Can't 'reboot' out of single-user mode.

Went into single-user mode earlier to run fsck. After everything had finished, and a couple of minor things repaired, typed in 'reboot' and... nothing happened. There didn't seem to be a prompt anymore to accept an input. I eventually just used the master switch. This was the first time I'd tried this since updating to Tiger. Is this a Tiger thing?

reboot is not what you type at single user mode. That is not a Unix command. In single user mode you type:
/sbin/mount -uw /
followed by
exit
or
logout
to leave it. You may be confusing it with open firmware, which you type:
mac-boot
to exit.

Similar Messages

Can boot to disk in single user mode. But not regular boot.

I setup an alias called md-rootdisk for booting my Solaris 10 System on a V440.
I tried to reboot using the alias md-rootdisk twice. It only worked once.
The first attempt was to single user mode. The sytem booted but there was a krtld error.
The Second attempt was a regular boot.
I'm trying to figure out why the first attempt "worked" and the 2nd didn't.
The details are below.
First Boot_
{1} ok boot -s md-rootdisk
Boot device: /pci@1f,700000/scsi@2/disk@0,0:a File and args: -s md-rootdisk
krtld: Unused kernel arguments: `md-rootdisk'.
SunOS Release 5.10 Version Generic_120011-14 64-bit
Second boot_
{1} ok boot md-rootdisk
Boot device: pci@1f,700000/scsi@2/disk@0,0:a File and args:
Can't locate boot device
{1} ok boot md-rootdisk

If the disk is a normal disk, this will get you to single user mode:
boot disk -s
In the second case, it looks like there is something wrong with the device path aliased.

I changed my wheel group properties to no access at top disk level. I messed up, how can I change back in single user mode "command s" as I am now in Thailand and not able to access startup disks?

I messed up, I changed my "Wheel group" properties to No Access ( or something other than the default) at the top level of my startup disk "Macintosh HD".   Now my computer won't start up, I just get the spinning wheel of death.    I also am in Thailand right now, so I cannot go to a Genius at an apple store, nor do I have startup disks available.
So I was hoping there was a way to change back the properties of my disk (Volume) in single user mode (via Command +s) during startup, i.e. can I do a chmod command on the Macintosh HD listing under the Volume Directory.    Or where do i fix this?   Is it fixable without startup disks, etc...
THANKS FOR ANY HELP!!!!
If you could also please let me know you have an answer, I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT!!!
thanks so much
mark
<Edited by Host>

Thomas,
Thanks for the info on command-R, didn't know about that!!!
Yes I changed the sharing "Wheel Group" permissions on my hard drive via Get Info.    But that's all I did.    And then most of the apps wouldn't respond with anything.    So not knowing I did something stupid, I decided to re-boot, and then nothing but the Wheel of Death at startup.
I was trying to limit access to my computer on this network, changed my public folder settings, and then I thought why not the whole hard drive, but at that time I had no idea what the "Wheel Group" was... so I shouldn't have touched it, BUT IT DID ...... argggggg....
I managed to go to an internet cafe & research the problem yesterday.    I used the command +s single mode to get in, and then did the necessary steps to mount the drive so I could make changes.   I basically did this:
Boot into single-user mode (boot while holding down CMD-S)
Follow the on-screen instructions to mount the file system as read-write (a fsck command followed by a mount command)
Type the following: "chmod o+r /" followed by "chmod o+x /"
Type "exit" to leave single user mode and complete the boot sequence.
I found it at this link http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=416180
It worked... thank God!!!   Well so far so good.
I was going to try my own fix by chmod on the Hard drive listed under Volumes directory, but that doesn't seem to match the info under Get Info Window.    So I just used the fix above.    I probably should now go and do "Disk Utility - repair permissions", however I am a little gun shy right now, so I will probably wait until I am back in the States so I can go to an Apple store if it messes up.   Right now I'm following the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" MOTTO...
So Thomas I just wanted to say THANKS for replying so quickly, and I really appreciate your help!!!
(yes I know I shouldn't have used my email addresses, but I WAS DESPERATE, but that's still no excuse)
Hopefully maybe this thread will help someone else out in the future....
Okay, thanks again!
Mark

Can I access Terminal from Single User Mode?

