Does recent macos have TTYs enabled? If not, is it possible to enable?

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Level 1

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Does recent macos have TTYs enabled? If not, is it possible to enable?

On most Linux distributions, you have the ability to press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to open TTY1.

Does macOS have this ability? Is there a way to enable it?

If macOS freezes, it could be quite handy to be able to switch over to a TTY to enable one to execute a command or two to fix things.

If it matters, I am using a MacBook Air M1.

There is an answer on stackover flow suggesting that you can use Fn+Ctrl+Alt+F1, but that doesn't seem to work for me. It is also from 2009, so it could very well be out-of-date information.

Only one TTY (TTY1) is available in OSX. To enable tty use fn+ctrl+alt+F1.

Posted on Oct 14, 2021 12:04 PM

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Answer 1

BobHarris

Level 9

56,807 points

Oct 17, 2021 10:59 AM in response to jutt64

It is possible to boot into Single User Mode, which is effectively a tty interface.

https://support.apple.com/guide/security/boot-modes-sec7703b1423/web

Boot holding Command-S

While up and running, you have Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal

You can also boot into Recovery Mode, and obtain a Terminal interface via the menu items.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201255

Boot holding Command-R

or Command-Option-R (Internet boot)

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Answer 2

Oct 14, 2021 12:11 PM in response to jutt64

macOS boots into the graphical environment directly, there is no underlaying TTY from which the GUI is started (unlike Linux which boots into text mode from where you start X11 or whatever graphical environment you use).

You can enable ssh logins and then try to log in via ssh if the GUI freezes. This obviously requires access to a second device though.

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Does recent macos have TTYs enabled? If not, is it possible to enable?

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