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Boot Kali in Console Mode

To boot Kali in console mode is a pretty common practice. Since Kali has updated to 2.0/Rolling, the normal method of using chkconfig to disable the display manager no longer works. I am not sure why it doesn’t work, but it doesn’t. They also use LightDM instead of GDM3.

Updated 9/1/2016:

On the Kali forums, user ovosodo provides a much cleaner resolution:

To get Kali 2.0 / Rolling to boot into console (useful on ARM hardware such as Raspberry Pi/2/3), run the following commands:

root@kali:~# systemctl get-default

root@kali:~# systemctl set-default multi-user.target

Once you reboot, you will be at the familiar console login screen. To revert these changes, all one has to do is run:

root@kali:~# systemctl set-default graphical.target

Once you reboot, you should be back to the GUI login screen.

Published inITKali LinuxLinuxPen TestingRaspberry Pi

3 Comments

  1. Aj Aj

    Tried it it work but it’s not booting back in GUI the code fails … I’ve tried running the gdm3 it shows me my log on screen but I never get to log on because nothing works there …Please help soon…
    [email protected] this my email please reply soon I need my pc back in GUI now please

    • Lost Lost

      Sorry, this comment got caught in the spam filter. Hopefully you got it resolved? If not, what happened when you tried logging in?

  2. why_u_need_my_name why_u_need_my_name

    very helpful. thanks!

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