Pipewire services not found

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1

It seems some pipewire services aren’t running and I think it’s causing issues with my audio. Up until recently I’ve experienced no issues with audio on Fedora. When I type systemctl start pipewire.service pipewire-pulse.service wireplumber.service this comes up:

Failed to start pipewire.service: Unit pipewire.service not found.
Failed to start pipewire-pulse.service: Unit pipewire-pulse.service not found.
Failed to start wireplumber.service: Unit wireplumber.service not found.

I believe this might be the problem yet I don’t know how to fix it. What’s weird is that pipewire seems to be running:

● pipewire.socket - PipeWire Multimedia System Sockets
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.socket; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2026-04-07 13:36:56 -03; 2h 13min ago
 Invocation: fa98f6d677bd4ae28d5386324bf70bfc
   Triggers: ● pipewire.service
     Listen: /run/user/1000/pipewire-0 (Stream)
             /run/user/1000/pipewire-0-manager (Stream)

Apr 07 13:36:56 fedora systemd[1890]: Listening on pipewire.socket - PipeWire Multimedia Sys

However if I type pipewire this shows up:

[E][15:52:26.032783] mod.protocol-native | [module-protocol-:  803 lock_socket()] server 0x555ed0a3dc10: unable to lock lockfile '/run/user/1000/pipewire-0.lock': Resource temporarily unavailable (maybe another daemon is running)
[E][15:52:26.033262] pw.conf      | [          conf.c:  602 load_module()] 0x555ed0a1db10: could not load mandatory module "libpipewire-module-protocol-native": Resource temporarily unavailable
[E][15:52:26.033412] default      | [      pipewire.c:  124 main()] failed to create context: Resource temporarily unavailable

My audio pops and cackles and it’s very uncomfortable. I reinstalled the OS and nothing was solved.

Here’s the user status for pipewire.service , pipewire-pulse.service and wireplumber:

● pipewire.service - PipeWire Multimedia Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service.d
             └─00-uresourced.conf
             /usr/lib/systemd/user/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2026-04-07 13:36:56 -03; 2h 30min ago
 Invocation: 554e4d58ad7d425e987b205e1d299d00
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire.socket
   Main PID: 1912 (pipewire)
      Tasks: 3 (limit: 18890)
     Memory: 13.5M (peak: 23M)
        CPU: 46.672s
        CPU: 46.672s
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pipewire.service
             └─1912 /usr/bin/pipewire

Apr 07 13:36:56 fedora systemd[1890]: Started pipewire.service - PipeWire Multimedia Service.
Apr 07 13:37:04 fedora pipewire[1912]: mod.raop-sink: sess.latency.msec 250.000000 should be an integer multiple of rtp.ptime 7.981859
Apr 07 14:30:59 fedora pipewire[1912]: mod.raop-sink: sess.latency.msec 250.000000 should be an integer multiple of rtp.ptime 7.981859
Apr 07 14:37:56 fedora pipewire[1912]: mod.raop-sink: sess.latency.msec 250.000000 should be an integer multiple of rtp.ptime 7.981859
Apr 07 15:32:00 fedora pipewire[1912]: mod.raop-sink: sess.latency.msec 250.000000 should be an integer multiple of rtp.ptime 7.981859
Apr 07 15:38:56 fedora pipewire[1912]: mod.raop-sink: sess.latency.msec 250.000000 should be an integer multiple of rtp.ptime 7.981859

● pipewire-pulse.service - PipeWire PulseAudio
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire-pulse.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/user/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2026-04-07 13:36:57 -03; 2h 30min ago
 Invocation: 947cf1d438774176bec20ed8062cb667
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire-pulse.socket
   Main PID: 2234 (pipewire-pulse)
      Tasks: 3 (limit: 18890)
     Memory: 28.6M (peak: 45.1M)
        CPU: 1min 27.511s
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pipewire-pulse.service
             └─2234 /usr/bin/pipewire-pulse

Apr 07 13:36:57 fedora systemd[1890]: Started pipewire-pulse.service - PipeWire PulseAudio.

