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Man page of SYSTEMD.SYSTEM-CREDENTIALS
SYSTEMD.SYSTEM-CREDENTIALS
Section: systemd.system-credentials (7)
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NAME
systemd.system-credentials - System Credentials
DESCRIPTION
m[blue]System and Service Credentialsm[][1]
are data objects that may be passed into booted systems or system services as they are invoked. They can be acquired from various external sources, and propagated into the system and from there into system services. Credentials may optionally be encrypted with a machine-specific key and/or locked to the local TPM2 device, and are only decrypted when the consuming service is invoked.
System credentials may be used to provision and configure various aspects of the system. Depending on the consuming component credentials are only used on initial invocations or are needed for all invocations.
Credentials may be used for any kind of data, binary or text, and may carry passwords, secrets, certificates, cryptographic key material, identity information, configuration, and more.
WELL KNOWN SYSTEM CREDENTIALS
firstboot.keymap
-
The console key mapping to set (e.g.
"de"). Read by
systemd-firstboot(1), and only honoured if no console keymap has been configured before.
Added in version 252.
firstboot.locale, firstboot.locale-messages
-
The system locale to set (e.g.
"de_DE.UTF-8"). Read by
systemd-firstboot(1), and only honoured if no locale has been configured before.
firstboot.locale
sets
"LANG", while
firstboot.locale-message
sets
"LC_MESSAGES".
Added in version 252.
firstboot.timezone
-
The system timezone to set (e.g.
"Europe/Berlin"). Read by
systemd-firstboot(1), and only honoured if no system timezone has been configured before.
Added in version 252.
login.issue
-
The data of this credential is written to
/etc/issue.d/50-provision.conf, if the file does not exist yet.
agetty(8)
reads this file and shows its contents at the login prompt of terminal logins. See
issue(5)
for details.
Consumed by
/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/provision.conf, see
tmpfiles.d(5).
Added in version 252.
login.motd
-
The data of this credential is written to
/etc/motd.d/50-provision.conf, if the file does not exist yet.
pam_motd(8)
reads this file and shows its contents as "message of the day" during terminal logins. See
motd(5)
for details.
Consumed by
/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/provision.conf, see
tmpfiles.d(5).
Added in version 252.
network.hosts
-
The data of this credential is written to
/etc/hosts, if the file does not exist yet. See
hosts(5)
for details.
Consumed by
/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/provision.conf, see
tmpfiles.d(5).
Added in version 252.
network.dns, network.search_domains
-
DNS server information and search domains. Read by
systemd-resolved.service(8).
Added in version 253.
network.conf.*, network.link.*, network.netdev.*, network.network.*
-
Configures network devices. Read by
systemd-network-generator.service(8). These credentials should contain valid
networkd.conf(5),
systemd.link(5),
systemd.netdev(5),
systemd.network(5)
configuration data. From each matching credential a separate file is created. Example: the contents of a credential
network.link.50-foobar
will be copied into a file
50-foobar.link.
Note that the resulting files are created world-readable, it is hence recommended to not include secrets in these credentials, but supply them via separate credentials directly to
systemd-networkd.service, e.g.
network.wireguard.*
as described below.
Added in version 256.
network.wireguard.*
-
Configures secrets for WireGuard netdevs. Read by
systemd-networkd.service(8). For more information, refer to the
[WireGuard]
section of
systemd.netdev(5).
Added in version 256.
passwd.hashed-password.root, passwd.plaintext-password.root
-
May contain the password (either in UNIX hashed format, or in plaintext) for the root users. Read by both
systemd-firstboot(1)
and
systemd-sysusers(8), and only honoured if no root password has been configured before.
Added in version 252.
passwd.shell.root
-
The path to the shell program (e.g.
"/bin/bash") for the root user. Read by both
systemd-firstboot(1)
and
systemd-sysusers(8), and only honoured if no root shell has been configured before.
Added in version 252.
ssh.ephemeral-authorized_keys-all
-
Provides additional public keys, given in the customary
authorized_keys
format, for all users, for incoming connections via the generated
AF_VSOCK
and
AF_UNIX
socket units.
The intended use of this is for a host system (in either VM or container configurations) to generate a keypair and inject the public key into the guest, using the private key to connect to any user account on the guest via ssh, without further authentication.
