How to switch between Linux's virtual consoles?

Question

I am using vSphere and would like to change to a virtual console in the guest OS.

The problem is that when I press CTRL-ALT-F1 my desktop (Ubuntu) changes virtual console and not the guest OS in vSphere.

Does anyone know to do this?

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 17 '15 at 04:03

4

Type Alt-F1, Alt-F2 , etc. to obtain the other virtual consoles.

Edit:

Oh, you're accessing VMWare from a non-Windows machine?

I would just disable virtual console switching on your Ubuntu system. For Xorg, it'll be something like the following in the Xorg config file:

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option "DontVTSwitch" "true"
EndSection

edited Dec 17 '15 at 04:03

chicks

answered Sep 25 '12 at 15:46

ewwhite

1

If the Linux guest is running in console mode, `Alt-Fx` will only switch the guest and not her local machine. – MikeyB Sep 25 '12 at 16:03
@mikeyb Let's hope that the VMWare guest is in console mode :) Good point, though. – ewwhite Sep 25 '12 at 16:04

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 17 '15 at 04:50

There is a way this can be done:

Press CTRL + ALT + Space , press the F1 key (or desired Function key) while still holding down CTRL + ALT

You could also possibly run chcon to change the console, which I've also occassionally found useful before I learned the trick above.

2 Answers2