● wireplumber.service - Multimedia Service Session Manager
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/wireplumber.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/user/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2026-04-07 13:36:56 -03; 2h 30min ago
 Invocation: 5b4beb36400f4625b037f95cdc951bd7
   Main PID: 1914 (wireplumber)
      Tasks: 9 (limit: 18890)
     Memory: 8.9M (peak: 10.2M)
        CPU: 8.443s
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/wireplumber.service
             └─1914 /usr/bin/wireplumber

Apr 07 13:36:56 fedora systemd[1890]: Started wireplumber.service - Multimedia Service Session Manager.
Apr 07 13:36:56 fedora wireplumber[1914]: [0:00:37.245735059] [1914]  INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:330 libcamera v0.5.2
Apr 07 13:36:56 fedora wireplumber[1914]: [0:00:37.250970679] [2014] ERROR MediaDevice media_object.cpp:420 Device node /dev/video0 can't be accessed: Permission denied
Apr 07 13:36:56 fedora wireplumber[1914]: [0:00:37.251619354] [2014] ERROR MediaDevice media_object.cpp:420 Device node /dev/video1 can't be accessed: Permission denied
Apr 07 13:36:57 fedora wireplumber[1914]: wp-event-dispatcher: <WpAsyncEventHook:0x55952e3880d0> failed: failed to activate item: Object activation aborted: proxy destroyed
Apr 07 14:49:48 fedora wireplumber[1914]: wp-event-dispatcher: <WpAsyncEventHook:0x55952e365860> failed: <WpSiStandardLink:0x55952e7279e0> link failed: 1 of 1 PipeWire links failed to activate
Apr 07 14:49:54 fedora wireplumber[1914]: wp-event-dispatcher: <WpAsyncEventHook:0x55952e365860> failed: <WpSiStandardLink:0x55952e7a42d0> link failed: some node was destroyed before the link was created
Apr 07 15:44:52 fedora wireplumber[1914]: wp-event-dispatcher: <WpAsyncEventHook:0x55952e3880d0> failed: failed to activate item: Object activation aborted: proxy destroyed
Apr 07 16:06:46 fedora wireplumber[1914]: wp-event-dispatcher: <WpAsyncEventHook:0x55952e365860> failed: <WpSiStandardLink:0x55952e671360> link failed: 1 of 1 PipeWire links failed to activate

EDIT: I have secure boot enabled because I have Windows on my secondary drive. I don’t know if it has any repercussions but i’ll leave it here just in case.

2

They’re user services, so:

systemctl --user start pipewire.service pipewire-pulse.service wireplumber.service
1 Like
4

I tried but it still didn’t work

5

What is the status of the services?

systemctl --user status pipewire.service pipewire-pulse.service wireplumber.service

If they’re running, you should see for all 3 of them something like:

Active: active (running) since Tue 2026-04-07 09:00:07
6

It appears they’re working, but the path specified for the services doesn’t exist

None of the paths specified exist

7

Interesting - show the full error message, and someone who knows more about this may be able to help?

8

systemctl --user restart wireplumber pipewire pipewire-pulse solves the audio issues i was having, idk it’s very weird because pipewire still throws me the same error

EDIT: It solves them to a point where it’s very hard to notice, but the popping is still there

9

Every time i startup, i have to restart pipewire to get my audio working fine. If anyone has any idea how this can be fixed please leave a reply!

10

Solving this requires knowing what is making pipewire stop running.
There should be logs in the user or system journal that may give a clue.
Try these commands before you fix the sound:

systemctl --user status pipewire
journalctl --user -b 0 -p err
sudo journalctl -b 0 -p err

Edit: Fix status commad above.

