One of the booting methods on Apple hardware that can be useful for troubleshooting if you’re having problems with the Finder or Apple’s Aqua interface is Console mode. By booting into this you’re basically bypassing Aqua and loading the Dawin back end with a command line interface.
There are two ways to do it; the first one is preferred and recommended. Do NOT do the second method unless you know exactly what you’re doing and have been told to do it specifically.
- You can enter a console on a per session basis by entering your user name as ‘>console’ (without quotes). (If you have an automated log on, or a selection of user names instead of an area to type the user name you can use “System Preferences” and under “Accounts” you can select Login Options and and change “Display login window as” to “Name and Password.” If the Mac is booted up and showing you a list of users, you can switch it to the field-based login by pressing option-return. You may need to first move the selection by pressing any key to highlight one of the listed users.)
- Edit /etc/ttys. Comment out the line “console “/System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow”" by placing a pound (#) mark in front of it. Remove the pound mark from the line “console “/usr/libexec/getty std.9600″ vt100 on secure”, and restart. This will permanently set the machine to boot into Console Mode unless you change it back.
Important Notes
- To start X11 in Console Mode, type in “sudo /usr/X11R6/bin/startx” after you’ve logged in.
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