- Joined
- May 20, 2008
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- Your Mac's Specs
- 2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
I think the big question is...why did this computer (or why was this computer setup in this manner)...need to log into "Single User Mode"...which is what command + s on startup does...in order to boot into the macOS?Hi -- I have an old iMac which runs a windows partition. For some time now, to get into the mac operating system (Snow Leopard) I’ve had to go through the procedure of switching on the computer and holding down the mac command key + S key to get into the command prompt, and then typing: mount -uw / followed by exit.
Normally if a computer was setup as a dual boot computer (Windows and Snow Leopard in this case). You would hold down the Option key on startup...then select which partition to boot into (Windows or macOS).
Here's are article that explains Single User Mode:
How to boot your Mac in single-user mode
You may have heard of single-user mode and wondered how it works. In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know and how to boot into it.
macpaw.com
In one section of the article it says:
"When your Mac boots in single-user mode, instead of loading all the services and extensions you need to use it and then displaying a graphical user interface, it loads the bare minimum needed to run and presents you with a command line.
That can be quite daunting if you’ve never used a command-line interface or aren’t comfortable using one. And if that’s the case for you, the single-user mode is best avoided. However, particularly on older Macs with hard drives rather than Fusion drives or SSDs, it can be a useful way to run repairs on your boot disk. This is usually done by running the ‘fsck’ command after booting in safe mode."
Single user mode is really something best used for repairing or troubleshooting issues...maybe not something that should be done on a regular basis. I don't know the history of this computer...but when using the command line interface like this regularly (a very powerful feature)...if just one keystroke is done incorrectly one time...if that keystroke matches a command that can do something bad to the computer...could be in for some serious issues.
I know this info may not help now that there is an issue...just trying to better understand why this computer was setup/operated in this manner?
Nick