systemd-machine-id-setup

Initialize the machine ID

TLDR

Initialize the machine ID in /etc/machine-id

$ sudo systemd-machine-id-setup

Print the generated or committed machine ID after setup

$ sudo systemd-machine-id-setup --print

Commit a transient machine ID to persistent storage on disk

$ sudo systemd-machine-id-setup --commit

Operate on a specific root directory

$ sudo systemd-machine-id-setup --root /[path/to/root]

Operate on a disk image

$ sudo systemd-machine-id-setup --image /[path/to/image]

SYNOPSIS

systemd-machine-id-setup [options]

systemd-machine-id-setup initializes the machine ID stored in /etc/machine-id. It is intended for use by system installer tools at install time, or when /etc/machine-id is empty or missing.When invoked without --commit, the tool initializes the machine ID using the first available source in this order:1. A valid ID from /run/machine-id2. An existing D-Bus machine ID3. A machine ID from the system.machine_id credential4. A UUID from the KVM virtual machine configuration5. A UUID from the container environment configuration6. A newly generated random ID as a fallbackThe --commit option is used to convert a transient machine ID (mounted into memory during early boot) into a persistent one written to disk.

PARAMETERS

--print

Print the machine ID after the setup operation completes

--commit

Commit a transient machine ID to persistent disk storage. Has no effect if /etc/machine-id is not mounted from memory or if /etc/ is read-only. Primarily used by systemd-machine-id-commit.service

--root _path_

Operate on the specified root directory instead of the real root. All paths including /etc/machine-id are prefixed with the given path

--image _path_

Operate on the specified disk image (device node or regular file) instead of a directory tree

--image-policy _policy_

Specify an image mounting policy string when using --image. Defaults to the "*" policy (all recognized file systems are used)

-h, --help

Show brief help and exit

--version

Show version information and exit

CAVEATS

Requires root privileges. Should only be run once during system installation or when /etc/machine-id is missing or empty. Changing the machine ID can break services that depend on it for stable identification. Part of the systemd suite.