Reenabled systemd-timesyncd and am back to chrony not starting on boot so at least I can reproduce at will. Here are the outputs: $ sudo systemd-analyze critical-chain The time after the unit is active or started is printed after the "@" character. The time the unit takes to start is printed after the "+" character. graphical.target @32.789s └─multi-user.target @32.789s └─owserver.service @12.224s +1.060s └─network-online.target @12.222s └─NetworkManager-wait-online.service @4.481s +7.740s └─NetworkManager.service @4.211s +250ms └─dbus.service @4.007s └─basic.target @3.972s └─sockets.target @3.972s └─uuidd.socket @3.972s └─sysinit.target @3.970s └─systemd-timesyncd.service @3.840s +129ms └─systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service @3.827s +11ms └─local-fs.target @3.824s └─run-user-1000-gvfs.mount @13.514s └─run-user-1000.mount @12.399s └─local-fs-pre.target @297ms └─keyboard-setup.service @196ms +100ms └─systemd-journald.socket @193ms └─system.slice @193ms └─-.slice @191ms $ sudo journalctl -o short-monotonic -u systemd-timesyncd.service -u chrony.service | head -n 20 -- Logs begin at Thu 2018-05-31 12:51:22 WEST, end at Thu 2018-07-05 18:23:07 WEST. -- [ 2.756688] coulson systemd[1]: Starting Network Time Synchronization... [ 2.865804] coulson systemd[1]: Started Network Time Synchronization. [ 33.233208] coulson systemd-timesyncd[292]: Synchronized to time server [2001:67c:1560:8003::c8]:123 (ntp.ubuntu.com). [ 722.864694] coulson systemd[1]: Stopping Network Time Synchronization... [ 722.900591] coulson systemd[1]: Stopped Network Time Synchronization. -- Reboot -- [ 9.812874] coulson systemd[1]: Starting Network Time Synchronization... [ 9.949073] coulson systemd[1]: Started Network Time Synchronization. [ 40.394096] coulson systemd-timesyncd[573]: Synchronized to time server [2001:67c:1560:8003::c7]:123 (ntp.ubuntu.com). [10529.558443] coulson systemd-timesyncd[573]: Synchronized to time server [2001:67c:1560:8003::c8]:123 (ntp.ubuntu.com). [20405.821605] coulson systemd-timesyncd[573]: Synchronized to time server [2001:67c:1560:8003::c8]:123 (ntp.ubuntu.com). [29239.165550] coulson systemd-timesyncd[573]: Synchronized to time server 91.189.89.199:123 (ntp.ubuntu.com). [34935.400396] coulson systemd-timesyncd[573]: Synchronized to time server 91.189.89.198:123 (ntp.ubuntu.com). [64222.761628] coulson systemd-timesyncd[573]: Synchronized to time server 91.189.89.198:123 (ntp.ubuntu.com). [77531.401846] coulson systemd-timesyncd[573]: Synchronized to time server [2001:67c:1560:8003::c8]:123 (ntp.ubuntu.com). [79656.970968] coulson systemd[1]: Starting chrony, an NTP client/server... [79656.971139] coulson systemd[1]: Stopping Network Time Synchronization... [79656.997189] coulson systemd[1]: Stopped Network Time Synchronization. [79657.110021] coulson chronyd[23591]: chronyd version 3.2 starting (+CMDMON +NTP +REFCLOCK +RTC +PRIVDROP +SCFILTER +SECHASH +SIGND +ASYNCDNS +IPV6 -DEBUG) Seems like after reboot chrony wasn't even attempted to start even though it's still enabled: $ sudo systemctl is-enabled chrony enabled