What is a masked service?

Question

I would like to understand what a masked service is and how to unmask it if need be.

I have been trying to start PostgreSQL on Ubuntu 16.04-LTS using the command

systemctl start postgresql.service.

Both as a user with administrative privileges, as well as root respectively.

Unfortunately, I got

Failed to start postgresql.service: Unit postgresql.service is masked.

printed in both scenarios.

Solution

Masking a service will prevent it from starting.

To unmask a service run:

systemctl unmask name.service

Source:

How to Manage Systemd Services on a Linux System | How To Geek

Comments

[steeldriver]

Related: What is the difference between “systemctl mask” and “systemctl disable”?

[shamaseen]

why it is masked in the first place? I didn't do any command to mask the service!

[Ivan Marjanovic]

Think of masked service as a disabled one, but... Disabled services are disabled in the sense that they won't be started at boot time but another service can request them to be started. Masked services can not be sated even if other services require them to start.

[David]

There is not Ubuntu version 20.