Virtual console
lastmod 2018-08-17created 2015-11-162 edits
A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as BSD, Linux, and UnixWare in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between multiple virtual consoles to access unrelated user interfaces. Virtual consoles date back at least to Xenix in the 1980s.
Linux installation and virtual consoles
Linux installation also supports multiple virtual consoles. During installation, you can check various messages by switching screens. In the end, the logs produced during installation are written to /root/install.log.
List of virtual consoles
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[CTRL] + [ALT] + [F1]: screen shown when installing in text mode -
[CTRL] + [ALT] + [F2]: Bash shell screen -
[CTRL] + [ALT] + [F3]: screen showing messages from the install process -
[CTRL] + [ALT] + [F4]: screen showing messages from the kernel -
[CTRL] + [ALT] + [F5]: screen showing messages output by the mke2fs and grub commands -
[CTRL] + [ALT] + [F7]: screen shown when installing in graphical mode