Consumed by
systemd-ssh-generator(8).
Added in version 256.
ssh.authorized_keys.root
-
The data of this credential is written to
/root/.ssh/authorized_keys, if the file does not exist yet. This allows provisioning SSH access for the system's root user.
Consumed by
/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/provision.conf, see
tmpfiles.d(5).
Added in version 252.
ssh.listen
-
May be used to configure SSH sockets the system shall be reachable on. See
systemd-ssh-generator(8)
for details.
Added in version 256.
sysusers.extra
-
Additional
sysusers.d(5)
lines to process during boot.
Added in version 252.
sysctl.extra
-
Additional
sysctl.d(5)
lines to process during boot.
Added in version 252.
tmpfiles.extra
-
Additional
tmpfiles.d(5)
lines to process during boot.
Added in version 252.
fstab.extra
-
Additional mounts to establish at boot. For details, see
systemd-fstab-generator(8).
Added in version 254.
vconsole.keymap, vconsole.keymap_toggle, vconsole.font, vconsole.font_map, vconsole.font_unimap
-
Console settings to apply, see
systemd-vconsole-setup.service(8)
for details.
Added in version 253.
getty.ttys.serial, getty.ttys.container
-
Used for spawning additional login prompts, see
systemd-getty-generator(8)
for details.
Added in version 254.
journal.forward_to_socket
-
Used by
systemd-journald(8)
to determine where to forward log messages for socket forwarding, see
journald.conf(5)
for details.
Added in version 256.
journal.storage
-
Used by
systemd-journald(8)
to determine where to store journal files, see
journald.conf(5)
for details.
Added in version 256.
vmm.notify_socket
-
Configures an
sd_notify(3)
compatible
AF_VSOCK
socket the service manager will report status information, ready notification and exit status on. For details see
systemd(1).
Added in version 253.
shell.prompt.prefix, shell.prompt.suffix
-
Defines strings to prefix and suffix any interactive UNIX shell prompt with. For details see
pam_systemd(8).
Added in version 257.
shell.welcome
-
Define a string to print when an interactive UNIX shell initializes. For details see
pam_systemd(8).
Added in version 257.
system.machine_id
-
Takes a 128bit ID to initialize the machine ID from (if it is not set yet). Interpreted by the service manager (PID 1). For details see
systemd(1).
Added in version 254.
system.hostname
-
Accepts a (transient) hostname to configure during early boot. The static hostname specified in
/etc/hostname, if configured, takes precedence over this setting. Interpreted by the service manager (PID 1). For details see
systemd(1).
Added in version 254.
home.create.*
-
Creates a home area for the specified user with the user record data passed in. For details see
homectl(1).
Added in version 256.
cryptsetup.passphrase, cryptsetup.tpm2-pin, cryptsetup.fido2-pin, cryptsetup.pkcs11-pin, cryptsetup.luks2-pin
-
Specifies the passphrase/PINs to use for unlock encrypted storage volumes. For details see
systemd-cryptsetup(8).
Added in version 256.
systemd.extra-unit.*, systemd.unit-dropin.*
-
These credentials specify extra units and drop-ins to add to the system. For details see
systemd-debug-generator(8).
Added in version 256.
udev.conf.*, udev.rules.*
-
Configures udev configuration file and udev rules. Read by
systemd-udev-load-credentials.service, which invokes
udevadm control --load-credentials. These credentials directly translate to a matching
udev.conf(5)
or
udev(7)
rules file. Example: the contents of a credential
udev.conf.50-foobar
will be copied into a file
/run/udev/udev.conf.d/50-foobar.conf, and
udev.rules.50-foobar
will be copied into a file
/run/udev/rules.d/50-foobar.rules. See
udev(7),
udev.conf(5), and
udevadm(8)
for details.
Added in version 256.
import.pull
-
Specified disk images (tarballs and DDIs) to automatically download and install at boot. For details see
systemd-import-generator(8).
Added in version 257.
SEE ALSO
systemd(1), kernel-command-line(7), smbios-type-11(7)
NOTES
- 1.
-
System and Service Credentials
-
https://systemd.io/CREDENTIALS
Index
- NAME
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- WELL KNOWN SYSTEM CREDENTIALS
-
- SEE ALSO
-
- NOTES
-
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Time: 11:48:49 GMT, September 14, 2026