Fixing the weird iptables error

I am gonna make it short and simple. This issue is something I have seen on so many Debian 7 servers.

The Problem Link to heading

It goes like this. You’re trying to list your iptables rules and you’re seeing weird stuff.

root@server~# iptables -L
WARNING: Could not open 'kernel/net/netfilter/x_tables.ko': No such file or directory
FATAL: Could not open 'kernel/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_tables.ko': No such file or directory
iptables v1.4.2: can't initialize iptables table filter': iptables who? (do you need to insmod?)
Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.

You go ???? and check if all the modules are installed properly, and they are. But iptables is saying it cannot find the kernel objects.

The Fix Link to heading

The fix is as simple as it gets

root@server~# depmod
 
root@server~# iptables -L
Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target     prot opt source               destination

Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT)
target     prot opt source               destination

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target     prot opt source               destination

That’s it. A single command depmod is all it takes to fix this issue

How did depmod fix the dependency error? Well, that is what depmod do. depmod creates a dependecy file which will be then used by modeprobe to load all the modules correctly. By default, depmod will probe all the modules and create a dependecy file for all of them, including the iptables module.

The Problem Link to heading

The Fix Link to heading

The How Link to heading