microsoft
systemd user instance does not work in 2.5.x
Windows Version
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26100.4202]
WSL Version
2.5.7.0
Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?
- [x] WSL 2
- [ ] WSL 1
Kernel Version
6.6.87.1-1
Distro Version
archilinux
Other Software
No response
Repro Steps
perform systemctl --user status as non-root user
Expected Behavior
systemd user instance is available and systemctl --user status shows status of current user's instance as below. (This worked as expected in WSL 2.4.13)
❯ systemctl --user status
● qube
State: running
Units: 136 loaded (incl. loaded aliases)
Jobs: 0 queued
Failed: 0 units
Since: Tue 2025-06-03 23:36:14 JST; 14s ago
systemd: 257.6-1-arch
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/[email protected]
└─init.scope
├─194 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd --user
└─196 "(sd-pam)"
Actual Behavior
❯ systemctl --user status
Failed to connect to user scope bus via local transport: No such file or directory
~
❯
Diagnostic Logs
WslLogs-2025-06-03_23-28-41.zip
Diagnostic information
.wslconfig found
Detected appx version: 2.5.7.0
![github-actions[bot] avatar](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/in/15368?v=4 "Published by a pub.dev verified publisher"){kind=small}
Thank you for reporting this @gasuketsu. Unfortunately I can't reproduce this from a fresh archlinux install. Could you share the output of journalctl when this reproduces ?
Thank you for your response @OneBlue. Attached file contains output of journalctl from boot.
Interesting, I don't see anything wrong in there. What's the output of journalctl [email protected] ? Assuming that 1000 is your user's UID.
@OneBlue Yes, 1000 is my UID and following is snippet of journalctl -u [email protected].
-- Boot f4596cc3c174424692995312d87ae63e --
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[1]: Starting User Manager for UID 1000...
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube (systemd)[218]: pam_warn(systemd-user:setcred): function=[pam_sm_setcred] flags=0x8002 service=[sy>
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube (systemd)[218]: pam_unix(systemd-user:session): session opened for user tharada(uid=1000) by thara>
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Queued start job for default target Main User Target.
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Created slice User Application Slice.
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Reached target Paths.
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Reached target Timers.
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Starting D-Bus User Message Bus Socket...
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Listening on GnuPG network certificate management daemon.
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Listening on GnuPG cryptographic agent and passphrase cache (access for web browsers>
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Listening on GnuPG cryptographic agent and passphrase cache (restricted).
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Listening on GnuPG cryptographic agent (ssh-agent emulation).
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Listening on GnuPG cryptographic agent and passphrase cache.
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Listening on GnuPG public key management service.
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Listening on D-Bus User Message Bus Socket.
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Reached target Sockets.
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Reached target Basic System.
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Reached target Main User Target.
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[218]: Startup finished in 113ms.
Jun 05 09:22:21 qube systemd[1]: Started User Manager for UID 1000.
[tharada@qube ~]$ systemctl --user status
Failed to connect to user scope bus via local transport: No such file or directory
[tharada@qube ~]$
Interesting, looks like the session got created, but you somehow can't access it. Can you share the output of findmnt after you get this error ?
@OneBlue Here you go.
