Why is the command in /etc/rc.local not executed during startup?

Solution 1:

rc.local script exits if any error occurs while executing any of its commands (mention the -e flag in #!/bin/sh -e).

It is possible that some prerequisites are not met when you try to run your commands when rc.local execution takes place, so your command execution fails.

I encountered the same thing while manually setting cpu governor and failing to do so in rc.local. Here's my custom workaround, which uses update-rc.d to make your commands run on startup:

Create a file myscript.sh in directory /etc/init.d with a heading: #!/bin/sh
Put your custom commands as the content
Make it executable: sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/myscript.sh
Create symlinks for your script for various runlevels: sudo update-rc.d myscript.sh defaults

Also, you could check /etc/network/if-up.d scripts and see if you could trigger your commands when networking starts.

Solution 2:

Make sure the rc.local script is executable:

sudo chmod +x /etc/rc.local

Then, enable it:

sudo systemctl enable rc-local.service

Reboot the system or start the script manually by running:

sudo systemctl start  rc-local.service

The service status can be displayed by running:

$ sudo systemctl status rc-local.service
● rc-local.service - /etc/rc.local Compatibility
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/rc-local.service; static; vendor preset: enabled) 
Drop-In: /lib/systemd/system/rc-local.service.d
           └─debian.conf
   Active: active (running) since Mon 2018-04-02 10:39:44 -03; 1s ago
  Process: 2044 ExecStart=/etc/rc.local start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 2049 (svscanboot)
Tasks: 3
 Memory: 556.0K
CPU: 10ms
CGroup: /system.slice/rc-local.service

Solution 3:

i had some similar problem in rc.local not executing at startup

sshades provided me with the following answer :

Ubuntu is now using systemd, and rc.local is now considered a service which is turned "off" by default. You can turn rc.local "on" by entering the following command and rebooting:

sudo systemctl enable rc-local.service

https://askubuntu.com/a/770033/395498

although i haven't tested his solution i think it sounds logical and will work. However :

I also found a solution that adding a script to ./.config/autostart-scripts/ will do the trick

Solution 4:

try sudo sysv-rc-conf and check out if rc.local is enabled

rc.local         [ ]   [x]   [x]   [x]   [x]   [ ]   [ ]   [ ]

Solution 5:

We had this problem on some hosted servers loading FW rules.

On these boxes they reboot VERY quickly and we found just putting a "sleep 1" in rc.local before the load statements seems to fix the issue. I guess it gave a little time for the interfaces to settle before loading the FW rules.