261

How do I stop Apache2 from automatically starting on boot? I can't seem to find an option that disables the automatic start-up when I turn on the machine.

yourcomputergenius
  • 385
chip
  • 2,881
  • 1
    Perhaps someone can be more specific, but I can point you in the right direction... in /etc, there are directories for rc*.d, which contain all the start/stop scripts, called, I think, init scripts. You'll see links to scripts that are in /etc/init.d, and starting with either "k" or "s", for "kill" or "start", and a number which is the ordering. – Marty Fried Aug 01 '12 at 02:27
  • Yes, I knew about the /etc/rcX.d directories, but I searched for it to find out about some nicer tool, than just manually renaming files (life is too short). update-rc.d has filled this void. – Tomasz Gandor Sep 26 '14 at 08:53

4 Answers4

260

you could simply disable it by:

sudo update-rc.d apache2 disable

and then if you would like to enable it again:

sudo update-rc.d apache2 enable

depending on the project i am working on, it is handy to have the service conveniently available, if i wish to re-enable it.

tomodachi
  • 14,832
gsullins
  • 2,709
  • 4
    enable gave me an error like runlevel arguments (none) do not match LSB Default-Start values, but sudo update-rc.d apache2 defaults appears to have re-enabled it successfully. – here Jan 13 '14 at 03:58
  • 2
    @here sudo update-rc.d apache2 enable played as expected for me – George Pligoropoulos Feb 09 '14 at 15:12
  • 1
    On Ubuntu Trusty it tells me "The disable|enable API is not stable and might change in the future." – Tanner Jun 10 '14 at 00:31
  • 1
    Doesn't work - error: no runlevel symlinks to modify, aborting!. However, apache2 is running and autostarts. – Daniel Dec 14 '14 at 11:05
  • Doesn't work anymore: update-rc.d: error: no runlevel symlinks to modify, aborting! – TomDogg Apr 29 '15 at 09:33
  • what's the difference between "disable" and "remove"? – Incerteza Jul 11 '15 at 03:48
  • @AlexanderSupertramp well, with systemd, disable will stop the service from automatically starting at boot and mask will disable the service completely by creating a simlink to /dev/null. – mchid Sep 18 '15 at 22:23
  • @jutky can someone explain why this is better than tomodachi's answer, given the comment there that says the -f option is necessary if you want to keep apache2 around? – nealmcb Jan 29 '16 at 22:28
  • @nealmcb nothing personal, but "disable" sound less dangerous to me than "remove" – jutky Jan 30 '16 at 19:11
  • If encounter update-rc.d: error: no runlevel symlinks to modify, aborting!, recreate any below missing simlinks; then retry: /etc/rc0.d/K01 /etc/rc1.d/K01 /etc/rc2.d/S99 /etc/rc3.d/S99 /etc/rc4.d/S99 /etc/rc5.d/S99 /etc/rc6.d/K01 – Amil Waduwawara Aug 11 '18 at 02:26
216

On old,pre systemd distributions under /etc/init.d/ you will find all the init scripts for different boot up services, like apache2, networking, etc.

Depending on which runlevel the computer starts in, different services are started. So from the /etc/init.d/ folder each "service" is linked to one/many/no run level folders named from rc0.d to rc6.d.

To keep things simple there is a tool for removing/adding these links, hence removing or adding scripts to and from start up.

To disable apache2 simply type:

sudo update-rc.d apache2 disable

This disables apache2 at startup but is not removed so it can be enabled again. To remove the apache2 startup scripts do the following:

To remove apache2 simply type:

sudo update-rc.d -f  apache2 remove

###Doing this will cause all runlevel folders that are linked to apache2 to be removed.

tomodachi
  • 14,832
  • 2
    chkconfig may also help - " chkconfig {service_name} off " – MCR Aug 01 '12 at 07:10
  • Doesn't work anymore: The script you are attempting to invoke has been converted to an Upstart job, but lsb-header is not supported for Upstart jobs. (...) – TomDogg Apr 29 '15 at 09:34
  • 2
    @TomDogg, can you specify the versions you were working with? This answer works for Apache 2 on Ubuntu 14.04.3 – Dale C. Anderson Nov 02 '15 at 20:20
  • It's worth noting, the -f here means Force removal of symlinks even if /etc/init.d/name still exists. As in, "if you're going to leave Apache2 installed, you gotta do it like tomodachi says.". Without the -f, you're telling it you've already uninstalled Apache 2, and it results in errors. – Dale C. Anderson Nov 02 '15 at 20:20
  • 1
    How to restore the service? – Eugen Konkov Apr 14 '16 at 08:12
  • 12
    Warning! This will REMOVE the service! Use sudo update-rc.d apache2 disable. – Eduardo Cuomo Jan 17 '17 at 19:37
  • You might want to stop it first, and THEN disable it. sudo service apache2 graceful-stop – smac89 Jun 13 '18 at 22:08
103

With systemd we can now use systemctl commands to prevent a service from automatically starting at boot.

here is an example:

sudo systemctl disable apache2

You will still be able to start and stop the service but it won't start up at boot.

djvg
  • 376
mchid
  • 43,546
  • 8
  • 97
  • 150
  • on Linux Mint (ubuntu based) this doesn't exist and can't install it via apt-get install systemd >> This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or is only available from another source However the following packages replace it: systemd-services systemd-services:i386 – dragonmnl Dec 04 '15 at 11:57
  • 2
    Linux Mint is still based on Ubuntu 14.04. Ubuntu starts using systemd from 15.04 on. – twan163 Dec 06 '15 at 23:01
  • 1
    @dragonmnl as twan163 said, systemd is for the newer versions (debian jessie or equivalent +) – mchid Dec 08 '15 at 21:55
  • @dragonmnl to search for available packages, run the following command: apt-cache search systemd | grep systemd – mchid Dec 08 '15 at 21:57
  • 1
    this worked great on Debian – Anupam Jul 19 '17 at 12:37
  • 1
    the right answer for debian 9+ – John Nov 24 '17 at 05:12
  • 1
    If encounter update-rc.d: error: no runlevel symlinks to modify, aborting!, recreate any below missing simlinks; then retry: /etc/rc0.d/K01 /etc/rc1.d/K01 /etc/rc2.d/S99 /etc/rc3.d/S99 /etc/rc4.d/S99 /etc/rc5.d/S99 /etc/rc6.d/K01 – Amil Waduwawara Aug 11 '18 at 02:26
  • thank you! i use xampp for dev purposes. when i installed php7.3 from ondrej ppa (to use it with composer), the apache2 began to start on system boot, thus conflicting with xampp's embedded httpd. your proposed solution has worked for me: after running sudo systemctl disable apache2 and rebooting, apache doesn't start up on boot anymore and thus xampp's embedded httpd has continued to work as it did earlier. thank you! (ubuntu 18.10) – whyer Apr 05 '19 at 17:58
  • I did this for sshd and it no longer autostarts, but I also cannot start it manually with sudo systemctl start sshd because Failed to start sshd.service: Unit sshd.service not found.. Fixed it by reinstalling. – Carolus Aug 12 '20 at 19:54
8

Thought I'd just add to the answers by @gsullins and @tomodachi, for future readers who used the accepted answer.

If you've already used:

sudo update-rc.d apache2 remove

You can use the argument defaults to add apache2 back into the autostart

sudo update-rc.d apache2 defaults

Then you're able to enable/disable

sudo update-rc.d apache2 disable
sudo update-rc.d apache2 enable
Ben Winding
  • 733