systemctl-soft-reboot

Soft reboot (userspace only)

$ systemctl soft-reboot

$ systemctl soft-reboot -f

$ systemctl soft-reboot --when "[timestamp]"

$ systemctl soft-reboot --when cancel

systemctl soft-reboot [OPTIONS]

systemctl soft-reboot shuts down and restarts userspace while keeping the kernel running. This is faster than a full reboot as it skips BIOS/firmware initialization and kernel boot.
The kernel continues running; only systemd and all user services are restarted. This is useful for quickly testing service configurations or applying updates that don't require a kernel change.

-f, --force

Force reboot even if inhibitors are present

Schedule reboot at specified time or cancel

Requires kernel support. Not suitable when kernel updates need to be applied. Some hardware state may persist inappropriately. Newer feature requiring recent systemd versions.

The soft-reboot subcommand was added in systemd 254 to support faster system restarts for scenarios where only userspace changes need to take effect.

systemctl-reboot(1), systemctl-kexec(1), systemctl(1)