Force Boot to Command Line
May 2017
Having installed a netinstall version of Lubuntu (the smallest ISO I could get) on a Sony Vaio netbook, I had no option during the install to not include the bundled shell. So I wanted to force Linux to boot only to the command line, here is what I did:
Open the GRUB config file with a text editor (Make a backup first).
sudo vi /etc/default/grub
Look for the line that starts with GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT and comment out that line by placing a hash # symbol in front of it.
# GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
This will disable the initial splash screen, and enable verbose mode (i.e., showing the detailed boot procedure).
Then change GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=“” to:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="text"
Next, uncomment the line that says “#GRUB_TERMINAL=console.
GRUB_TERMINAL=console
The updated GRUB default configuration looks like the following:
# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update # /boot/grub/grub.cfg. # For full documentation of the options in this file, see: # info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration' GRUB_DEFAULT=0 GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0 GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true GRUB_TIMEOUT=10 GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian` # GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="text" # Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs # This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains # the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...) #GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef" # Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only) GRUB_TERMINAL=console # The resolution used on graphical terminal # note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE # you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo' #GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480 # Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux #GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true # Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries #GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true" # Uncomment to get a beep at grub start #GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"
Now use update-grub command to re-generate a GRUB2 config file in /boot based on these changes.
sudo update-grub
For systemd-enabled desktop only: If your desktop uses systemd (e.g., for Debian 8 or later or Ubuntu 15.04 or later), there is one additional step needed. That is to change the default target from “graphical” target to “multi-user” target. Skip this step if your desktop does not use systemd.
sudo systemctl set-default multi-user.target
Now reboot and hopefully you will be at a text based login prompt.