LKBEN10997: Howto boot into single user mode using the grub boot loader
LKB | Created: 02/04/2020 | Version: 0 | Language: EN | Rating: 0 | Outdated: False | Marked for deletion: False
Author: Wim Peeters - Keskon GmbH & Co. KG
Symptom
You need to repair your system and want to start into single user mode. You use grub as boot loader.
Cause
none
Solution
The grub bootloader is a very good one. To start into single user mode you have to append an S to the kernel command line in Grub. Grub stands for grand unified bootloader. To add an S to the command line you need to restart your system and when you see the grub splash screen you press on the arrow keys to select an entry. Then you type e to edit that entry. Go to the line which the word kenel at the start. You press e again to edit it and append an S to the end of the line. Now you press <enter> to accept the changes followed by b to boot the kernel with the modified command line.
You will now be presented a single user mode bash shell to repair your system. It seems complicated but it is easies as you think.
About the Author
Wim Peeters is electronics engineer with an additional master in IT and over 30 years of experience, including time spent in support, development, consulting, training and database administration. Wim has worked with SQL Server since version 6.5. He has developed in C/C++, Java and C# on Windows and Linux. He writes knowledge base articles to solve IT problems and publishes them on the Lubby Knowledge Platform.