@wmaker I’ve seen that you have helped a few of us with this annoying problem. Could you possibly give me a hand with my system, as it refuses to send the thread key to my iphone?

I’ve posted the relevant details here, but back to your last message in this conversation, I must say I’m actually seeing matterc_udp messages when I run DNS-SD Browser on my iphone.

In my home there are several Apple devices that speak Apple’s implementation of Thread, so that may be a problem.

I do see the small key on my HA instance already, so I should be on a good position to send the key to my iPhone, but that does not seem to work at all.

Any pointers would be most appreciated!

thanks a lot!!

[jwong858 (James Wong)]

@wmaker

First, with the HA Companion app, make sure you do a Sync of credentials. You should do it a couple of times to make sure.

I have the same error as in the subject title. I am trying to trouble shoot following serveral threads. I clicked the “Send credentials to phone” button in the companion app and got the following error:

Failed to store thread credentails in keychain, error: thread network credentails does not match with any of the active thread network

My zbt-2 is already in a preferred network in Home Assistant.

Any advice or suggestion is very much appreciated. Thanks!