Hi Ben, OK, thx for answering to my request and your help. I was not so aware to the first aspect, that the workaround only deals with systemd-issues on _host_ systems. Also the second aspect, that systemd has to be avoided in _guest_ systems generally. Indeed on http://linux-vserver.org/Installation_on_Debian I saw your given hint with these additions to the build string in the Jessie section too, but my attempt of building a Jessie _guest_ was susccessful without them. So, I tried in a Stretch _guest_ system too. I think, I now got "the key". :-) The really one thing, I didn't try, was: Using util-vserver-systemd from repo psand and building _guest_ systems consequently WITHOUT systemd using your referred build string additions. Perhaps language is here a barrier for me, understanding the Debian doc-page from linux-vserver.org correctly. After reading your answer, suddenly the doc page is much more clear for me. Sorry for that. I'll try the build string addition! Regards from Berlin/Germany, Thorsten > Quoting thorsten.edler@gmx.de: > > > which, if I understood right, should 'help with' (work around) the > > known systemd-issues with Debian 8/9 > > > It works around issue running systemd on _host_ systems. It does > nothing for running systemd on _guest_ systems. For installing Stretch > guests you must specify not installing systemd. Adding these to build > string should work: > > --include=sysvinit-core,lsb-release --exclude=systemd > > If that doesn't fix building and running guests for you, something > else is wrong. > > Cheers, > Ben > > > >