So I have an early 2011 MBP that is having the graphics switiching problem that's been well documented in some other threads recently:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?start=120&tstart=0
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/10/14/apples-2011-macbook-pro-lineup-sufferi ng-from-sporadic-gpu-failures
Basically, I cannot boot because it goes to a white screen after the apple logo.
I found these terminal commands that will shut off the discrete graphics card so that only the integrated graphics will run, which would be an ok solution because I mainly use the computer for Recording/Mixing etc with Logic Pro, so I don't really need the more powerful graphics.
http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/160161/apples-2011-macbook-pro-lineup-suffering -from-sporadic-gpu-failures/80#post_2420378
But I of course can't access Terminal because I can't get past startup. Is there a way to get to terminal and/or enter these commands while in Single User Mode?

Are you referring to these
You can move the kext out with these commands:
> mkdir DisabledExtensions
> cd /System/Library/Extensions
> sudo mv ATIRadeonX****.kext ~/DisabledExtensions (replace asterisks with your model's numbers)
> sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions
If so there is nothing to take, the commands are physically removing system files. Once those files are moved there is no way for them to go back unless you put them back or you do an install of the OS.
But I am surprised that Safe mode does not work for you. In Safe mode the system only uses the onboard graphics. Are you certain you ere booted into Safe mode? When in Safe mode the words Safe Boot will appear in red letters at the top of the login screen. Did you see that? I ask because it is easy to mistime the Shift key press during boot and not actually get into Safe mode.
Perhaps you problem something different?

Get out of single user mode? and get into the "normal" screen?? pls help!

Dear Everybody,
I have removed 2 users from my imac (osx 10.7.4) to create more space and had my main user still on the system.
after i restarted the system. a white screen came up? I had no idea what to do. After some checking i think i am in single user mode since there is only 1 user for the computer. PLEASE: how can I go from this white screen (single user) back to my normal log in so I can possible add 1 more user?
I have no idea what to do so pls help
Thanks

Dear Holden, Sorry for yesterday but my internet went dead (i'm in thailand)
thanks for all the suggestions but nothing works?
I keep getting a bright white screen after the apple logo grey screen.
I tried resetting the NVRAM or PRAM, i tried safe mode, i tried single user cmd and fsck -fy etc etc i keep getting the same end result a bright white screen
is there anybody who might know what to do?
MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE! I need a fast solution since i need my files urgently for work.

Agetty fails to start after switching out of single user mode

Every time I switch to runlevel 3 from single user mode, agetty fails with this error:
Jan 29 10:19:28 localhost agetty[1445]: /dev/tty1: cannot open as standard input: Input/output error
And since it fails, init disables it for 5 minutes… This always happens on the virtual console I run "init 3" on; the other consoles work fine.
This is how I run agetty from /etc/inittab:
c1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 38400 -a ma --noclear tty1 linux
Disabling auto-login and removing the --noclear option does not make any difference. Does anyone have a clue what is going on? It is more of an inconvenience than a problem, but still… I am using early KMS on an ATI Radeon 9550 card, by the way.

So nobody else has been bitten by this stupid bug?
Anyway, it happens on a pure VGA console too, so it has nothing to do with the video driver. And I take back the “more of an inconvenience” part – it is freaking annoying that one can not just properly change the runlevel. Oh well…

Powerbook -can't start up in single user mode or from CD-why?

My daughter was gifted a Powerbook (15"). I've upgraded it to 10.5.8. It has enough speed, (1.67 Ghz), 2 gigs RAM- but it is a sticky little machine- it freezes a lot. Froze twice during the upgrade, froze once during login, Froze once while trying to do a software update, froze once while trying to get into the system preferences. It freezes pretty consistently after 15-30 minutes or so, no matter what it's doing -if a program is running or not. I tried downloading AppleJack to run a diagnostic. That requires starting up from single user mode. I tried to do that , but the machine just opens to the login screen. I also tried running TechTool from the CD, and the machine wouldn't start up from CD either. What should I try next?

Try this one for some information.