❯ systemctl --user status
Failed to connect to user scope bus via local transport: No such file or directory
~
❯ findmnt
TARGET SOURCE FSTYPE OPTIONS
/ /dev/sdc
│ ext4 rw,relatime,discard,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered
├─/usr/lib/modules/6.6.87.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
│ none overlay rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,lowerdir=/modules,upperdir=/lib/modules/6.6.87.1
├─/mnt/wsl none tmpfs rw,relatime
├─/usr/lib/wsl/drivers drivers
│ 9p ro,nosuid,nodev,noatime,aname=drivers;fmask=222;dmask=222,cache=5,access
├─/mnt/wslg none tmpfs rw,relatime
│ ├─/mnt/wslg/distro /dev/sdc
│ │ ext4 ro,relatime,discard,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered
│ ├─/mnt/wslg/versions.txt none[/etc/versions.txt]
│ │ overlay rw,relatime,lowerdir=/systemvhd,upperdir=/system/rw/upper,workdir=/syste
│ ├─/mnt/wslg/doc none[/usr/share/doc]
│ │ overlay rw,relatime,lowerdir=/systemvhd,upperdir=/system/rw/upper,workdir=/syste
│ └─/mnt/wslg/run/user/1000 tmpfs tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,size=1224984k,nr_inodes=306246,mode=700,uid=100
│ └─/mnt/wslg/run/user/1000
│ tmpfs tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,mode=755
├─/usr/lib/wsl/lib none overlay rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,lowerdir=/gpu_lib_packaged:/gpu_lib_inbox,upperd
├─/init rootfs[/init]
│ rootfs ro,size=6119900k,nr_inodes=1529975
├─/dev none devtmpfs rw,nosuid,relatime,size=6119900k,nr_inodes=1529975,mode=755
│ ├─/dev/pts devpts devpts rw,nosuid,noexec,noatime,gid=5,mode=620,ptmxmode=000
│ ├─/dev/shm none tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime
│ ├─/dev/hugepages hugetlbfs
│ │ hugetlbfs rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,pagesize=2M
│ └─/dev/mqueue mqueue mqueue rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
├─/sys sysfs sysfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime
│ ├─/sys/fs/cgroup cgroup2
│ │ cgroup2 rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,nsdelegate
│ ├─/sys/kernel/debug debugfs
│ │ debugfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ ├─/sys/kernel/tracing tracefs
│ │ tracefs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ ├─/sys/fs/fuse/connections fusectl
│ │ fusectl rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
│ └─/sys/kernel/config configfs
│ configfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime
├─/proc proc proc rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime
│ └─/proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc binfmt_misc
│ binfmt_misc rw,relatime
├─/run none tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,mode=755
│ ├─/run/lock none tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime
│ ├─/run/shm none tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime
│ ├─/run/user none tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,mode=755
│ │ └─/run/user none[/run/user]
│ │ │ tmpfs rw,relatime
│ │ └─/run/user/1000 tmpfs tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,size=1224984k,nr_inodes=306246,mode=700,uid=100
│ │ └─/run/user/1000 tmpfs tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,mode=755
│ ├─/run/credentials/systemd-journald.service
│ │ tmpfs tmpfs ro,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,nosymfollow,size=1024k,nr_inodes=1024,mo
│ ├─/run/credentials/systemd-resolved.service
│ │ tmpfs tmpfs ro,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,nosymfollow,size=1024k,nr_inodes=1024,mo
│ ├─/run/credentials/systemd-networkd.service
│ │ tmpfs tmpfs ro,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,nosymfollow,size=1024k,nr_inodes=1024,mo
│ ├─/run/credentials/[email protected]
│ │ tmpfs tmpfs ro,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,nosymfollow,size=1024k,nr_inodes=1024,mo
│ └─/run/credentials/console-getty.service
│ tmpfs tmpfs ro,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,nosymfollow,size=1024k,nr_inodes=1024,mo
├─/tmp/.X11-unix none[/.X11-unix]
│ tmpfs ro,relatime
├─/mnt/c C:\ 9p rw,noatime,aname=drvfs;path=C:\;uid=1000;gid=1000;symlinkroot=/mnt/,cach
└─/tmp tmpfs tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,nr_inodes=1048576
└─/tmp/.X11-unix none[/.X11-unix]
tmpfs ro,relatime
@OneBlue Seems that this issue is similar to #13042.
There is no socket file /run/user/1000/bus when I get error in systemctl --user status. After performing sudo systemctl restart [email protected], socket file /run/user/1000/bus exists and systemctl --user status works as expected as below.