1 Like
11

systemctl status pipiwire returns:

Unit pipiwire.service could not be found.

journalctl --user -b 0 -p err returns:

Apr 08 10:31:00 fedora org_kde_powerdevil[2258]: [  2258] Error(s) opening ddc devices
Apr 08 10:31:00 fedora org_kde_powerdevil[2258]: [  2258] Error EACCES(-13): Permission denied opening /dev/i2c-0
Apr 08 10:31:01 fedora plasmashell[2165]: RESTORE LAST POSITION: 54474

sudo journalctl -b 0 -p err returns:

Apr 08 07:30:18 fedora kernel: x86/cpu: SGX disabled or unsupported by BIOS.
Apr 08 07:30:18 fedora kernel: integrity: Problem loading X.509 certificate -22
Apr 08 07:30:18 fedora kernel: integrity: Problem loading X.509 certificate -22
Apr 08 10:30:33 fedora kernel:
Apr 08 10:30:34 fedora kernel: usb 1-9: 3:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x84
Apr 08 10:30:34 fedora kernel: nvidia-gpu 0000:01:00.3: i2c timeout error e0000000
Apr 08 10:30:34 fedora kernel: ucsi_ccg 0-0008: i2c_transfer failed -110
Apr 08 10:30:34 fedora kernel: ucsi_ccg 0-0008: ucsi_ccg_init failed - -110
Apr 08 10:30:34 fedora kernel: ucsi_ccg 0-0008: probe with driver ucsi_ccg failed with error -110
Apr 08 10:30:35 fedora bluetoothd[1212]: Failed to set default system config for hci0
Apr 08 10:30:43 fedora kernel: usb 1-9: 3:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x84
Apr 08 10:30:43 fedora kernel: usb 1-9: 3:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x84
Apr 08 10:31:00 fedora org_kde_powerdevil[2258]: [  2258] Error(s) opening ddc devices
Apr 08 10:31:00 fedora org_kde_powerdevil[2258]: [  2258] Error EACCES(-13): Permission denied opening /dev/i2c-0
Apr 08 10:31:01 fedora plasmashell[2165]: RESTORE LAST POSITION: 54474
12

I have a feeling that Barry made a typo and it should be…
systemctl status pipewire

1 Like
13

It’s a user service, not a system service, so:

systemctl --user status pipewire

We already have the relevant output though - OP edited the post to add it.

● pipewire.service - PipeWire Multimedia Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service.d
             └─00-uresourced.conf
             /usr/lib/systemd/user/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2026-04-07 13:36:56 -03; 2h 30min ago
 Invocation: 554e4d58ad7d425e987b205e1d299d00
TriggeredBy: ● pipewire.socket
   Main PID: 1912 (pipewire)
      Tasks: 3 (limit: 18890)
     Memory: 13.5M (peak: 23M)
        CPU: 46.672s
        CPU: 46.672s
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/pipewire.service
             └─1912 /usr/bin/pipewire

Apr 07 13:36:56 fedora systemd[1890]: Started pipewire.service - PipeWire Multimedia Service.
Apr 07 13:37:04 fedora pipewire[1912]: mod.raop-sink: sess.latency.msec 250.000000 should be an integer multiple of rtp.ptime 7.981859
Apr 07 14:30:59 fedora pipewire[1912]: mod.raop-sink: sess.latency.msec 250.000000 should be an integer multiple of rtp.ptime 7.981859
Apr 07 14:37:56 fedora pipewire[1912]: mod.raop-sink: sess.latency.msec 250.000000 should be an integer multiple of rtp.ptime 7.981859
Apr 07 15:32:00 fedora pipewire[1912]: mod.raop-sink: sess.latency.msec 250.000000 should be an integer multiple of rtp.ptime 7.981859
Apr 07 15:38:56 fedora pipewire[1912]: mod.raop-sink: sess.latency.msec 250.000000 should be an integer multiple of rtp.ptime 7.981859
14

That does not show the service as failing.
Is that status after it was restarted?

15

Don’t know for sure, but I don’t think so, because it’s the output I asked for in post #5, and OP didn’t mention doing a restart until post #8.

It’s not clear the service has ever actually failed from what I can see here.

16

Have you updated your system recently? pipewire-1.4.11 should be installed on your system. (fedora 42 / 43 )

you can also list active pipewireplumber processes
pgrep -a wire. The command should print three lines similar to this (numbers can differ of course)

$ pgrep -a wire
916357 /usr/bin/pipewire
916360 /usr/bin/wireplumber
916769 /usr/bin/pipewire-pulse

I assume you also have to restart pipewire processes after a simple log out / log in ?

does this commanf ls -l ~/.config/systemd/user/ produce any output?