Can't start up in single user mode

MacBook was shipped to me carelessly and now I can't get it to boot up. Tried just about everything, but wondering if there's any other way besides Apple + S to get it in Unix mode.

Thought I should add that after a long wait, a grey folder with a question mark pops up. It's not flashing, just solid. And eventually that disappears and goes back to a white screen.

Kernel panic on MacPro in Single-User mode after memtest.

I've had about 7 kernel panics in about 7 days on a new MacPro. 2 gigs of RAM (Apple Installed). Fresh install of OSX (no user import). While going through the troubleshooting process I ran memtest in single user mode. Ran it all night no errors.
So in the morning I typed ctrl-c and then exit (i think)... it seemed to start the process of booting and I got another kernal panic. I've actually done this three times now.
I checked panic.log and all the error messages but 1 were the same. Including the ones I got in single-user mode (copied below).
Should I be able to gracefully exit out of single-user mode without a kernel panic?
Does this point to a RAM error even though memtest and AHD for that matter ran all night without finding anything?
I'm all set to try again (taking careful notes this time) to see if I can reproduce but I was hoping for some feedback first.
Thanks,
Craig
Sat Jan 27 22:17:27 2007
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x41C47CC4): Uncorrectable Fbd memory error detected. ferr = 20000000 , nerr == 00000000, fErrFat = 20000000 nErrFat == 00000000
Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x108cd8 : 0x128d08 (0x3c9a74 0x108cfc 0x131de5 0x0)
0x108d18 : 0x41c47cc4 (0x41c49f1c 0x20000000 0x0 0x20000000)
0x108da8 : 0x41c47f58 (0x406a180 0x406a180 0x2 0x820044)
0x108e38 : 0x66a712 (0x406a180 0x0 0x3ba3680 0x0)
0x108e68 : 0x66a59b (0x3b92780 0x0 0x0 0x1c)
0x108e88 : 0x67d9be (0x1c 0x108ef8 0x8 0x67f4be)
0x108eb8 : 0x67db68 (0x3b91b1c 0x17 0x3b928ca 0x3b81120)
0x108f18 : 0x68a743 (0x3b34348 0x0 0xafdd0c77 0x4cd5)
0x108f38 : 0x70a4fb (0x3b34348 0x0 0x3abac80 0x0)
0x108f68 : 0x67053f (0x3b88600 0x0 0x3b87580 0x49)
0x108f88 : 0x669c1f (0x3b6b800 0x0 0x3b87580 0x49)
0x108fa8 : 0x3ba298 (0x3b87100 0x0 0x3b92f00 0x49)
0x108fe8 : 0x19aa80 (0x25423e30 0x25423e30 0x19bad6 0xb26000)
0x25423f18 : 0x1a445b (0x10 0x1 0x4af85c 0x6)
0x25423f38 : 0x19d871 (0x0 0x0 0x25423f68 0x206)
0x25423f58 : 0x135f14 (0x0 0x0 0x0 0x19d23a) Backtrace continues...
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.driver.AppleMCEDriver(1.1.2f1)@0x41c44000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily(1.2.0)@0x664000
com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC(1.2.0)@0x709000
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform(1.0.8)@0x668000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.2)@0x57d000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily(1.2.0)@0x664000
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.8.4: Sun Oct 29 15:26:54 PST 2006; root:xnu-792.16.4.obj~1/RELEASE_I386
MacPro Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Yes, your memory or memory slot, or memory seating is bad or off. "Uncorrectable Fbd memory error detected. ferr = 20000000 , nerr == 00000000, fErrFat = 20000000 nErrFat == 00000000"
Clearly a memory related issue. It may also be that memtest doesn't know how to diagnose the new kind of memory and is reporting that back to the logs. Take it in to a service center to have all the boards replaced to make sure the issue isn't reproduceable with new memory. If it is, then I'd consider the slots on the logicboard a problem.

