hostnamectl command not working

[mw7301]

1. Issue Title
   1.1 hostnamectl command not working

2. Windows version/build number
   2.1 Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.16251.0]

3. Steps required to reproduce
   3.1 issue command hostnamectl at the command line

4. Terminal output
   4.1 Failed to get D-Bus connection: Failed to connect to socket /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory

5. Expected behavior
   5.1 Example
   dev@u16dev:~$ hostnamectl
   Static hostname: u16dev
   Icon name: computer-vm
   Chassis: vm
   Machine ID: e61618a42c664b82a08d5055a6057ad9
   Boot ID: eb7b7e88909e47eb87c8f1c1f78517ac
   Virtualization: vmware
   Operating System: Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS
   Kernel: Linux 4.9.0-040900-generic
   Architecture: x86-64

6. End Report

[fpqc]

Hostnamectl goes through hostnamed, which is one of the components of systemd, ergo it will fail to work.

You should be able to change it by hand with /etc/hostname

[heldchen]

I had no luck changing /etc/hostname, mostly due to the /etc/hosts file being autogenerated using the windows hosts file. just changing /etc/hostname breaks sudo and other commands.

I ended up running the following in a startup script run as root:

HOST=devbox
grep -P -q "127.0.1.1\t$HOST" /etc/hosts || sed -i "s/127.0.1.1\t/127.0.1.1\t$HOST /" /etc/hosts
hostname $HOST

[fpqc]

You can remove the line at the top of the hosts file to stop automatic generation

[heldchen]

that might work for the legacy version, but since the Ubuntu store version, the /etc/hosts header is different:

# This file is automatically generated by WSL based on the Windows hosts file:
# %WINDIR%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts. Modifications to this file will be overwritten.
127.0.0.1       localhost
...

I have verified that at least in build 16251 the /etc/hosts and /etc/hostname are regenerated even when those header lines are removed.

[mw7301]

I wasn't using hostnamectl to change the hostname, I was just using it for the information about the system that it displays. Are you saying that since its part of systemd it will not work? If so why is that?

[heldchen]

@mw7301 there is no systemd running in WSL

[therealkenc]

I was just using it for the information about the system that it displays

Which specifically are you looking for?

[mw7301]

I was just filing a bug report since it doesn't work

[therealkenc]

I was just filing a bug report since it doesn't work

In that case it's a dupe of #1579 (message), #994 and friends. Same mode of failure: socket /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory. Once systemd lights up you will have hostnamectl.

[benhillis]

Agreed, this is a duplicate.

[harryqt]

I ended up running the following in a startup script run as root:

@heldchen can you tell what exactly you did? I tried your commands on /etc/rc.loal and crontab to sh script but nothing worked for me.

[heldchen]

I have a /etc/init.d/wsl-init script that is triggered upon first login by some bash profile script. requires the user to have sudo rights so is not that great. the code (among other stuff) that is executed is:

        HOST=devbox
        grep -P -q "\t$HOST" /etc/hosts || sed -i "s/127.0.1.1\t/127.0.1.1\t$HOST /" /etc/hosts
        hostname $HOST
        echo "$HOST" > /etc/hostname

[flybyray]

        hostname $HOST

This might not work on each distribution. AlmaLinux from Windows Store does not provide it by default. The image is distributed with hostnamectl.