Updated July 2026 · 6 min read
Install and repair service mode
Service mode installs a small system service that holds privileges the client cannot, and TUN depends on it entirely. What it does, where to install it, and why it fails.
What privileges it buys you
TUN has to create a virtual adapter and write entries into the system routing table, and a normal user account can do neither. Service mode registers a small helper that runs with system rights and carries out those requests.
The payoff is that the main program never has to run as an administrator, and toggling TUN stops raising an elevation prompt. Turn it around: a setup that only uses the system proxy never touches these privileges.
Installing it and reading the status
Verge settings has a service mode row with the current state next to it. Install raises one system elevation prompt; agree, wait a few seconds, and the state flips from not installed to installed.
Do not walk away there. Look back and see whether the state holds. On some machines the service registers but never starts, and then the TUN switch springs back to off, leaving a permission error in the log.
Installed is not the same as running. When TUN refuses to switch on, check the service is actually in a running state, and reinstall it if it stopped.
It will not install, or it vanishes
Security software is the usual culprit. Registering a system service is sensitive, so the suite kills it: nothing happens on install, or the state reverts a few seconds later. Suspend active protection for that one step.
Next come a cancelled elevation prompt and accounts that are not administrators; company machines often carry a policy forbidding service installs. A third case is an old service left by a previous version, which must go first.
Reinstalling, and who can skip it
When the state looks confused, remove and reinstall: switch TUN off, uninstall the service in settings, wait until it reads not installed, then install again. Do not delete the service files by hand.
If your traffic comes from a browser and a few apps that honour the system proxy, leave service mode alone. It matters only when games, command line tools or proxy-blind software also need routing, because that needs TUN.
What is the project?
Clash Verge Rev is a Tauri-based GUI for Mihomo with profile management, system proxy, TUN mode, rule editing and WebDAV backups.