Single user mode session lost after backgound processes jump in

We have an application running on SQL server. This application restores DB very frequently using Single user mode. Following are the SQLs that are executed to restore the database in single user mode and to get the database back in multi user mode.
alter database [test-db] set single_user with rollback immediate; --This sql is run using test-db
use master;restore database [test-db] from database_snapshot = 'snapshot_test-db';
alter database [test-db] set multi_user;
After switching the test-db to single user mode some 4-5 background processes of Taskmanager jump in for the test-db kicking off the session that application has taken over in single user mode . These background process are deadlocked between them selves.
Please refer to the output of sp_who2 below at link.
http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/getfile/200625
and following is the deadlock XML.
NOTE: SPIDs in deadlock XML may differ from the output of sp_who2 as spids keeps on changing for these processes.
<deadlock-list>
<deadlock victim="process4bbfc78">
<process-list>
<process id="process4bbfc78" taskpriority="0" logused="10000" waitresource="DATABASE: 5 " waittime="705" schedulerid="1" kpid="1648" status="background" spid="22" sbid="0" ecid="0" priority="0" trancount="0">
<executionStack/>
<inputbuf>
</inputbuf>
</process>
<process id="process6d44388" taskpriority="0" logused="10000" waitresource="DATABASE: 5 " waittime="419" schedulerid="1" kpid="5796" status="background" spid="30" sbid="0" ecid="0" priority="0" trancount="0">
<executionStack/>
<inputbuf>
</inputbuf>
</process>
<process id="process6d44718" taskpriority="0" logused="10000" waitresource="DATABASE: 5 " waittime="109" schedulerid="1" kpid="3908" status="background" spid="16" sbid="0" ecid="0" priority="0" trancount="0">
<executionStack/>
<inputbuf>
</inputbuf>
</process>
<process id="process4bbee38" taskpriority="0" logused="10000" waitresource="DATABASE: 5 " waittime="313" schedulerid="1" kpid="2656" status="background" spid="15" sbid="0" ecid="0" priority="0" trancount="0">
<executionStack/>
<inputbuf>
</inputbuf>
</process>
</process-list>
<resource-list>
<databaselock subresource="FULL" dbid="5" dbname="unknown" id="lock4671600" mode="S">
<owner-list>
<owner id="process6d44718" mode="S"/>
<owner id="process4bbee38" mode="S"/>
</owner-list>
<waiter-list>
<waiter id="process4bbfc78" mode="X" requestType="wait"/>
</waiter-list>
</databaselock>
<databaselock subresource="FULL" dbid="5" dbname="unknown" id="lock4671600" mode="S">
<owner-list>
<owner id="process4bbfc78" mode="S"/>
</owner-list>
<waiter-list>
<waiter id="process6d44388" mode="X" requestType="wait"/>
</waiter-list>
</databaselock>
<databaselock subresource="FULL" dbid="5" dbname="unknown" id="lock4671600" mode="S">
<owner-list>
<owner id="process4bbfc78" mode="S"/>
</owner-list>
<waiter-list>
<waiter id="process6d44718" mode="X" requestType="wait"/>
</waiter-list>
</databaselock>
<databaselock subresource="FULL" dbid="5" dbname="unknown" id="lock4671600" mode="S">
<owner-list>
<owner id="process4bbfc78" mode="S"/>
</owner-list>
<waiter-list>
<waiter id="process4bbee38" mode="X" requestType="wait"/>
</waiter-list>
</databaselock>
</resource-list>
</deadlock>
</deadlock-list>
On searching for this problem I found out that people have faced similar problem but I was unable to find out the root cause and debug steps for this problem. Stopping the SQL server is provided as a solution to kick out these background processes but this
is not a feasible in our case as code to restore DB runs very frequently resulting in this problem at a good frequency.
I also made sure that SQL Server Agent is not running. The SQL services running on server are SQL server, SQL Server Browser and SQL Server VSS Writer.
Any help will be appreciated as this is a blocker problem.
Thanks,

Hi Amrita,
We can open a transaction, make data modifications to generate a lot of transaction log, and then run ALTER DATABASE AppDB SET MULTI_USER in the same transaction. You can also refer to the following document:
Getting out of single user mode:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dfurman/archive/2012/01/20/getting-out-of-single-user-mode.aspx
Allen Li
TechNet Community Support

