When using `incus exec -- ls /run/user/1000` non of the sockets are linked in?

[Baba_Open]

This is really a follow-up to this post /run/user/uid missing when using `incus exec container -- sudo --user uname --login`

• When I login (incus exec qt-apps -- login) everything works perfectly.
• When I start the container and try to list /run/user folder, it shows as empty.
• I can now manually create the /run/user/1000 folder by systemctl start user@1000
• However, none of devices or X11 display get linked in
• Note the devices are mounted but not linked in…
• How can I kick-start the proxy’s etc?

After start

❯ incus exec qt-apps -- sudo --user user1 ls -Al /run/user /tmp/.X11-unix
/run/user:
total 0

/tmp/.X11-unix:
total 0

❯ incus exec qt-apps -- sudo --login --user user1 ls -Al /mnt/.container_sockets          
total 0
srwxrwxrwx 1 root   root   0 Jul 15 12:08 X0
srw-rw-rw- 1 houman houman 0 Jul 15 12:08 native
srw-rw-rw- 1 houman houman 0 Jul 15 12:08 pipewire-0
srw-rw-rw- 1 houman houman 0 Jul 15 12:08 pipewire-0-manager

Starting user@1000

• Then if I kickstart user@1000, I can actually see the folder (/run/user/1000)
• Although the 1000 folder is there non of the devices are getting linked
• Furthermore, X0 link is also missing
• In case it helps, I have attached the associate journalctl logs from container to the bottom of the post

❯ incus exec qt-apps -- sudo --user user1 sudo systemctl start user@1000;

❯ incus exec qt-apps -- sudo --login --user user1 ls -Al /run/user/1000 /tmp/.X11-unix    
/run/user/1000:
total 0
srw-rw-rw- 1 user1 user1   0 Jul 15 23:04 bus
drwx------ 2 user1 user1 160 Jul 15 23:04 gnupg
drwxr-xr-x 2 user1 user1  60 Jul 15 23:04 p11-kit
drwxr-xr-x 6 user1 user1 160 Jul 15 23:04 systemd

/tmp/.X11-unix:
total 0

Container config

❯ incus config show qt-apps -e                                                             
architecture: x86_64
config:
  environment.DISPLAY: :0
  image.architecture: x86_64
  image.description: Archlinux  x86_64 (20250629_04:18)
  image.name: archlinux--x86_64-default-20250629_04:18
  image.os: archlinux
  image.serial: "20250629_04:18"
  image.variant: default
  nvidia.runtime: "true"
  volatile.base_image: f962ccb96cdb24b78c04ba9b28d396712af3154d8ca31b616931192b0d27ec43
  volatile.cloud-init.instance-id: 149f9edf-63bb-406d-b72f-3191a9bbe71a
  volatile.eth0.host_name: veth4fc3579f
  volatile.eth0.hwaddr: 10:66:6a:ba:e2:09
  volatile.eth0.name: eth0
  volatile.idmap.base: "0"
  volatile.idmap.current: '[{"Isuid":true,"Isgid":false,"Hostid":1000000,"Nsid":0,"Maprange":1000000000},{"Isuid":false,"Isgid":true,"Hostid":1000000,"Nsid":0,"Maprange":1000000000}]'
  volatile.idmap.next: '[{"Isuid":true,"Isgid":false,"Hostid":1000000,"Nsid":0,"Maprange":1000000000},{"Isuid":false,"Isgid":true,"Hostid":1000000,"Nsid":0,"Maprange":1000000000}]'
  volatile.last_state.idmap: '[]'
  volatile.last_state.power: RUNNING
  volatile.last_state.ready: "false"
  volatile.uuid: b0c9924d-16bd-4750-b8a5-3b26d6378e30
  volatile.uuid.generation: b0c9924d-16bd-4750-b8a5-3b26d6378e30
devices:
  eth0:
    network: incusbr0
    type: nic
  mygpu:
    gid: "985"
    gputype: physical
    type: gpu
  pipewire_manager_socket:
    path: /mnt/.container_sockets/pipewire-0-manager
    shift: "true"
    source: /run/user/1000/pipewire-0-manager
    type: disk
  pipewire_socket:
    path: /mnt/.container_sockets/pipewire-0
    shift: "true"
    source: /run/user/1000/pipewire-0
    type: disk
  pulseaudio_socket:
    path: /mnt/.container_sockets/native
    shift: "true"
    source: /run/user/1000/pulse/native
    type: disk
  root:
    path: /
    pool: incus_storage
    type: disk
  x_socket:
    path: /mnt/.container_sockets/X0
    shift: "true"
    source: /tmp/.X11-unix/X0
    type: disk
ephemeral: false
profiles:
- audio-video-support
stateful: false
description: ""

Journalctl log regarding user@1000

Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps sudo[209]:   user1 : TTY=pts/2 ; PWD=/home/user1 ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/systemctl start user@1000
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps sudo[209]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root(uid=0) by root(uid=1000)
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[1]: Created slice User Slice of UID 1000.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps (systemd)[228]: pam_warn(systemd-user:setcred): function=[pam_sm_setcred] flags=0x8002 service=[systemd-user] terminal=[] user=[user1] ruser=[<unknown>] rhost=[<unknown>]
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[1]: Starting User Runtime Directory /run/user/1000...
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps (systemd)[228]: pam_unix(systemd-user:session): session opened for user user1(uid=1000) by user1(uid=0)
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[1]: Finished User Runtime Directory /run/user/1000.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[1]: Starting User Manager for UID 1000...
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd-logind[192]: New session c1 of user user1.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Queued start job for default target Main User Target.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Created slice User Application Slice.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Reached target Paths.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Reached target Timers.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Starting D-Bus User Message Bus Socket...
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Listening on GnuPG network certificate management daemon.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Listening on GnuPG cryptographic agent and passphrase cache (access for web browsers).
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Listening on GnuPG cryptographic agent and passphrase cache (restricted).
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Listening on GnuPG cryptographic agent (ssh-agent emulation).
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Listening on GnuPG cryptographic agent and passphrase cache.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Listening on GnuPG public key management service.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Listening on p11-kit server.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Listening on D-Bus User Message Bus Socket.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Reached target Sockets.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Reached target Basic System.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Reached target Main User Target.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[228]: Startup finished in 17ms.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps systemd[1]: Started User Manager for UID 1000.
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps sudo[209]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root
Jul 15 23:10:02 qt-apps sudo[206]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user user1

[catfish]

Since your XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is managed by systemd, it will not exist when user not logined, and will be destroied when user logout.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/XDG_Base_Directory

So I suggest you following this post:

Incus / LXD profile for GUI apps: Wayland, X11 and Pulseaudio

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