Enable systemd services without systemctl

symlinksystemd

I need to enable systemd services before I'm actually booting the system (for unattended install purposes). Therefore I can't use systemctl. I could use systemd-nspawn, but I think it not that well suited for scripting.

I know that systemctl creates a symlink, but is that all I have to do and can I do it without 'disturbing' systemd?

This seems to work, but can you confirm it?

ln -s /usr/lib/systemd/system/sshd.service /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/sshd.service

Best Answer

How to use systemd-nspawn to enable a service or perform changes on systemd:

tmux new-session -d -s mysession "systemd-nspawn --boot --machine=machine_name -D /install/directory"
systemctl --machine=machine_name enable sshd
machinectl poweroff machine_name

Warning: Just using a symlink may cause issues as systemd processes the [Install] section of the unit file and the symlink may cause corruption. Improvements thanks to @神秘德里克.

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