MacOS – Accessing a terminal when an interactive desktop session is unresponsive

command linemacos

On linux distributions one can simply press the following keys in order to access the shell:

  • Ctrl+Alt+F2
  • Ctrl+Alt+F7 to exit and return to the GUI.

Is there a similar capability in OS X that would let me access a terminal when my interactive desktop session is no longer responsive?

If anyone wants to know why, read below

I have a reason for needing this, and mainly because I killed the wrong process id, which in term ended the launchd daemon. As now I couldn't run Terminal.app, or type in my existing shells I needed to gain access of the main shell (my session is running in) which was active because Spotify still worked! In order to start-up that daemon again to rectify my problem – annoyingly I had to restart which for Unix operating system is ridiculous – ONLY time a linux/unix system need be rebooted is after kernel updates are installed, otherwise it doesn't need to be.

Best Answer

There hasn't been a console bypass on OSX since 10.0 days, so it's not so much Apple removed it as the feature never passed review for initial implementation. Having such a bypass is a security risk if anyone with physical access to the machine can simply open a shell with a key press or two.

Here's what you can do:

  • You can ssh into your OS since it runs sshd like all unix.
  • You can use a remote management tool like Apple Remote Desktop to issue remote commands as well.

I understand your take on it being a flaw or omission, but it's just not part of the OS X heritage to have a back door to a prompt like linux has implemented.

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