~
❯ systemctl --user status
Failed to connect to user scope bus via local transport: No such file or directory
~
❯ ls -l /run/user/1000/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 3 tharada tharada 60 Jun 6 23:51 dbus-1/
drwxr-xr-x 2 tharada tharada 80 Jun 6 23:51 pulse/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 Jun 6 23:51 wayland-0 -> /mnt/wslg/runtime-dir/wayland-0=
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 36 Jun 6 23:51 wayland-0.lock -> /mnt/wslg/runtime-dir/wayland-0.lock
~
❯ sudo systemctl restart [email protected]
[sudo] password for tharada:
~ took 2s
❯ ls -l /run/user/1000/
total 0
srw-rw-rw- 1 tharada tharada 0 Jun 6 23:52 bus=
drwxr-xr-x 3 tharada tharada 60 Jun 6 23:51 dbus-1/
drwx------ 2 tharada tharada 160 Jun 6 23:52 gnupg/
drwxr-xr-x 2 tharada tharada 80 Jun 6 23:51 pulse/
drwxr-xr-x 5 tharada tharada 140 Jun 6 23:52 systemd/
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 Jun 6 23:51 wayland-0 -> /mnt/wslg/runtime-dir/wayland-0=
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 36 Jun 6 23:51 wayland-0.lock -> /mnt/wslg/runtime-dir/wayland-0.lock
~
❯ systemctl --user status
● qube
State: running
Units: 144 loaded (incl. loaded aliases)
Jobs: 0 queued
Failed: 0 units
Since: Fri 2025-06-06 23:51:59 JST; 10s ago
systemd: 257.6-1-arch
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/[email protected]
└─init.scope
├─549 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd --user
└─551 "(sd-pam)"
~
❯
Attached log contains journalctl output in this boot.
I'm facing a very similar problem but with CentOS7-9 distro but I can't recover even after issuing sudo systemctl restart [email protected] as @gasuketsu.
$ systemctl --user status
Failed to get D-Bus connection: No such file or directory
$ ls -l /run/user
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 120 Jun 6 11:13 0
drwxr-xr-x 4 dluong dluong 120 Jun 6 11:14 1000
[dluong@dluong-dt11_el7 /run/user]$ ls -l /run/user/1000
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 3 dluong dluong 60 Jun 6 11:14 dbus-1
drwxr-xr-x 2 dluong dluong 80 Jun 6 11:14 pulse
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 Jun 6 11:14 wayland-0 -> /mnt/wslg/runtime-dir/wayland-0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 36 Jun 6 11:14 wayland-0.lock -> /mnt/wslg/runtime-dir/wayland-0.lock
$ sudo systemctl restart [email protected]
Failed to get D-Bus connection: No such file or directory
PS> wsl --version
WSL version: 2.5.7.0
Kernel version: 6.6.87.1-1
WSLg version: 1.0.66
MSRDC version: 1.2.6074
Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511
DXCore version: 10.0.26100.1-240331-1435.ge-release
Windows version: 10.0.26100.4061
I have two distros but it seems to only affect CentOS7-9! I know this was working fine on 5/1/2025 but I don't recall the wsl version.
wsl --list
Windows Subsystem for Linux Distributions:
CentOS7-9 (Default)
RockyLinux6.3
$ systemctl --user status
● dluong-dt11
State: running
Units: 164 loaded (incl. loaded aliases)
Jobs: 0 queued
Failed: 0 units
Since: Fri 2025-06-06 10:20:12 CDT; 31min ago
systemd: 252-18.el9.0.1.rocky
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/[email protected]
└─init.scope
├─142 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd --user
└─143 "(sd-pam)"
Found that this issue is not reproduced by disabling guiApplications (i.e. guiApplications=false in .wslconfig). Something like race condition with WSLg related service(s) ?
I found that I have same condition with following comment. (I also have loginctl enable-linger $UID for my account)
https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/10205#issuecomment-2931121662
Perhaps it is related to this issue, specifically in the way wslg remounts certain folders: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/12989
