<![CDATA[[solved] Possible disk corruption, trying to boot to single user mode hangs]]>What is the proper way to get to single user mode with pfsense?

I hit "2" at the boot logo, but then get to
"Trying to mount root from ufs…." , and just hangs.  (never get prompt asking for shell, etc)

If I reboot to default, will boot fine.

The reason I am checking for disk corruption is after a power cycle, I lost all of my fw rules and had message
"Warning: /: mount pending error: blocks 16 files 0"

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/topic/100003/solved-possible-disk-corruption-trying-to-boot-to-single-user-mode-hangsRSS for NodeWed, 22 Jul 2026 16:49:30 GMTMon, 16 May 2016 22:42:51 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to [solved] Possible disk corruption, trying to boot to single user mode hangs on Wed, 18 May 2016 19:03:43 GMT]]>You can also do that on-the-fly from a loader prompt without editing:

https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting#Booting_with_an_alternate_console

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/625633https://forum.netgate.com/post/625633Wed, 18 May 2016 19:03:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [solved] Possible disk corruption, trying to boot to single user mode hangs on Wed, 18 May 2016 18:57:58 GMT]]>Yes that was the issue, support was able to point that out to me.  Apparently multi-user mode will do either-or/both , but single mode defaults to first only.
For anyone else stuck trying to get to single user mode, change the line in /boot/loader.conf

-console="comconsole,vidconsole"
+console="vidconsole,comconsole"

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/625630https://forum.netgate.com/post/625630Wed, 18 May 2016 18:57:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to [solved] Possible disk corruption, trying to boot to single user mode hangs on Wed, 18 May 2016 14:47:18 GMT]]>Sounds like you're looking at the secondary console not the primary. For example, if the box has serial and video consoles and is set to prefer serial, it will get the single user mode prompt and not video.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/625557https://forum.netgate.com/post/625557Wed, 18 May 2016 14:47:18 GMT