How can I boot to linux command line from GRUB?

Question

I botched a gnome install on my virtual box and now when it boots it just hangs up at a black screen. I wante to get back into a command line and uninstall/reinstall gnome...

Solution 1

Edit the entry from the Grub screen when it comes up (press e)

Find the kernel line and add either single or init=/bin/sh to the end of it then press Ctrl+X to boot.

Alternatively have you tried pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 to get to a terminal?

See also https://askubuntu.com/a/132983/354175

Solution 2

ya, if grub doesn't show a menu, hold [shift] when it's starting. Go to your Ubuntu version's menu item, and press 'e' to edit. Go down to the linux start line, which contains 'vmlinuz' followed by a bunch of other fun stuff. Insert 'text' before the part '$vt_handoff'. Removing 'splash' and 'quiet' will let you see what's going on. You should try that while trying to boot into desktop graphics as well!

Comments

[chenjesu]

You might also try mashing Esc while the computer is booting. see wiki.ubuntu.com/RecoveryMode