OneLinersCommand workbench
Verified diagnostic signature

status=203/EXEC

systemd could not execute the configured program or stopped retrying after repeated failures. Match this output from systemd, then continue with sourced, read-only checks.

Confidence
high
Platforms
linux
Verified
2026-07-24
Recognized output

Signature matched locally

status=203/EXEC

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Likely causes

What usually produces this signal

  1. Wrong or missing absolute path
  2. Execute permission or interpreter failure
  3. Filesystem or policy restriction
  4. Restart loop reached the start limit
Safe next checks

Collect evidence before changing the system

01

List failed systemd services

systemctl --failed

The output matches the expected target and exits without an error.

02

Print status details for every failed systemd unit

systemctl --failed --no-legend | awk '{print $1}' | xargs -r systemctl status --no-pager --lines=<lines>

The output matches the expected target and exits without an error.

03

Read one service log for the last hour with precise timestamps

journalctl -u <service> --since '1 hour ago' -o short-iso-precise --no-pager

The output matches the expected target and exits without an error.

Related signals

Other output patterns from this error family

Failed at step EXEC spawningsystemd could not execute the configured program or stopped retrying after repeated failures.Start request repeated too quicklysystemd could not execute the configured program or stopped retrying after repeated failures.start-limit-hitsystemd could not execute the configured program or stopped retrying after repeated failures.code=exited, status=203/EXECsystemd could not execute the configured program or stopped retrying after repeated failures.