How to determine the cause for a restart in Kali Linux

Introduction

It's not uncommon for a Linux system to restart unexpectedly due to a software or hardware error, however finding and fixing the core cause of the issues may help prevent it in the future.

This guide will demonstrate one such method for finding the cause for a restart using some of the built in software that is preinstalled in Kali Linux.

Step 1 Open Kali's command line Terminal

Press Ctrl + Alt + T to open the Terminal Interface.

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Step 2 Create your journal directory

Enter the command sudo mkdir /var/log/journal

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Step 3 Create your prefix

Enter the command: sudo systemd-tmpfiles --create --prefix /var/log/journal 2>/dev/null

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Step 4 Restart system-journald

sudo systemctl -s SIGUSR1 kill systemd-journald
Once this command is run, you will need to restart your machine to get your current system logs.

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Step 5 Retrieving your system logs

See your logged boots from your journal with the following: journalctl --list-boots
Locate a specific reboot using this command: journalctl -b {num} -n

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Conclusion

Optionally you can use killall -USR1 systemd-journald rather than restarting your services. This way a user can keep all the logging from the current session.

One other person completed this guide.