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Accepted
Albert
Asked: 2016-07-31 07:49:22 +0800 CST

systemctl, how to unmask

  • 772
root@gcomputer:~# systemctl status x11-common
● x11-common.service
   Loaded: masked (/dev/null; bad)
   Active: inactive (dead)

I tried systemctl unmask x11-common and systemctl unmask x11-common.service but that did not change anything.

How do I unmask it?

systemd

4 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    The commands you are using are both correct. See also the manual.

    It seems the unmask command fails when there is no existing unit file in the system other than the symlink to /dev/null. If you mask a service, then that creates a new symlink to /dev/null in /etc/systemd/system where systemd looks for unit files to load at boot. In this case, there is no real unit file.

    Others seem to have similar issues

    x11-common.service was also masked on my system. You can fix it like this:

    First check that the unit file is a symlink to /dev/null

    file /lib/systemd/system/x11-common.service

    it should return:

    /lib/systemd/system/x11-common.service: symbolic link to /dev/null

    in which case, delete it

    sudo rm /lib/systemd/system/x11-common.service

    Since you changed a unit file, you need to run this:

    sudo systemctl daemon-reload

    now check the status:

    systemctl status x11-common

    if it doesn't say loaded and running (if the circle is still red), reinstall the package:

    sudo apt-get install --reinstall x11-common

    and reload the daemon again

    sudo systemctl daemon-reload

    and check status once more

    systemctl status x11-common

    Now it's green and running :) The service has no systemd unit file, but systemd happily uses the script for it in /etc/init.d instead.

    • 54

  2. Follow the steps below:

    1. systemctl edit systemd-hostnamed

      Add the 2 lines below then exit the editor (don't forget to save when prompted):

      [Service]
PrivateNetwork=no

    2. This will create an override.conf file with the above 2 lines in the directory:

      /etc/systemd/system/systemd-hostnamed.service.d/

    3. The update systemd:

      systemctl daemon-reload

    4. Then restart the service:

      systemctl restart systemd-hostnamed

    You should now be able to run hostnamectl without it hanging.

    • 2

  3. It could be your service has an empty override file, like this:

    ● redis-server.service - Advanced key-value store
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/redis-server.service; masked; vendor preset: enabled)
  Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/redis-server.service.d
           └─limit.conf

    Check if limit.conf is an empty file. If it is, please remove it. Then the service should be unmasked.

    • 2

  4. Here I show how I remove the mask using systemctl

    $ sudo systemctl status bluetooth.service
● bluetooth.service
     Loaded: masked (Reason: Unit bluetooth.service is masked.)
     Active: inactive (dead)

$ sudo systemctl unmask bluetooth.service
Removed /etc/systemd/system/bluetooth.service.

$ sudo systemctl status bluetooth.service
● bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service; disabled; vendor preset: e>
     Active: inactive (dead)
       Docs: man:bluetoothd(8)

$ sudo systemctl start bluetooth.service

$ sudo systemctl status bluetooth.service
● bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service; disabled; vendor preset: e>
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2022-07-30 08:50:04 +06; 2s ago
       Docs: man:bluetoothd(8)
   Main PID: 23191 (bluetoothd)
     Status: "Running"
      Tasks: 1 (limit: 9135)
     Memory: 1.6M
     CGroup: /system.slice/bluetooth.service
             └─23191 /usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd
    • 1