systemctl-is-system-running

Check system state

$ systemctl is-system-running

$ systemctl is-system-running -q

$ systemctl is-system-running --wait

systemctl is-system-running [OPTIONS]

systemctl is-system-running checks the overall operational state of the system. It reports whether the system has finished booting and whether all units are functioning properly.
Possible states: initializing, starting, running, degraded, maintenance, stopping, offline, unknown. "Running" indicates successful boot with all units healthy.

-q, --quiet

Suppress output, return only exit code

Wait until boot process is completed before returning

running - System fully operational
degraded - Running but some units failed
starting - Boot in progress
initializing - Early boot stage
maintenance - Rescue or emergency mode

Returns 0 only when the system is fully running. Any other state returns a non-zero exit code.

The `--wait` option is useful in scripts that need to wait for complete system startup before proceeding. "Degraded" state indicates at least one unit failed.

The is-system-running subcommand provides a high-level health check for the entire system, enabling automated monitoring and boot-completion detection.

systemctl-status(1), systemctl(1)