#1145446 plymouth-start.service: start-post operation timed out / boot stopped

Package:
plymouth
Source:
plymouth
Description:
boot animation, logger and I/O multiplexer
Submitter:
Vincent Lefevre
Date:
2026-08-25 13:19:01 UTC
Severity:
normal
#1145446#5
Date:
2026-08-25 09:22:08 UTC
From:
To:
When I rebooted my machine after a kernel upgrade, the boot stopped
until I typed something on the keyboard at 11:12 below (fortunately,
I had a physical access to it, which is not always the case). This
is the first time I had such an issue.

The journalctl output shows:

[...]
Aug 25 11:06:38 disset kernel: e1000e 0000:00:1f.6 enp0s31f6: NIC Link is Up 1000 Mbps Full Duplex, Flow Control: Rx/Tx
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset dhclient[1713]: DHCPDISCOVER on enp0s31f6 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 4
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset ifup[1713]: DHCPDISCOVER on enp0s31f6 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 4
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset dhclient[1713]: DHCPOFFER of 140.77.12.53 from 140.77.1.11
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset ifup[1713]: DHCPOFFER of 140.77.12.53 from 140.77.1.11
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset ifup[1713]: DHCPREQUEST for 140.77.12.53 on enp0s31f6 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset dhclient[1713]: DHCPREQUEST for 140.77.12.53 on enp0s31f6 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset dhclient[1713]: DHCPACK of 140.77.12.53 from 140.77.1.11
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset ifup[1713]: DHCPACK of 140.77.12.53 from 140.77.1.11
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset systemd[1]: Stopping systemd-timesyncd.service - Network Time Synchronization...
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset systemd[1]: systemd-timesyncd.service: Deactivated successfully.
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset systemd[1]: Stopped systemd-timesyncd.service - Network Time Synchronization.
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset systemd[1]: Starting systemd-timesyncd.service - Network Time Synchronization...
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset systemd[1]: Started systemd-timesyncd.service - Network Time Synchronization.
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset dhclient[1713]: bound to 140.77.12.53 -- renewal in 34806 seconds.
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset ifup[1713]: bound to 140.77.12.53 -- renewal in 34806 seconds.
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset systemd-timesyncd[1769]: Contacted time server 140.77.1.32:123 (140.77.1.32).
Aug 25 11:06:40 disset systemd-timesyncd[1769]: Initial clock synchronization to Tue 2026-08-25 11:06:40.999284 CEST.
Aug 25 11:08:04 disset systemd[1]: plymouth-start.service: start-post operation timed out. Terminating.
Aug 25 11:08:04 disset systemd[1]: plymouth-start.service: Failed with result 'timeout'.
Aug 25 11:08:04 disset systemd[1]: Failed to start plymouth-start.service - Show Plymouth Boot Screen.
Aug 25 11:08:04 disset systemd[1]: systemd-ask-password-console.path - Dispatch Password Requests to Console Directory Watch skipped, unmet condition check ConditionPathExists=!/run/plymouth/pid
Aug 25 11:08:04 disset systemd[1]: Started systemd-ask-password-plymouth.path - Forward Password Requests to Plymouth Directory Watch.
Aug 25 11:08:04 disset systemd[1]: Reached target cryptsetup.target - Local Encrypted Volumes.
Aug 25 11:12:46 disset systemd[1]: Received SIGRTMIN+20 from PID 371 (plymouthd).
Aug 25 11:12:46 disset systemd[1]: Finished plymouth-read-write.service - Tell Plymouth To Write Out Runtime Data.
Aug 25 11:12:46 disset systemd[1]: Reached target sysinit.target - System Initialization.
Aug 25 11:12:46 disset systemd[1]: tpm-udev.path - Handle dynamically added tpm devices skipped, unmet condition check ConditionVirtualization=container
[...]
#1145446#10
Date:
2026-08-25 13:11:05 UTC
From:
To:
plymouth-start.service has:

ExecStartPost=-/usr/bin/plymouth show-splash

I'm wondering what this is supposed to do. From what I can read,
it is supposed to display a graphical boot splash screen. But I've
never had such a splash screen (and don't want/need one anyway).