Grub

Last edited September 9, 2026

GNU GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader)

Pithy
Purpose: Load the operating system’s kernel into memory.

Booting into each mode with Grub

Single-user vs multi-user mode (systemd targets) is covered in Systemd.

GRUB
# highlight kernel, press 'e' to edit, append to the linux line, Control-X to boot
linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0 root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash                    # normal
linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0 root=/dev/sda1 ro systemd.unit=rescue.target      # rescue (single-user)
linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0 root=/dev/sda1 ro systemd.unit=emergency.target   # emergency
linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0 root=/dev/sda1 ro init=/bin/bash                  # bypass systemd entirely

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