Ubuntu – Switching between virtual console and GUI

command linegui

How to switch between virtual console and GUI in Ubuntu? I wanted to see what key functions would allow me to switch between the two.

Best Answer

By default Ubuntu has 6 virtual consoles tty1-tty6 which are accessed by the keyboard combinations Ctrl+Alt+F1 to Ctrl+Alt+F6. The virtual console can also be accessed from a black screen if the boot process stops at a black screen when booting. To access the GUI from any virtual console press the keyboard combination Ctrl+Alt+F7.

Starting with Ubuntu 17.10 the virtual consoles are accessed by the keyboard combinations Ctrl+Alt+F3 to Ctrl+Alt+F6. To access the GUI from any virtual console press the keyboard combination Ctrl+Alt+F2.

To login from a virtual console:

At the login: prompt type your username and press Enter.
At the Password: prompt type your user password and press Enter. After you have logged in, you can run commands from the virtual console.
To bring up the normal Ubuntu login screen run this command:
```
sudo systemctl start lightdm.service  
```
In 16.04 and later run this command instead to bring up the normal Ubuntu login screen:
```
sudo systemctl start graphical.target
```

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to get to the GUI after switching to a virtual console

If you switched TTYs with Ctrl+Alt+F1 you can go back to the one running your X with Ctrl+Alt+F7.

TTY 7 is where Ubuntu keeps the graphical interface running.

Its not scary at all, you can use TTYs to do troubleshooting and other necessary configuration, get a bit familiar with it, login, check it out (it works as the terminal inside graphical Ubuntu) and logoff. You can login to several TTYs without messing your system.

When you want to go back to graphical press Ctrl+Alt+F7.

From 17.10 onwards VT1 is used for the display manager ("login screen"), the standard X session uses VT2. Hence we have VT3 as the first usable VT.

Also see Why is my GDM at a different TTY than my desktop environment? for more about the origin of this change.

Ubuntu – Switching between console and GUI in ubuntu

To go in tty1 and stop the GUI, run from terminal:

sudo xdotool key Ctrl+Alt+F1 && sudo service lightdm stop

You can test now in the tty1 the fact that the GUI is stopped using:

sudo service lightdm status

Note: xdotool is not installed by default in Ubuntu, so you must to install it first using sudo apt-get install xdotool command.

To start the GUI again from tty1, you can run (as you said):

sudo service lightdm start

If you want also to close (exit) tty1 session, you can use:

sudo service lightdm start && logout

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to get to the GUI after switching to a virtual console

Ubuntu – Switching between console and GUI in ubuntu

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