Nonstartable

Nonstartable is an adjective used to describe a component, service, or device that cannot be started or initiated. In software engineering and system administration, a nonstartable element is one that fails during the startup phase and cannot enter its intended running state. The term highlights an inability to begin operation, even when other parts of the system may start normally.

In practice, a nonstartable item is often identified during boot or deployment when startup routines exit with errors before the item becomes active. It is distinguished from components that start but subsequently stop or fail, and it is typically reported in logs, monitoring dashboards, or issue trackers as a startup or initialization failure.

Common causes include missing dependencies, misconfigured startup parameters, insufficient permissions, corrupted or unavailable files, version conflicts, or environmental constraints such as insufficient resources or restricted access to required services. Diagnosis generally relies on analyzing startup logs, exit codes, and dependency graphs, as well as inspecting systemd unit status, container orchestration states, or boot-time messages.

Remediation usually involves correcting the root cause: restoring or providing missing dependencies, fixing configuration or scripts, adjusting permissions, reinstalling components, updating incompatible software, increasing resources, or implementing fallback startup paths. Once the underlying issue is resolved, the item may transition from nonstartable to a normal, running state.

See also: boot failure, startup failure, service initialization, dependency management.