How to add a menu entry in Grub to start Ubuntu in command line

Question

I have a desktop that I sometimes only use remotely through SSH. In these cases, having a graphical interface is useless so it could be great to start the system in text mode.

I'm using Ubuntu and I wanted to add a menu entry in Grub to do what I want (start in text mode, but not everytime). To do that, I added this to the file /etc/grub.d/40_custom:

menuentry 'Ubuntu (text mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-86845fc2-c8a4-4323-a936-497ae09f288c' {
    recordfail
    load_video
    gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
    insmod gzio
    if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='hd1,msdos1'
    if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
      search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1  86845fc2-c8a4-4323-a936-497ae09f288c
    else
      search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 86845fc2-c8a4-4323-a936-497ae09f288c
    fi
    linux   /boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-59-generic root=UUID=86845fc2-c8a4-4323-a936-497ae09f288c ro  text
    initrd  /boot/initrd.img-3.19.0-59-generic
}

and then ran sudo update-grub.

The problem is that it simply doesn't work: when I use this new line, Ubuntu starts as usual, with the graphical interface and GDM asking to enter my password.

Any idea?

Booting ubuntu in runlevel 3 will serve your purpose. You may refer http://askubuntu.com/questions/228402/boot-to-runlevel-3 — Shubhangi, May 27 '16 at 18:55
Thanks, that did the trick! But things have changed since this post, we don't need to do some things anymore, I add an answer to this question to explain. — Jeremy, May 27 '16 at 19:31

score -1 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:22

Thanks to Shubhangi's suggestion (see comments of the question) I found a way to do what I want. Based on this question, the thing I needed is booting Ubuntu in runlevel 3. To do that, we can add 3 in the linux line of the new entry.

More precisely, here is the new content of 40_custom:

menuentry 'Ubuntu (text mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-86845fc2-c8a4-4323-a936-497ae09f288c' {
    recordfail
    load_video
    gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
    insmod gzio
    if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='hd1,msdos1'
    if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
      search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1  86845fc2-c8a4-4323-a936-497ae09f288c
    else
      search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 86845fc2-c8a4-4323-a936-497ae09f288c
    fi
    linux   /vmlinuz root=UUID=86845fc2-c8a4-4323-a936-497ae09f288c 3 ro  text
    initrd  /initrd.img
}

Now reboot, choose your new entry, and you'll be in text mode. :)

How to add a menu entry in Grub to start Ubuntu in command line

1 Answers1