36

I've found ways to disable gdm or lightdm or whatever 11.10 uses, but I can't find a way to get a true text-mode boot. I want to see all the kernel messages fly by as it boots, not a stupid purple screen.

I got the desktop manager turned off finally, but now I get a purple screen for a while, then it switches to TTY1. After that happens, I get about half a screen of kernel messages (the end of the boot sequence; stuff about running init scripts etc.) and the login prompt. I did this by changing GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT and GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX to text in /etc/defaults/grub.

Really my main question is, what is putting that dumb purple screen up at boot, and how do I disable it!?

Ron
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Caleb Stewart
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4 Answers4

41

Edit in /etc/default/grub

# Stops the ubuntu purple screen
#GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only) 
GRUB_TERMINAL=console

Then run a sudo update-grub.

Drew Noakes
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shantanu
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5

To ensure 'that dumb purple screen' never shows up again after boot, do the following on the /etc/default/grub file:

  • sudo vi /etc/default/grub
  • Press i to enter into vi edit mode.
  • Uncomment the line which reads #GRUB_TERMINAL=console by removing the leading #
  • Press Esc to exit vi edit mode.
  • Type :wq to save the change made to the /etc/default/grub file and exit vi

  • Update /boot/grub/grub.cfg to have your change apply by running sudo update-grub

    If your computer uses systemd, you must tell systemd to skip the default login GUI thus:

  • sudo systemctl enable multi-user.target --force

  • sudo systemctl set-default multi-user.target


  • Reboot your computer: sudo reboot

Now, 'that dumb purple screen' will never show up again.

Remember, you must update /boot/grub/grub.cfg to have your changes apply.

Daniel Okwufulueze
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1

From the Grub boot menu editor (i.e. the menu that shows up while your machine is booting), you can try to comment the "load_video" line.

VeeTheSecond
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1

You may also want to prevent the kernel from changing video modes which can be problematic, especially if you cannot see the login prompt or it is partially off the screen. Add the setting GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset" to /etc/default/grub:

#GRUB_DEFAULT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
#GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
#for text mode boot up... and also uncomment the "console" terminal
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"
#GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="text"
GRUB_TERMINAL=console
PrgWiz
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