Won't boot normally or in recovery and single user mode, safe mode hangs up halfway

iMac locked up with visual glitches while playing the Mac beta client of League of Legends. Had to force a shutdown by holding the power button. Now it won't boot; after the Apple logo and spinning wheel I just get a white screen. I tried launching in recovery mode, that didn't work. Then I tried safe mode; the bar filled a little over half and then nothing but white screen. I was able to boot single user mode once; ran fsck -fy and rebooted, still white screen. Now I can't get back to single user mode. I booted with command option P R to reset the NVRAM and got the second chime, but still nothing.
Luckily all my important files are in the cloud, but I'm really hoping my computer isn't completely dead. I haven't had any issues in the past. I've even been playing LoL for over a month with no issues, until now when I tried to play the newer game types, Dominion and ARAM; both caused visual glitches forcing shutdowns. I was able to restart my computer with no problem after the first two visual glitches, but after the last one I am stuck at the white screen as I described above.
Thanks in advance for your help!

I'd bet the drive is damaged. You could try reformatting if possible. Again, you are booting from the Recovery-10.8.2 disk if you can. If you can't, then you will need to use the installer disc that came with the computer.
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
      left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
        the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
      the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

Scrolling in single user mode

how can i scroll windows in single user mode?

Hi, if we're talking about the Single User Mode, there is no Window at all, it's like the old dumb Terminals...
But you can read a log to possibly see some stuff that was logged...
tail - Print the last few entries in a log (or other text file). Useful to find out what happened to get you into this mess.
Examples:
tail /var/log/system.log
print the last screenful of entries from the main system log.
tail -1000 /var/log/system.log | more
print the last 1000 entries from the main system log, using more to display them one screenful at a time (remember: in single-user mode, there's no way to scroll back like you can in a terminal window).
http://www.westwind.com/reference/OS-X/commandline/single-user.html

Single User Mode : Read Only Filesystem

I can't edit files in single user mode as Root. When I try to edit them I get a msg saying "Read Only Filesystem".
I have tried chmod with no evial. I want to change my .profile as root so cls='clear'.
Any ideas?
Also when I try to login to my account in single user mode it says that account does not exist. However I'm in that accunt right now!
Thank You.

When you boot up into single user mode, there is a single recognized user -- root. That's why they call it single-user mode and not multi-user mode.
When you boot up into single user mode, the disk mounts as read-only. You have to make it writeable in order to do anything to it. I forget the actual command but it displays on the monitor nearby where it gives the "fsck" command syntax when you first boot into it. It's something like "mount -uw /" or something to that effect. It is saying to mount the root drive ("/") with user write privileges.
Then just "pico /Users/Mephux/.profile" (although I profess that I don't understand why you have to edit this file as root).
(if you find that this solves your problem, or is actually helpful towards arriving at a solution to your problem, please consider clicking on either the "helpful" or "solved" buttons above)

Patching zfs root in single user mode

Hi
I have to apply the Oracle recommended patchset to a server running on zfs root with zone roots also on zfs. The usual method of patching with Live Upgrade is giving some problems after the activation of the ABE. Can the patchset be applied to the server in the traditional single user mode
Any inputs would be appreciated

Yes, you can apply the patchset in single user mode, just keep in mind that your zones need to be bootable when patching as the patch installation will "partly" boot each zone when applying the patches. So if your zones rely on any NFS mounts etc, you will need to mount these first.
An alternative is to detach your zones during patching and then attach them using "zoneadm -z zonename attach -u" (or -U see the zoneadm(1M) man page for details on the differences).

Can't exit single user mode

I frequently start in single user mode to run fsck -fy on my startup disk
and after running fsck -fy, I exit single user mode typing exit or logout.
Now after running fsck -fy, typing exit or logout the single user mode remains
and returns a line: -sh-2.05b#. I’m not adept enough to use single user mode
other than for running fsck -fy so I am stuck on how to end the single user mode. TIA
Eric

Some stories have happy endings and this is one of them.
After a little head scratching I dig out the Tiger install DVD
and repaired the permissions on the problem HD partition.
Reboot to the problem disk, enter correct network settings, and
now we even have a web to surf. Also we can exit single user mode OK.
Eric

Can't 'reboot' out of single-user mode.

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