systemctl service failing to start - debugging steps

Answered
Jan 05, 2026 1427 views 1 answers
22

My custom service fails to start with systemctl. It just says "failed" without useful information. How can I debug this?

S
Bronze 259 rep

1 Answer

5

Here's a comprehensive approach to debug systemd service failures:

Check service status and logs

# Get detailed status
sudo systemctl status yourservice.service -l
# View recent logs
sudo journalctl -u yourservice.service -n 50 --no-pager
# Follow logs in real-time
sudo journalctl -u yourservice.service -f

Test the command manually

# Check your service file
cat /etc/systemd/system/yourservice.service
# Run the ExecStart command manually to see errors
/path/to/your/command

Common fixes

# Reload after editing service file
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
# Check permissions on executable
ls -la /path/to/your/command
# Check working directory exists
ls -la /path/to/working/dir
A
Answered by ahmed_tech 1 week, 2 days ago
Platinum 151 rep

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