restarting MariaDB using systemctl

[gordilloedwin]

Hello:

I'd like to start by saying this is a great WSL Distro... I really like it.

I recently needed to restart MariaDB which was installed under the pengwin-setup (or so I believe) using the LAMP option, however when I try to restart the service using the following command:

sudo systemctl restart mariadb

I get

Job for mariadb.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status mariadb.service" and "journalctl -xeu mariadb.service" for details.

 mariadb.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
░░ Subject: Unit process exited
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ An ExecStart= process belonging to unit mariadb.service has exited.
░░
░░ The process' exit code is 'exited' and its exit status is 1.
Aug 27 20:12:03 EDWIN-HOME systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

I was wondering if I'm missing something...

[crramirez]

Hello @gordilloedwin,

Thrilled that you like the distro and find it useful.

Can you do this: See "systemctl status mariadb.service" and "journalctl -xeu mariadb.service" for details. and paste here if you see any error? Remember both execute with sudo

Best,

[gordilloedwin]

Sure thing... so I don't get it, it is not showing correctly when I check the status of the Maria DB service

edwin@EDWIN-HOME:~$ systemctl status mariadb.service
● mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.11.11 database server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2025-08-30 04:17:54 CST; 11min ago
       Docs: man:mariadbd(8)
             https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/systemd/
    Process: 160 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/install -m 755 -o mysql -g root -d /var/run/mysqld (code=exited, status=0/SUCCES>
    Process: 197 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c systemctl unset-environment _WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=0/SUCCE>
    Process: 224 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ ! -e /usr/bin/galera_recovery ] && VAR= ||   VAR=`/usr/bin/galera_recovery`;>
    Process: 865 ExecStartPost=/bin/sh -c systemctl unset-environment _WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=0/SUCC>
    Process: 908 ExecStartPost=/etc/mysql/debian-start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 364 (mariadbd)
     Status: "Taking your SQL requests now..."
      Tasks: 9 (limit: 253902)
     Memory: 110.7M
        CPU: 1.181s
     CGroup: /system.slice/mariadb.service
             └─364 /usr/sbin/mariadbd

and the journal

Aug 30 04:17:54 EDWIN-HOME mariadbd[364]: 2025-08-30  4:17:54 0 [Note] Plugin 'FEEDBACK' is disabled.
Aug 30 04:17:54 EDWIN-HOME mariadbd[364]: 2025-08-30  4:17:54 0 [Note] InnoDB: Loading buffer pool(s) from /var/lib/mys>
Aug 30 04:17:54 EDWIN-HOME mariadbd[364]: 2025-08-30  4:17:54 0 [Note] InnoDB: Buffer pool(s) load completed at 250830 >
Aug 30 04:17:54 EDWIN-HOME mariadbd[364]: 2025-08-30  4:17:54 0 [Warning] You need to use --log-bin to make --expire-lo>
Aug 30 04:17:54 EDWIN-HOME mariadbd[364]: 2025-08-30  4:17:54 0 [Note] Server socket created on IP: '127.0.0.1'.
Aug 30 04:17:54 EDWIN-HOME mariadbd[364]: 2025-08-30  4:17:54 0 [Note] /usr/sbin/mariadbd: ready for connections.
Aug 30 04:17:54 EDWIN-HOME mariadbd[364]: Version: '10.11.11-MariaDB-0+deb12u1'  socket: '/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock'  por>
Aug 30 04:17:54 EDWIN-HOME systemd[1]: Started mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.11.11 database server.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit mariadb.service has finished successfully
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ A start job for unit mariadb.service has finished successfully.
░░
░░ The job identifier is 88.
Aug 30 04:17:54 EDWIN-HOME /etc/mysql/debian-start[921]: Upgrading MySQL tables if necessary.

Needless to say, I place these here just for the record...

What was weird is that yesterday it showed the service as FAILED, but I did not care much because I was able to connect ...

So sorry to bother, I just want to say you guys have created the ultimate distro for WSL and I hope you guys continue to work on it... Kudos

[crramirez]

Hello @gordilloedwin ,

Again, thanks a lot for the compliments. If you haven't done so, it would be beneficial of you to share your feedback on a review in Microsoft Store: ms-windows-store://review/?ProductId=9NV1GV1PXZ6P

What I think it is happening to you is that when using pengwin-setup, it assumes that you don't have systemd (we need to update the installer) and creates a startup script. Check: /etc/profile.d/start-lamp.sh you can add a return as the second line in this script, so the startup of the service is entirely managed by systemd.

#!/bin/sh

return

# Check if we have Windows Path
if ( command -v cmd.exe >/dev/null ); then

  sudo ${start_lamp}

fi