Networking Mode

The networking mode determines how Tailscale creates its network interface.

Modes

Mode	Description
auto	Try kernel TUN first, fall back to userspace (default)
tun	Force kernel TUN mode (fails if module unavailable)
userspace	Force userspace networking

Checking Current Mode

tailscale-manager net-mode status

Output:

Networking mode:
  Configured: auto
  Active: tun

Switching Modes

Via CLI

tailscale-manager net-mode auto       # Auto-detect
tailscale-manager net-mode tun        # Force kernel TUN
tailscale-manager net-mode userspace  # Force userspace

Via UCI

uci set tailscale.settings.net_mode='userspace'
uci commit tailscale
/etc/init.d/tailscale restart

How Auto-Detection Works

1. Check if /sys/module/tun exists (module already loaded)
2. Attempt modprobe tun or insmod tun
3. Check for built-in TUN support via /proc/config.gz
4. Ensure /dev/net/tun device node exists (creates it if needed)
5. Fall back to userspace if all above fail

TIP

Most modern OpenWrt builds include kmod-tun. If you see "userspace" active unexpectedly, install it:

opkg update && opkg install kmod-tun

See Userspace Mode for details on userspace networking.