The name > org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1 was not provided by any .service files

Question

When attempting to launch system-config-users from command line, I get the following warning, and the tool does not open. I'm using CentOS 7 with Mate 1.8.1.

WARNING **: Error enumerating actions: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1 was not provided by any .service files

Error checking for authorization org.freedesktop.policykit.exec: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1 was not provided by any .service files

yum list polkit*

Installed Packages
polkit.x86_64   0.112-5.el7 @anaconda
polkit-devel.x86_64 0.112-5.el7 @base    
polkit-docs.noarch 0.112-5.el7 @base    
polkit-gnome.x86_64 0.105-6.el7 @epel    
polkit-pkla-compat.x86_64 0.1-4.el7  @anaconda

What is missing from my system to cause this error?

Since I can't tell what services are being enumerated, I can't tell you which package to install. The error is not caused by policykit, but by one of the services policykit is attempting to load. XFCE has this issue with udisks — eyoung100, Sep 30 '14 at 19:24
Is there a way to monitor what services policykit is using or attempting to use? — a coder, Sep 30 '14 at 19:27
Not that I know of. Pre-systemd systems use policykit/consolekit in conjuction with Dbus to enforce login permissions. This leads to two possibilities. 1. The user you're logged in as is not a member of some group, and some group has permission to access the missing service. 2. One of the services monitored by system-config-users is not installed. As a hunch, search your package repo for mate-polkit — eyoung100, Sep 30 '14 at 19:41
Package mate-polkit-1.8.0-1.el7.x86_64 already installed and latest version.
My user account is also missing the shutdown option in the System menu. To turn the system off, I have to go to command and issue sudo yum shutdown -h now. — a coder, Sep 30 '14 at 20:02
That maybe part of the issue. Search for the package upower or pm-utils and post the results. — eyoung100, Sep 30 '14 at 20:22
You might want to watch your exact question, by someone else with a bounty as the policykit error is the same, just the input is different. In the meantime, I've got to munch on this awhile. — eyoung100, Oct 01 '14 at 15:54

score 271 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 16 '19 at 14:29

271

I just had the same return when installing deluged on arch, I typed:

 systemctl start deluged

I tried with sudo and it worked fine. Seems to be a group permissions issue.

All I did was enable permissions for my user account and then typed:

 sudo systemctl start deluged

worked like a charm.

edited Apr 16 '19 at 14:29

Rui F Ribeiro

56,709
26
150
232

answered Nov 08 '14 at 08:11

SNP22

2,726

14

Really weird message, unlike *nix. Would never have thought this would be the solution! Thanks! – Sufian Aug 08 '15 at 08:32
11

Ah right, of course sudo. It would be really helpful if they had a system in place which would return an error like "root privileges required" or something a little more obvious. – Mint Mar 08 '16 at 07:51
35

Possibly the most counter-intuitive error ever. – ffledgling Feb 28 '17 at 13:20
2

It's probably complaining that you don't have Polkit set up which you would need to allow non-user systemctl without root privileges. Just a guess though – Dessa Simpson Jul 11 '17 at 02:29
Worked for me too, thx – Ivan Marjanovic Jul 18 '19 at 14:38
"You need to have Start Service Permissions (like root) to do this operation" would have made that error message so much easier to understand. – Andrew Feb 16 '21 at 16:52
Just sudo on original command fixes this, no need to install deluged. – user3795456 Dec 18 '23 at 13:22

score 138 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 28 '17 at 11:16

138

To clarify and summarize SNP22's post: You probably just forgot sudo.:

sudo systemctl [...]

Absolutely misleading warning ...

answered Sep 28 '17 at 11:16

Suuuehgi

1,753

2

Probably join the list of bad error message reports https://github.com/systemd/systemd/labels/needs-better-log-message but I need to test it with the latest version first... – Ben Creasy Oct 05 '17 at 07:27
1

THIS!! when you try to do a systemctl daemon-reload without root, it will report a weird error like this. Just check if it is missing the sudo or executing in the correct user or you enabled the root execution (in ansible the become: true) – higuita Feb 23 '18 at 19:46

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 28 '21 at 17:06

1

This has been reported in this issue and fixed in this commit, which was released in systemd v244.

...but unfortunately this change will never go back to Centos 7's systemd v219.

answered Mar 28 '21 at 17:06

Greg Dubicki

372

The name > org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1 was not provided by any .service files

3 Answers3