How to permanently switch over to runlevel 3 on 20.04.x LTS

Support & Help Requests
1

I deployed new 20.04.x LTS systems and now I would like to cut all of that TTY7 stuff and move to runlevel 3 instead (multiuser+network).

Before, I used to do this:

But now, this doesn't seem to be working anymore:

$ sudo systemctl isolate multi-user.target
$ sudo systemctl enable multi-user.target
The unit files have no installation config (WantedBy=, RequiredBy=, Also=,
Alias= settings in the [Install] section, and DefaultInstance= for template
units). This means they are not meant to be enabled using systemctl.
 
Possible reasons for having this kind of units are:
• A unit may be statically enabled by being symlinked from another unit's
  .wants/ or .requires/ directory.
• A unit's purpose may be to act as a helper for some other unit which has
  a requirement dependency on it.
• A unit may be started when needed via activation (socket, path, timer,
  D-Bus, udev, scripted systemctl call, ...).
• In case of template units, the unit is meant to be enabled with some
  instance name specified.
$

So what would be the "official method" if one wishes to totally scrap GUI when using 20.04. LTS?

2

The systemctl isolate is temporary way.

To make it permanent you have to use systemctl set-default as shown below:

sudo systemctl set-default multi-user.target

and reboot.

To revert graphical session use

sudo systemctl set-default graphical.target

For details you can check man systemctl .

1 Like
3

You could modify /etc/default/grub

comment this line: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
uncomment this line: GRUB_TERMINAL=console

reboot

4

@pavlos_kairis

Thank you very much guys