Changing a Runlevel

Targets and Runlevels

In systemd, the concept of runlevels has been replaced with systemd targets to improve flexibility. For example, you can inherit an existing target and turn it into your own target by adding other services. The table below provides a complete list of runlevels and their corresponding systemd targets.

Viewing the Default Target

To determine which target is used by default, run the following command:

systemctl get-default

Example command output:

$ systemctl get-default 
 graphical.target

Viewing the Current Target

To list all currently loaded targets, run the following command:

systemctl list-units --type target

Example command output:

$ systemctl list-units --type target 
 UNIT                  LOAD ACTIVE SUB    DESCRIPTION 
 basic.target          loaded active active Basic System 
 cryptsetup.target     loaded active active Encrypted Volumes 
 getty.target          loaded active active Login Prompts 
 graphical.target      loaded active active Graphical Interface 
 local-fs-pre.target loaded active active Local File Systems (Pre) 
 local-fs.target       loaded active active Local File Systems 
 multi-user.target     loaded active active Multi-User System 
 network.target        loaded active active Network 
 paths.target          loaded active active Paths 
 remote-fs.target      loaded active active Remote File Systems 
 sockets.target        loaded active active Sockets 
 sound.target          loaded active active Sound Card 
 spice-vdagentd.target loaded active active Agent daemon for Spice guests 
 swap.target           loaded active active Swap 
 sysinit.target        loaded active active System Initialization 
 time-sync.target      loaded active active System Time Synchronized 
 timers.target         loaded active active Timers 
 LOAD = Reflects whether the unit definition was properly loaded. 
 ACTIVE = The high-level unit activation state, i.e. generalization of SUB. 
 SUB    = The low-level unit activation state, values depend on unit type. 
 17 loaded units listed. Pass --all to see loaded but inactive units, too. 
 To show all installed unit files use 'systemctl list-unit-files'.

Changing the Default Target

To change the default target, run the following command as the root user:

systemctl set-default name.target

Example command output:

# systemctl set-default multi-user.target 
 rm '/etc/systemd/system/default.target' 
 ln -s '/usr/lib/systemd/system/multi-user.target' '/etc/systemd/system/default.target'

Changing the Current Target

To change the current target, run the following command as the root user:

ssystemctl isolate name.target

Example command output:

# systemctl isolate multi-user.target

Changing to Rescue Mode

To change the operating system to rescue mode, run the following command as the root user:

systemctl rescue

This command is similar to systemctl isolate rescue.target, but it also sends an informative message to all login users. To prevent systemd from sending this message, run this command with the --no-wall option:

systemctl --no-wall rescue

For example:

# systemctl rescue 
 Broadcast message from root@localhost on pts/0 (Fri 2013-10-25 18:23:15 CEST): 
 The system is going down to rescue mode NOW!

Changing to Emergency Mode

To change the operating system to emergency mode, run the following command as the root user:

systemctl emergency

This command is similar to systemctl isolate emergency.target, but it also sends an informative message to all login users. To prevent systemd from sending this message, run this command with the --no-wall option:

systemctl --no-wall emergency