diff --git a/docs/release-notes.md b/docs/release-notes.md
index 342fb1aa3..0dffd97a7 100644
--- a/docs/release-notes.md
+++ b/docs/release-notes.md
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ nav_order: 9
 - Fix network race when phoning home on Equinix Metal
 - Fix Akamai Ignition base64 decoding on padded payloads
 - Fix Makefile GOARCH for loongarch64 ([#1942](https://github.com/coreos/ignition/pull/1942))
+- Don't log to journal if not available
 
 
 ## Ignition 2.19.0 (2024-06-05)
diff --git a/internal/exec/engine.go b/internal/exec/engine.go
index 7e400d29c..11e699cc5 100644
--- a/internal/exec/engine.go
+++ b/internal/exec/engine.go
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ func (e *Engine) acquireConfig(stageName string) (cfg types.Config, err error) {
 		cfg, err = e.acquireProviderConfig()
 
 		// if we've successfully fetched and cached the configs, log about them
-		if err == nil {
+		if err == nil && journal.Enabled() {
 			for _, cfgInfo := range e.State.FetchedConfigs {
 				if logerr := logStructuredJournalEntry(cfgInfo); logerr != nil {
 					e.Logger.Info("failed to log systemd journal entry: %v", logerr)