> Source: [sk1000185](https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk1000185)

# sk1000185 - "Failed to connect to bus" error and services do not start on a Security Management Server with CME

| Property | Value |
|----------|-------|
| Solution ID | sk1000185 |
| Date Created | 2026-09-23 |
| Last Modified | 2026-09-28 |
| Technical Level | Advanced |
| Products | Security Management Server, Multi-Domain Log Server, Cloud Firewall |
| Versions | R82.10, R82.20 |

## Symptoms

- * All `systemctl` commands fail with this error:

  `[Expert@HostName:0]# systemctl status cme`  
  `
  Failed to connect to bus: No such file or directory`
*
  These operations stop responding or fail:

  * The `reboot`, `shutdown`, `cpstart`, and `cpstop` commands
  * The start-up of a Multi-Domain Server
  * CPUSE operations
*
  The
  `/var/log/messages`
  file contains these lines:

  `systemd[1]: cme.service: Supervising process <PID> which is not our child.`   
  `systemd[1]: Freezing execution.`

**Note:**   

This issue does not occur each time the server restarts. Some restarts are successful, and a later restart fails again.  
If the server failed some days before, the log rotation can remove these lines from the `/var/log/messages` file.  
To identify this issue, run this command:

`[Expert@HostName:0]# grep -c "process:cme" /config/active`

If the output is more than `0`, this issue applies to the server.

## Cause

The start-up method for the CME services changed in R82.10. In versions lower than R82.10, the Gaia process manager starts `cme`
amd `cme_api` services. In versions R82.10 and higher, `systemd` starts these services.

When you upgrade a server to R82.10 or higher, the old process manager registration stays in the `/config/active` file. As a result, both mechanisms start the services.

When both mechanisms start a service at the same time, systemd can get the process ID of a process that it did not start. After a service restart, `systemd` can stop responding. After that, no service on the server can start or stop.

## Solution

This solution requires authentication. Please log in to view the full solution.

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