How do I access a console TTY on a MacBook?

Question

I've got a MacBook that I was finally able to get Ubuntu running on and then I upgraded to 17.10 and it choked again. It's booting to a login screen, but when I log in I get a black screen.

I'd like to hop over to TTY 2 and log in at a terminal prompt but crtl-opt-F2 or crtl-opt-F5 doesn't do anything. I read somewhere that I have to hit fn first, but that also has no effect.

Reading How do I switch between console mode and GUI in 17.10 and newer? clued me into part of my problem: TTY1 and TTY2 are spoken for in 17.10. But I'm still not clear on the keyboard sequence to shift between TTYs.

How do I get to a console TTY on a MacBook Pro keyboard?

I banged around and got to TTY3 but I don't know what worked. I think it was fn-crtl-opt-F3 ? — Amanda, Jun 04 '18 at 00:48
Possible duplicate of How do I switch between console mode and GUI in 17.10? — muru, Jun 04 '18 at 01:12

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 13 '18 at 02:27

2

Seems like I needed Fn Ctrl-Opt-F3

edited Jun 13 '18 at 02:27

muru

197,895
55
485
740

answered Jun 12 '18 at 20:37

Amanda

9,333

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 22 '22 at 08:54

0

One could also try ⌘+Option+⇠ or ⌘+Option+⇢

edited Mar 22 '22 at 08:54

matigo

22,138
7
45
75

answered Mar 21 '22 at 17:00

George

1

@matigo I meant ctrl not cmd – George Mar 28 '22 at 10:28

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 22 '22 at 09:00

0

If you are using an external keyboard that has Windows/Mac mode to choose from, make sure you choose the Windows mode, as Linux and Windows share the same keyboard layout. And then you can use the normal ways to enter a TTY.

answered Mar 22 '22 at 09:00

Emoji

577

How do I access a console TTY on a MacBook?

3 Answers3