As the service is called as root, it needs --force-root. QubesOS/qubes-issues#2412
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ Group=qubes
Environment=DISPLAY=:0
RemainAfterExit=yes
KillMode=none
-ExecStart=/bin/sh -c 'NETVM=`qubes-prefs --get default-netvm`; [ -n "$NETVM" ] && qvm-start -q --no-guid $NETVM'
+ExecStart=/bin/sh -c 'NETVM=`qubes-prefs --force-root default-netvm`; [ -n "$NETVM" ] && qvm-start -q --no-guid $NETVM'
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target