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I've recently installed Ubuntu. It's graphical; how can I switch to command-line mode so that everything is to be typed, like DOS?

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    CTRL + ALT + F3 for Ubuntu 17.10 onward.
    – logbasex
    Nov 3, 2020 at 17:58

4 Answers 4

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On recent versions of Ubuntu, there are several (by default 7) "virtual terminals", each of which can have its own display environment. By default, VTs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 contain text-mode Linux consoles, and VT 7 contains an X session (graphical Linux desktop).

The default command to switch to VT n is Ctrl-Alt-Fn. So to switch to a non-graphical view, press Ctrl-Alt-F1. Note that you have to log in separately on each virtual terminal. After switching, enter your username and password to get to a Bash prompt.

To switch back to your graphical session, press Ctrl-Alt-F7. (If you have logged in using "switch user", to get back to your graphical X session you may have to use Ctrl-Alt-F8 instead, since "switch user" creates an additional VT to allow multiple users to run graphical sessions simultaneously.) If you're done with the text-mode session, first press Ctrl-D at the Bash prompt to log out of that session (otherwise, other people could get to a logged-in session, bypassing your password check).

Note that you don't have to do this to type commands at the command-line: You can use a terminal program like gnome-terminal within your graphical session (see Pavium's answer).

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  • how to login in virtual terminal, it alway prompt "login incorrect" Aug 20, 2018 at 15:46
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Ubuntu 18.04 allows me to go to terminal mode with Ctrl+Alt+F3 and back to GUI with Ctrl+Alt+F1.

I realize this is an old post, but it still can be useful today.

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It's not necessary to completely shut down the GUI.

The interface for the command-line is called 'Terminal', in Applications/Accessories.

If you do want to shutdown the GUI (the X server), see Ubuntu Linux - shutdown the X server

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  • Is it convenient to switch back and force ?
    – PHP
    Jan 26, 2010 at 4:14
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    @PHP: The terminal pavium is referring to is a window within the GUI so switching back and forth between windows is as easy as Alt-tab or a mouse click. Jan 26, 2010 at 4:46
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Ubuntu (like other Unix-variants) has multiple Terminals. The graphical console you are seeing is on 7. The first 6 are text consoles. You can switch between text consoles by using ALT+[number of terminal]. To switch from the graphical console you will have to add STRG to that command.

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