Oops I need runlevel 1

Question

So I have a bug in a script in my init.d directory and bottom line...I can't completely boot the pi.

How can I boot into runlevel 1 (single user mode) so I can fix the bug?

Check this link for several options http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=16185 — Steve Robillard, Nov 27 '12 at 04:42
If you want to access and change SD card Linux partition files from Windows you can do it with one of these utilities. — avra, Nov 27 '12 at 11:34
I couldn't find a way to force the pi to boot into runlevel 1 so I fired up a fedora live disk I had laying around and used the terminal to remove the script in question from the /etc/init.d directory — Deac Karns, Nov 28 '12 at 01:58

score 17 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 28 '12 at 06:40

That's not exactly a way to enter runlevel 1, but there is "safe mode" boot option in raspberry Pi firmware. To enable it, you have to insert a jumper between pins 5 and 6 on P1 (GPIO) header when booting.

Safemode pins

If you do this, bootloader will ignore the config.txt file (except from avoid_safe_mode option which can be used to disable this feature) and will try to boot kernel_emergency.img (if available) instead of kernel.img.

Default kernel_emergency.img has special emergency initramfs build in and it will boot to this busybox based OS so that you can fix the problems in your OS manually (or change kernel boot parameters to run runlevel 1 at next boot). Remember to run sync before powering down since reboot or shutdown commands may not work.

That's exactly what I was looking for. – Deac Karns Dec 02 '12 at 02:32 — Deac Karns, Dec 02 '12 at 02:32

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 03 '15 at 02:49

6

Hit shift when starting up.
Hit "e" to edit config
tab over to cmdline.txt
add to the end of the line

init=/bin/sh
hit ok, then Esc to boot...... it will boot you in to a command line

# /etc/init.d/mountall.sh (this will do something)

# mount -n -o remount,rw / (this will remount / so you can make changes)
now you should be able to edit the init.d config......
when you reboot again.... hold shift and remove the init=/bin/sh

answered Sep 03 '15 at 02:49

Mike Sandler

61
1
1

Excellent! I'd found instructions to init sh but was missing the remount stuff I needed. Thanks! – Richard Turner May 13 '16 at 07:18

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 05 '17 at 02:25

Several of the other answers here are now incorrect:

The GPIO jumper pin method was removed from the upstream OS, so it only works now if you're using a NOOBS image
Raspbian Jessie's move to systemd breaks the init=/bin/sh hack. When you do this, it complains, can't access tty: job control turned off

Fortunately, there is a solution that works, which actually gives real single-user access: add a space and a 1 at the end of cmdline.txt, right after the rootwait parameter.

The hold-Shift boot menu doesn't exist with the stock Raspbian Jessie OS image, so you'll have to do this by editing /boot/cmdline.txt from another computer if you aren't using the NOOBS image.

Hmmm, for what it's worth, this only half-way worked on the image I have. It gave a thing for a "rescue mode", but that gave an error message saying it Cannot open access to console, the root account is locked. -- did I miss a step? Or did they just increase security at some point? Or... ? — lindes, Mar 19 '21 at 02:10

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Sep 11 '14 at 09:19

1

Boot into runlevel 1
```
$ sudo init 1
```
After booting into runlevel 1
```
$ passwd
```

NOTE: to runlevel 1, change the file /etc/inittab from id:2:initdefault: to something similar like: id:1:initdefault:

edited Sep 11 '14 at 09:19

Morgan Courbet

3,703
3
22
38

answered Sep 10 '14 at 16:57

Lowreno

11
1

2

Is that really booting into runlevel 1, though? I mean, it can hardly be done if the machine isn't booted in the first place, can it? – Bex Sep 10 '14 at 17:34
No, it certainly is not. What it is, is changing run level on a running system. – Crusty Barnacle May 01 '20 at 08:24

Oops I need runlevel 1

4 Answers4

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