How to Fix Slow Boot Times in Arch Linux (2025 Optimization Guide)
If you’ve ever felt like your Arch Linux system takes too long to boot, you’re not alone. While Arch is known for its speed, misconfigured services, hardware quirks, or conflicting network managers can significantly slow down your startup time.
This guide will walk you through how to diagnose and fix slow boot issues using powerful built-in tools like systemd-analyze.
🛠️ Diagnose Boot Performance with systemd-analyze
Start by understanding where time is being spent during your boot process using these essential commands:
| Command | Purpose | What It Reveals |
|---|---|---|
systemd-analyze time |
Overall time breakdown | Firmware, loader, kernel, and userspace boot times |
systemd-analyze blame |
Service initialization times | All running units ordered by startup time |
systemd-analyze critical-chain |
Critical path analysis | Dependency chain showing what delays graphical/multi-user target |
systemd-analyze plot > boot.svg |
Visual boot timeline | Graphical representation of entire boot process |
Example output interpretation:
Startup finished in 8.075s (firmware) + 3.495s (loader) + 1.414s (kernel) + 1min 30.309s (userspace) = 1min 43.295s
This shows the userspace phase is the main bottleneck at 1 minute 30 seconds.
🚀 Common Slow Boot Issues and Solutions
Service Conflicts and Timeouts
Multiple Network Managers: Having conflicting services like systemd-networkd, iwd, dhcpcd, and netctl enabled simultaneously causes delays. Choose one and disable the others.
Slow Services: Use systemd-analyze blame to identify services taking excessive time. Consider delaying non-essential services or using socket activation.
Socket Activation for Heavy Services
For services like Docker that significantly impact boot time, replace direct service startup with socket activation:
sudo systemctl disable docker.service
sudo systemctl enable docker.socket
This starts Docker only when first needed, removing it from the critical boot path. One user reported boot time reduction from 68 seconds to 28 seconds using this method.
Hardware-Specific Issues
Slow Kernel Time: If kernel phase takes >10 seconds (like 33s in one case), this may indicate storage or hardware issues. Check for AMD GPU timeout messages or storage controller problems in journalctl logs.
Wait for Network: Services like systemd-networkd-wait-online.service can delay boot. Consider if your system truly needs full network connectivity before boot completion.
📋 Optimization Checklist
Apply these additional optimizations for better boot performance:
- Review Enabled Services: Disable unnecessary services with
systemctl disable service.name - Kernel Parameters: Add
libahci.ignore_sss=1to disable staggered spin-up on some hardware - Filesystem Mount Options: Use
noauto,x-systemd.automountfor non-critical filesystems like/hometo mount on first access - Initramfs Optimization: Consider slimmer alternatives like Booster or
mkinitcpiowithsystemdhook instead ofbaseandudev - UEFI Firmware: Update your motherboard BIOS/UEFI, as slow firmware initialization contributes to boot time
💻 Putting It All Together: A Real-World Example
Here's how one user solved their 1 minute 43 second boot time:
- Identified the Culprit:
systemd-analyze critical-chainshowednetwork.targetwaiting over a minute - Discovered Root Cause: Multiple conflicting network services (
iwd,dhcpcd,systemd-networkd) - Applied Fix: Consolidated to a single network management solution
- Verified Improvement: Boot time reduced significantly after resolving conflicts
After applying the relevant optimizations for your system, run systemd-analyze again to compare results. Most systems can achieve 15-30 second boot times with proper tuning.
If you're still experiencing specific issues after trying these steps, please share your systemd-analyze output and I can provide more targeted advice.
