Very slow boot times

jdmguy · 2025-10-26 21:04:40

Edit: I was able to resolve the issue. What I did was run these commands:

ln -s /usr/share/dhcpcd/hooks/10-wpa_supplicant /usr/lib/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-hooks/
systemctl edit dhcpcd@.service --drop-in=no-wait.conf
#add this to the no-wait.conf file without the #s and save it

#[Service]
#ExecStart=
#ExecStart=/usr/bin/dhcpcd -b -q %I

systemctl disable wpa_supplicant@your_device_name
systemctl enable dhcpcd@your_device_name.service

Find your device name by running

ip link

The device you want to use typically starts with 'w'. Ignore 'lo'. Any device starting with 'enp' is ethernet, and isn't capable of wifi.

1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: enp10s0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether --:--:--:--:--:-- brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff #hidden for security
    altname enx345a6077d7a2
>>3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP mode DORMANT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether --:--:--:--:--:-- brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff #hidden for security

This, as well as disabling arp by running

nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

and adding 'noarp' to the end of the file will reduce your boot times significantly.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm new to arch. I'm reading the wiki page for improving boot times as I'm typing this, but I'm still confused on what I could do to speed up my boot speed. I don't need anything crazy fast, less than 15 seconds total would make me happy.

Here's what systemd-analyze gives me;

The time when unit became active or started is printed after the "@" character.
The time the unit took to start is printed after the "+" character.

graphical.target @22.153s
└─sddm.service @22.153s
  └─plymouth-quit.service @22.129s +23ms
    └─systemd-user-sessions.service @22.109s +18ms
      └─network.target @22.108s
        └─dhcpcd@wlan0.service @1.387s +20.720s
          └─basic.target @1.385s
            └─dbus-broker.service @1.363s +15ms
              └─dbus.socket @1.362s +12us
                └─sysinit.target @1.360s
                  └─systemd-update-utmp.service @1.355s +4ms
                    └─systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service @1.318s +37ms
                      └─local-fs.target @1.316s
                        └─home.mount @1.257s +58ms
                          └─systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-026a5726\x2d67f1\x2d4ffe\x2d9b43\x2dd3ed1148af75.service @484ms +37ms
                            └─dev-disk-by\x2duuid-026a5726\x2d67f1\x2d4ffe\x2d9b43\x2dd3ed1148af75.device @437ms

Total time for boot is around 30 seconds. I've already improved it from over 3 minutes, but I'm not too sure what to do from here. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Last edited by jdmguy (2025-10-26 22:36:55)

Scimmia · 2025-10-26 21:09:26

You're using dhcpcd on a wlan? Considering the naming, I'm guessing you're using IWD? Why not use it's internal dhcp client instead?

jdmguy · 2025-10-26 21:12:34

I installed iwd, but had to disable it as it broke my wifi connection. It kept on rejecting the password for any wifi source I tried to connect to with it enabled. Boot is using dhcpcd only as far as I know.

Scimmia · 2025-10-26 21:16:12

dhcpcd only won't make a wireless connection, you're using either wpa_supplicant for IWD for that.

jdmguy · 2025-10-26 21:25:56

I shaved off 4 seconds by disabling arp.

The time when unit became active or started is printed after the "@" character.
The time the unit took to start is printed after the "+" character.

graphical.target @18.530s
└─sddm.service @18.530s
  └─plymouth-quit.service @18.506s +22ms
    └─systemd-user-sessions.service @18.502s +3ms
      └─network.target @18.479s
        └─dhcpcd@wlan0.service @1.383s +17.095s
          └─basic.target @1.381s
            └─dbus-broker.service @1.359s +15ms
              └─dbus.socket @1.357s +11us
                └─sysinit.target @1.356s
                  └─systemd-update-utmp.service @1.351s +4ms
                    └─systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service @1.312s +38ms
                      └─local-fs.target @1.310s
                        └─home.mount @1.255s +55ms
                          └─systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-026a5726\x2d67f1\x2d4ffe\x2d9b43\x2dd3ed1148af75.service @497ms +38ms
                            └─dev-disk-by\x2duuid-026a5726\x2d67f1\x2d4ffe\x2d9b43\x2dd3ed1148af75.device @474ms

And I do have wpa_supplicant enabled for wlan0. Sorry, forgot that I enabled it. Do I need to have both dhcpcd and wpa_supplicant, or can I disable dhcpcd?

seth · 2025-10-26 21:49:19

wpa_supplicant will require an external dhcp provider (iwd. has one built in)
dhcpcd can start wpa_supplicant for you, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dhcpcd … supplicant - make sure to use one or the other, not both.
And consider to start a generic dhcpd service that will opportunistically use the wpa carrier or see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dhcpcd … ow_startup

jdmguy · 2025-10-26 22:09:26

Holy sh*t! Total boot time is under 10 seconds now! Thank you so much!

The time when unit became active or started is printed after the "@" character.
The time the unit took to start is printed after the "+" character.

graphical.target @1.987s
└─sddm.service @1.987s
  └─plymouth-quit.service @1.962s +24ms
    └─systemd-user-sessions.service @1.957s +4ms
      └─network.target @1.955s
        └─wpa_supplicant.service @1.931s +23ms
          └─basic.target @1.442s
            └─dbus-broker.service @1.420s +14ms
              └─dbus.socket @1.418s +12us
                └─sysinit.target @1.417s
                  └─systemd-update-done.service @1.391s +26ms
                    └─ldconfig.service @1.325s +65ms
                      └─systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service @1.304s +20ms
                        └─local-fs.target @1.302s
                          └─home.mount @1.248s +52ms
                            └─systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-026a5726\x2d67f1\x2d4ffe\x2d9b43\x2dd3ed1148af75.service @516ms +27ms
                              └─dev-disk-by\x2duuid-026a5726\x2d67f1\x2d4ffe\x2d9b43\x2dd3ed1148af75.device @461ms

seth · 2025-10-26 22:11:19

Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

jdmguy · 2025-10-26 22:38:23

Don't know how to edit the name, but I edited my original post with everything I've done.

seth · 2025-10-26 22:53:00

When editing the original post you can also edit the subject

Arch Linux

#1 2025-10-26 21:04:40

Very slow boot times

#2 2025-10-26 21:09:26

Re: Very slow boot times

#3 2025-10-26 21:12:34

Re: Very slow boot times

#4 2025-10-26 21:16:12

Re: Very slow boot times

#5 2025-10-26 21:25:56

Re: Very slow boot times

#6 2025-10-26 21:49:19

Re: Very slow boot times

#7 2025-10-26 22:09:26

Re: Very slow boot times

#8 2025-10-26 22:11:19

Re: Very slow boot times

#9 2025-10-26 22:38:23

Re: Very slow boot times

#10 2025-10-26 22:53:00

Re: Very slow boot times

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