In this tutorial you will learn how to start service on boot on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa. Ubuntu uses systemd service manager to manage services which means to enable and disable services is an easy and straightforward task.
In this tutorial you will learn:
- How to check service enabled/disabled/ state
- How to enable service to start on boot
- How to disable service to start on boot
Software Requirements and Conventions Used
Category | Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used |
---|---|
System | Installed Ubuntu 20.04 or upgraded Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa |
Software | systemd |
Other | Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command. |
Conventions |
# – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command$ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user |
How to start service on boot on Ubuntu 20.04 step by step instructions
In this tutorial we will be using apache2
service as an example. Therefore, replace the apache2
with the name of the service you intend to start on boot.
In case you do not know the name of the service you wish to start on boot then follow our guide on how to list services on Ubuntu 20.04.
- First, check the current state of the service to see whether it is enabled to start on boot. To do so open the terminal and execute the following command:
$ systemctl status apache2
- Use
systemctl
command to start the service on boot. For example:$ sudo systemctl enable apache2
Alternatively, if you also wish to enable and start the service at the same time you may execute:
$ sudo systemctl enable --now apache2
- Once the service is enabled to start on boot you confirm its status once again by:
$ sudo systemctl status apache2
- To disable service to start on boot use
systemctl
command again. For example:$ sudo systemctl disable apache2