Ever wondered how to log into OS X without the pretty windows? It’s a BSD-system after all. Why would anyone want to do that? If you managed to get your system in a state where the usual login simply does not work any more, for example. Let’s say you created a LaunchAgent, everything looked peachy, you installed it, rebooted and as soon as you log into an account everything goes haywire.
To cut a long story short, if—for whatever reason—you are not able to log in normally, and you know what to do about it, you either need to ssh into the machine or you have to log in using the console. But how do you do that?
Simple, your login-dialog needs to be set to “name and password”, though. Enter >console as username (the “>” is no typo) and hit ↩ (no password). The screen changes to a run-of-the-mill terminal, you probably have to press ↩ again to be greeted by a standard login-prompt. Remember to use the credentials of an administrative account since “normal” users are not allowed to use sudo. To revert back to normal use sudo reboot.
Disclaimer: It works for me, YMMV. I’m not responsible for any damage you inflict on your system, be careful. 
Technorati Tags: OS X, OS X console login
2 Comments
To get back to loginwindow you don’t need to reboot, just type “exit” in the console session and you’re out.
@pball: You are right, but to make sure that your system is in a defined state, you have to be really sure you didn’t change anything vital. IMHO, a reboot is the best way to get back to “normal”.