To check whether a service is configured to start automatically at boot (enabled) without starting it, which command would you use?

• A. systemctl status servicename
• B. systemctl is-enabled servicename
• C. systemctl enable servicename
• D. systemctl show servicename --property=UnitFileState

Answer: (B)

Checking whether a service is configured to start automatically at boot is a matter of querying systemd about the unit’s enablement state without affecting the unit itself. The best command for this is to ask systemd whether the unit is enabled to start at boot. It will simply print enabled if the unit is configured to start on boot, or disabled if it is not, and it won’t start or stop the service. This direct query is preferable to other commands: viewing status can show a hint of enablement but mixes runtime state with boot behavior, enabling would change the configuration, and showing UnitFileState is more verbose and not as straightforward for this exact check.