Syncthing service doesn’t start automatically on boot on Linux Mint

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1

Hello,

I installed syncthing with apt-get on latest linux mint. However, it wasn’t starting automatically, so I used:

systemctl enable syncthing@myuser.service
systemctl start syncthing@myuser.service

But instead myuser i have just used username of my account on thic pc

to set up auto launch as suggested in the documentation. But Syncthing still doesn’t start automatically, I have to manually start it each time in order to use http://localhost:8384/ in the browser.

Did I miss any setup steps?

here is my journalctl -u syncthing@user command:

Jan 17 01:04:19 niebo syncthing[1184]: WARNING: Failure on home directory: mkdir /home/nhoz/.local: permission denied
Jan 17 01:04:20 niebo syncthing[1266]: WARNING: Failure on home directory: mkdir /home/nhoz/.local: permission denied
lines 1-34...skipping...
Jan 17 00:01:38 niebo systemd[1]: Started Syncthing - Open Source Continuous File Synchronization for nhoz.
Jan 17 00:01:38 niebo syncthing[21631]: [start] INFO: syncthing v1.27.2 "Gold Grasshopper" (go1.21.5 linux-amd64) debian@github.syncthing.net 2023-12-25 03:45:16 UTC [noupgrade]
Jan 17 00:01:38 niebo syncthing[21631]: [start] WARNING: Error opening database: resource temporarily unavailable (is another instance of Syncthing running?)
Jan 17 00:01:38 niebo systemd[1]: syncthing@nhoz.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jan 17 00:01:38 niebo systemd[1]: syncthing@nhoz.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jan 17 00:01:39 niebo systemd[1]: syncthing@nhoz.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 1.
Jan 17 00:01:39 niebo systemd[1]: Stopped Syncthing - Open Source Continuous File Synchronization for nhoz.
Jan 17 00:01:39 niebo systemd[1]: Started Syncthing - Open Source Continuous File Synchronization for nhoz.
Jan 17 00:01:39 niebo syncthing[21648]: [start] INFO: syncthing v1.27.2 "Gold Grasshopper" (go1.21.5 linux-amd64) debian@github.syncthing.net 2023-12-25 03:45:16 UTC [noupgrade]
Jan 17 00:01:39 niebo syncthing[21648]: [start] WARNING: Error opening database: resource temporarily unavailable (is another instance of Syncthing running?)
Jan 17 00:01:39 niebo systemd[1]: syncthing@nhoz.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jan 17 00:01:39 niebo systemd[1]: syncthing@nhoz.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jan 17 00:01:41 niebo systemd[1]: syncthing@nhoz.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 2.
Jan 17 00:01:41 niebo systemd[1]: Stopped Syncthing - Open Source Continuous File Synchronization for nhoz.
Jan 17 00:01:41 niebo systemd[1]: Started Syncthing - Open Source Continuous File Synchronization for nhoz.
Jan 17 00:01:41 niebo syncthing[21665]: [start] INFO: syncthing v1.27.2 "Gold Grasshopper" (go1.21.5 linux-amd64) debian@github.syncthing.net 2023-12-25 03:45:16 UTC [noupgrade]
Jan 17 00:01:41 niebo syncthing[21665]: [start] WARNING: Error opening database: resource temporarily unavailable (is another instance of Syncthing running?)
Jan 17 00:01:41 niebo systemd[1]: syncthing@nhoz.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jan 17 00:01:41 niebo systemd[1]: syncthing@nhoz.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jan 17 00:01:42 niebo systemd[1]: syncthing@nhoz.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 3.
Jan 17 00:01:42 niebo systemd[1]: Stopped Syncthing - Open Source Continuous File Synchronization for nhoz.
Jan 17 00:01:42 niebo systemd[1]: Started Syncthing - Open Source Continuous File Synchronization for nhoz.
Jan 17 00:01:42 niebo syncthing[21682]: [start] INFO: syncthing v1.27.2 "Gold Grasshopper" (go1.21.5 linux-amd64) debian@github.syncthing.net 2023-12-25 03:45:16 UTC [noupgrade]
Jan 17 00:01:42 niebo syncthing[21682]: [start] WARNING: Error opening database: resource temporarily unavailable (is another instance of Syncthing running?)
Jan 17 00:01:42 niebo systemd[1]: syncthing@nhoz.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jan 17 00:01:42 niebo systemd[1]: syncthing@nhoz.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jan 17 00:01:43 niebo systemd[1]: syncthing@nhoz.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 4.
Jan 17 00:01:43 niebo systemd[1]: Stopped Syncthing - Open Source Continuous File Synchronization for nhoz.
Jan 17 00:01:43 niebo systemd[1]: syncthing@nhoz.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Jan 17 00:01:43 niebo systemd[1]: syncthing@nhoz.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jan 17 00:01:43 niebo systemd[1]: Failed to start Syncthing - Open Source Continuous File Synchronization for nhoz.
2

Is your home directory encrypted?

4

Yes, it is encrypted.

5

Generally that means it’s unlocked and mounted when you log in (as it requires your password). Syncthing can’t access anything on boot, then.

6

A systemd user unit might work.

sudo systemctl disable --now syncthing@nhoz
systemctl --user enable --now syncthing

Note that the second line is deliberately not executed via sudo.

1 Like
7

Thank you! It worked.

Can sameone explain to me, why

systemctl enable syncthing@myuser.service

didn’t work? but

systemctl --user enable --now syncthing

Is working?

8

User services are tied to the user scope. So they are started once your user is logged in. A system service is started on boot after its dependencies (e.g network) are satisfied.

1 Like
9

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