systemd general commands
| Commands | What it does |
|---|---|
| systemctl –failed | List failed systemd units |
| systemctl –failes –all | List all failed services in systemd |
| systemctl –user -t target | See what systemd targets are running |
| systemctl –user list-dependencies default.target | See if the default target wants a user service |
| systemctl enable multi-user.target –force | Make multi-user target available in a normally graphical OS |
| systemctl get-default | Get current runlevel |
| systemctl isolate graphical.target | Switch to gui mode, runlevel 5 |
| systemctl isolate multi-user.target | Switch to server mode (runlevel 3), no gui |
| bluetooth.service | Show dependencies systemctl list-dependencies |
| systemctl list-timers -a | List all timers |
| systemctl list-unit-files | Shows all services, sockets, timers, and sockets |
| systemctl list-unit-files –type=service | List systemd service files |
| systemctl list-units | Show running units |
| systemctl list-units –type=service –state=active | systemd services currently active |
| systemctl list-units –type=service –state=running | systemd services currently active and running |
| systemctl set-default graphical.target | Change the default systemd startup mode to a gui |
| systemctl set-default multi-user.target | Change the default systemd startup mode to a terminal only |
| systemctl suspend | Suspend computer |
| systemctl hibernate | Hibernate computer |
| systemctl reboot –boot-loader-entry=Pop_OS-oldkern.conf | Boots to the oldkern, can be changed to match another entry like Windows or Recovery |
| systemctl reboot –boot-loader-entry=help | List all boot entries for systemd-boot |
| systemctl reboot –firmware-setup | Restarts the system into BIOS |
| systemctl restart name.service | Restart a service like bluetooth.service or apache2.service |
| systemctl status name.service | See what is going on with a service |
| systemctl status –no-pager | Show tree of processes |
| systemd-analyze plot > boot_analysis.svg | Create a graphic of the boot time and process |
| systemd-resolve –status | List network info like DNS Servers |
systemd v251+ (in Ubuntu 22.10+)
| Commands | What it does |
|---|---|
| bootctl set-timeout TIMEOUT | Sets the boot loader menu timeout in seconds |
| bootctl set-timeout-oneshot TIMEOUT | Set the boot loader menu timeout only for the next boot |
systemd v249 (Pop!_OS 22.04/Ubuntu 22.04)
| Commands | What it does |
|---|---|
| bootctl set-default ID | Sets the new boot device/target |
| bootctl set-oneshot ID | Sets the new boot device/target for only the next boot |
systemd-boot
Systemd-boot started with just support for UEFI which means the code base is much smaller when compared to GRUB which has a ton of code to work with different types of drives that have been released in the last decade. Pop!_OS has been using it since the 18.04 LTS release and I have been using it as my go to boot manager ever since.
efibootmgr
| Commands | What it does |
|---|---|
| efibootmgr | List boot entries |
| sudo efibootmgr -n #### | Sets that boot entry for the next boot only |
| sudo efibootmgr -N #### | Deletes the boot next |
| sudo efibootmgr –timeout=5 | Add a 5 second timeout to boot |
| sudo efibootmgr -b #### -B | Remove boot entry matching the #### |
This command allows us to edit the EFI variables though EFISTUB, the Arch Wiki has a really good selection about using efibootmgr. Here is my output as an example since I will be using the output in the next section:
BootNext: 0001
BootCurrent: 0001
Timeout: 2 seconds
BootOrder: 0001,000A,0002,0006,0000
Boot0000* UiApp
Boot0001* Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS
Boot0002* WDC WDS120G2G0B-00EPW0
Boot0006* WDC WDS100T2B0C-00PXH0
Boot000A* Linux Boot ManagerNow you may not have the "BootNext:" option if you haven't used efibootmgr before.
Desktop files
You can make your own desktop file and for system-wide you would put them in /usr/share/applications/ but if you want them just for your user you can use ~/.local/share/applications/. We can make .desktop files for these boot entries to set them as the next boot target but once you reboot again it reverts to using "BootOrder" order instead.
This is my file for booting Arch on the next reboot:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=sh -c "pkexec efibootmgr -n 000A"
Name=Boot to Arch
Icon=/home/aaronh/Documents/archlinux-icon.svgand this is my file for booting Pop!_OS on the next boot:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=sh -c "pkexec efibootmgr -n 0001"
Name=Boot to Pop!_OS
Icon=/home/aaronh/Documents/pop_icon.svg