Fixing TrueNAS SCALE Apps Service Not Starting After Docker Failure¶

Issue Overview¶

After a system restart or an update in TrueNAS SCALE (Cobia and newer), users may encounter the following issue:

Docker containers partially start, but the Apps Service does not start.
The TrueNAS GUI shows: Error In Apps Service
Applications appear as "not running" in the Apps menu.

This issue is often caused by middleware (middlewared) failing to properly manage Docker or the Apps Service after a restart.

Solution: Restart Middleware Service¶

The easiest and most effective fix is to restart the TrueNAS middleware service, which manages system processes, including applications.

Fix: Restart middlewared¶

Run the following command in the TrueNAS shell:

systemctl restart middlewared

This will restart the middleware service and should bring the Apps Service back online. You may need to wait a few minutes for all services to stabilize.

Advanced Troubleshooting Steps¶

If the issue persists, use the following steps to diagnose and fix it.

1. Check Middleware and Docker Status¶

Run:

systemctl status middlewared
systemctl status docker

If either service is inactive or failed, restart it:

systemctl restart middlewared
systemctl restart docker

2. Check Docker Containers¶

Ensure that all Docker containers are running:

docker ps -a

If any containers are Exited or Restarting, restart them manually:

docker restart <CONTAINER_ID>

3. Verify Storage Pool for Applications¶

Check if the Apps dataset is mounted correctly:

zfs list | grep ix-applications

If the dataset is missing, mount it:

zfs mount <POOL_NAME>/ix-applications

Then restart Docker:

systemctl restart docker

4. Restart TrueNAS Middleware and Services¶

If Apps still won’t start, restart the key TrueNAS services:

systemctl restart middlewared
systemctl restart docker

5. Reset the Apps System (Last Resort)¶

If the issue persists, try resetting the Apps system:

systemctl stop docker
rm -rf /var/lib/docker
systemctl restart docker

Warning: This does not delete apps but may require redeploying them.

Conclusion¶

Most Apps Service startup issues in TrueNAS SCALE (Cobia and later) can be resolved by restarting the middleware service:

systemctl restart middlewared

If additional troubleshooting is needed, checking Docker containers, storage mounts, and service logs can help diagnose persistent issues.

For more information, refer to the official TrueNAS SCALE documentation or the iXsystems community forums.

Command	Purpose
`systemctl restart middlewared`	Restart TrueNAS middleware service
`systemctl restart docker`	Restart Docker Service
`docker ps -a`	Check running and stopped containers
`docker restart <CONTAINER_ID>`	Restart a specific container
`zfs list \| grep ix-applications`	Check if the Apps dataset is mounted
`journalctl -u docker --no-pager \| tail -n 50`	View recent Docker logs