Kernel parameters

zh-CN:Kernel parameters There are three ways to pass options to the kernel and thus control its behaviour:

1. When building the kernel. See Kernel Compilation for details.
2. When starting the kernel (usually, when invoked from a boot loader).
3. At runtime (through the files in /proc and /sys). See sysctl for details.

This page now explains in more detail the second method and shows a list of most used kernel parameters in Arch Linux.

Configuration

Kernel parameters can be set either temporarily by editing the boot menu when it shows up, or by modifying the boot loader's configuration file.

Here we are adding the parameters quiet and splash to Syslinux, GRUB, GRUB Legacy, LILO, Gummiboot and rEFInd.

Syslinux

• Press Tab when the menu shows up and add them at the end of the string:

linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda3 initrd=/boot/initramfs-linux.img quiet splash

Press Enter to boot with these parameters.

• To make the change persistent after reboot, edit /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg and add them to the APPEND line:

APPEND root=/dev/sda3 quiet splash

For more information on configuring Syslinux, see the Syslinux article.

GRUB

• Press e when the menu shows up and add them on the linux line:

linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=978e3e81-8048-4ae1-8a06-aa727458e8ff quiet splash

Press b to boot with these parameters.

• To make the change persistent after reboot, while you could manually edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg with the exact line from above, for beginners it's recommended to:

Edit /etc/default/grub and append your kernel options to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

And then automatically re-generate the grub.cfg file with:

# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

For more information on configuring GRUB, see the GRUB article.

GRUB Legacy

• Press e when the menu shows up and add them on the kernel line:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sda3 quiet splash

Press b to boot with these parameters.

• To make the change persistent after reboot, edit /boot/grub/menu.lst and add them to the kernel line, exactly like above.

For more information on configuring GRUB Legacy, see the GRUB Legacy article.

LILO

• Add them to /etc/lilo.conf:

image=/boot/vmlinuz-linux
        ...
        quiet splash

For more information on configuring LILO, see the LILO article.

Gummiboot

• Press e when the menu appears and add the parameters to the end of the string:

initrd=\initramfs-linux.img root=/dev/sda2 rw quiet splash

Press Enter to boot with these parameters.

Note: If you have not set a value for menu timeout, you will need to hold Space while booting for the Gummiboot menu to appear.

• To make the change persistent after reboot, edit /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf (assuming you set up your EFI System Partition and configuration files according to the instructions in the Beginners' Guide) and add them to the options line:

options root=/dev/sda2 rw quiet splash

For more information on configuring Gummiboot, see the Gummiboot article.

rEFInd

• To make the change persistent after reboot, edit /boot/EFI/arch/refind_linux.conf (ie. refind_linux.conf in the folder your kernel is located in) and append them to all/required lines, for example:

"Boot to X"   "root=PARTUUID=978e3e81-8048-4ae1-8a06-aa727458e8ff ro rootfstype=ext4 quiet splash

• If you've disabled auto-detection of OS's in rEFInd and are defining OS stanzas instead in /boot/EFI/refind/refind.conf to load your OS's, you can edit it like:

menuentry "Arch" {
	loader /EFI/arch/vmlinuz-arch.efi
	options "quiet splash ro root=PARTUUID=978e3e81-8048-4ae1-8a06-aa727458e8ff"

For more information on configuring kernel parameters in rEFInd, see Configuring the rEFInd Bootmanager

Parameter list

Parameters always come in parameter or parameter=value. All of these parameters are case-sensitive.

Note: Not all of the listed options are always available. Most are associated with subsystems and work only if the kernel is configured with those subsystems built in. They also depend on the presence of the hardware they are associated with.

parameter	Description
root=	Root filesystem.
ro	Mount root device read-only on boot.
rw	Mount root device read-write on boot (default).
initrd=	Specify the location of the initial ramdisk.
init=	Run specified binary instead of /sbin/init (symlinked to systemd in Arch) as init process.
init=/bin/sh	Boot to shell.
systemd.unit=
systemd.unit=multi-user	Boot to a specified runlevel.
systemd.unit=rescue	Boot to single-user mode (root).
nomodeset	Disable Kernel Mode Setting.

For a complete list of all options, please see the kernel documentation.

See also

• Power saving#Kernel parameters
• List of kernel parameters with further explanation and grouped by similar options