KOTS Installation Fails: "Failed to enable IP forwarding."

Published Date: December 3rd, 2025 

Products and Versions Covered: Self-hosted - KOTS

Summary 

When attempting to install KOTS via the CLI, after running the initial command, the installation fails with the last line of output being:

Failed to enable IP forwarding.

If ip_forwarding is not enabled Flannel CNI will not work (part of the KOTS install). In the output of the Installation, you will see the kURL enables the flag, but it gets reverted back to disabled net.ipv4.ip_forward = 0, 

Resolution 

Check whether external software is managing the kernel parameters and update it accordingly to enable ip_forward.

This issue is likely the result of a hardened environment or some configuration management tool such as Puppet/Chef, ensure those tools, if used, allow ip_forward.

Additional Resources 

• Success Programs
• Success Catalog
• Datasheets
• Request a Solution Offering or Training from the Success Catalog

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