Troubleshooting
The app's error messages, in its own words, and what each one is actually telling you.
Start with the Session Log. The panel in the bottom dock shows the raw protocol conversation for the active tab — every command sent, every reply received — with passwords removed before the line is ever written. It is safe to copy and share when asking for help, and the server's own words are almost always more informative than anything the app can say about them.
It will not connect
"The connection to the server was closed" versus no answer at all
These feel identical and are different problems.
Connection closed means the server — or a firewall or proxy between you and it — actively cut the link. Check the host, the port, and the protocol. A wrong protocol is the most common cause: SFTP on port 21 or FTPS on port 22 both fail this way.
"The server did not answer in time" means nothing came back at all. That points at a network path problem or a badly overloaded server, rather than something refusing you.
Login failed versus connection failed
"The server rejected these credentials" means Velocity Bridge reached the server perfectly well and the server said no to your username, password, key or two-factor answer. Check those — not your network.
A connection or timeout error never got far enough to offer your credentials at all. Retyping a password cannot fix it.
This distinction halves the search space immediately, which is why the app words the two cases differently.
Connects, then hangs listing a folder
The classic FTP passive-mode problem. The control connection works, so login succeeds, but the separate data connection cannot be established — usually a NAT or firewall issue at one end. SFTP does not have this failure mode because it uses one connection for everything.
Certificates and host keys
"Unverified certificate" or "WARNING: host key has changed"
Do not accept either on trust. Check the fingerprint shown against the server itself — through a channel other than the connection you are currently questioning. A changed host key can mean a rebuilt server. It is also exactly what an interception looks like.
Security covers how to verify properly before accepting.
Transfers
Stuck at "Queued"
First check the concurrency limit — items wait their turn, and that is normal.
If nothing is running at all, check the site's connection limit and its Learned Limit in the Site Manager. If the site recently timed out, Velocity Bridge narrows how many connections it opens to that server rather than hammering something that is struggling. It recovers by itself after five clean transfers, or you can reset it manually once you are satisfied the underlying problem is fixed.
Also worth checking: the queue is not paused, and the session behind those items has not disconnected.
Passwords are not being remembered
On Windows this is rare — it means Credential Manager refused, and the app will have said so.
On Linux it is almost always the Snap keychain permission:
snap connect velocity:password-manager-servicethen restart Velocity Bridge. If the machine has no system keyring at all — common on headless systems — there is nothing to save passwords into, and the app will keep asking every time by design. There is no fallback file store, deliberately.
Files with unusual names show up wrong
Check the site's Charset setting in the Site Manager. The default is UTF-8. A server reporting filenames in a different encoding — Windows-1252 is the common one — needs that set explicitly, or anything outside plain ASCII looks garbled.
Other messages you might see
| That folder is no longer there | The path existed when the pane opened but has since been moved or deleted on that side. Refresh with F5. |
| You do not have permission to read that folder | The account you connected with cannot read that path. A server-side permissions issue, not a client one. |
| Something with that name is already there | Usually surfaces mid-operation rather than during a transfer — transfers have their own conflict handling. |
| This server does not support that | The operation is not available on this protocol or this server. Some FTP servers do not support everything an SFTP server does. |
| The server is asking us to slow down | A rate limit or quota. Velocity Bridge retries automatically after a pause; nothing to do. |
| The server refused the request | A server-side error not covered by anything more specific. The Session Log will have the server's own wording. |
| The local database could not be opened | The app's own settings and sites database failed to open. Check the database folder under Settings → Paths for a permissions problem or a full disk. |
The interface itself
Animations are not playing
Almost always Windows' reduced-motion setting rather than a fault. Full explanation and the fix for both Windows 10 and 11 is in the Orbital Link chapter.
A path under Settings → Paths does not look right
Velocity Bridge installs from the Microsoft Store as a packaged app, and Windows gives packaged apps a private storage area rather than a plain AppData folder. The paths shown are the real on-disk locations, which is why they contain a Packages component. The Open buttons go to the right place.
Reporting a problem
Write to support@redicon.pk. What helps:
- The version from Settings → Paths → Transfer core.
- The protocol and, if you know it, the server software.
- The relevant part of the Session Log — passwords are already stripped, but check for hostnames you would rather not share.
- What you expected to happen, and what happened instead.
Log files are in Settings → Paths → Logs folder if a closer look is needed.
This is beta software that writes to and deletes from real servers. Keep backups, and read a sync dry run before confirming it.