---
title: "Troubleshooting Drush error : \"Command XXXXX needs a higher bootstrap level to run\""
date: "2022-02-28T23:56:08+00:00"
summary:
image:
type: "article"
url: "/acquia-cloud-platform/help/92346-troubleshooting-drush-error-command-xxxxx-needs-higher-bootstrap-level-run"
id: "17da8ebb-eaf3-4011-89ea-ca6af12fc059"
---

Issue
-----

When I run a Drush command it gives me an error with the message "needs a higher bootstrap level to run - you will need to invoke drush from a more functional Drupal environment to run this command".

An example of the full message is:

    Command updatedb-status needs a higher bootstrap level to run - you will need to invoke drush from a more functional Drupal environment to run this command.      [error]
    The drush command 'updatedb:status' could not be executed.                                                                                                        [error]

Resolution
----------

There are a number of ways that can be used to resolve this:

1\. Run the command under the `docroot` directory of the application.

Normally `drush` assumes that the directory that you are running the command from is at the root directory or a sub directory below of your application. By running the `drush` command under the `docroot`, `drush` will run the command correctly.

An example of this is running the `drush updatedb:status` command:

    example@staging-2924:/var/www/html/example.dev/docroot$ drush updatedb:status
     [success] No database updates required.

2\. Use the `--root` option for Drush.

You can pa the `--root` or `-r` parameter to `drush` to tell it which `docroot` you want to run the command against.

 An example of this is running the `drush updatedb:status` command:

    example@staging-2924:~$ drush --root=/var/www/html/example.dev/docroot updatedb:status
     [success] No database updates required.

    example@staging-2924:~$ drush -r /var/www/html/example.dev/docroot updatedb:status
     [success] No database updates required.

3\. Use the `drush` alias

You can use the alias for the `drush` command which will have the `docroot` details configured. You can even use the `--root` option as part of the alias to be sure.

 An example of this is running the `drush updatedb:status` command:

    example@staging-2924:~$ drush @example.dev updatedb:status
     [success] No database updates required.

    example@staging-2924:~$ drush @example.dev --root=/var/www/html/example.dev/docroot updatedb:status
     [success] No database updates required.