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I have a Linux system (Ubuntu) running in a VM, but now I want to disable the graphical shell. Where in the startup process are the graphical components launched? Is it some run-level dependent config? Which config files must I edit to stop it?

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3 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

you can just disable gdm service:

sudo mv /etc/init/gdm.conf /etc/init/gdm.conf.off
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If anyone is doing this in VirtualBox like me, it helps to know the keyboard shortcut for navigating to the virtual terminals, Host Key (e.g. right Ctrl) + e.g. F1 or whatever. – mydoghasworms Sep 6 '11 at 9:03
up vote 5 down vote

You'd need to prevent gdm service from starting at boot. The problem is that Ubuntu uses the weird upstart thing... So there are no simple commands to disable booting of some service. You are left with either removing the gdm init script or editing it so that it doesn't run gdm. See this thread for how this can be done.

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up vote 2 down vote

Open the file /etc/default/grub and add to the variable GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT the string text.

Then, update GRUB's configuration file with

sudo update-grub
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