Troubleshoot your Linux instance using GRUB - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
PrerequisitesConfigure GRUBUse GRUB
Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

Troubleshoot your Linux instance using GRUB

GNU GRUB (short for GNU GRand Unified Bootloader, commonly referred to as GRUB) is the default boot loader for most Linux operating systems. From the GRUB menu, you can select which kernel to boot into, or modify menu entries to change how the kernel will boot. This can be useful when troubleshooting a failing instance.

The GRUB menu is displayed during the boot process. The menu is not accessible via normal SSH, but you can access it via the EC2 Serial Console.

Prerequisites

Before you can configure and use GRUB, you must grant access to the serial console. For more information, see Configure access to the EC2 Serial Console.

Configure GRUB

Before you can use GRUB via the serial console, you must configure your instance to use GRUB via the serial console.

To configure GRUB, choose one of the following procedures based on the AMI that was used to launch the instance.

Amazon Linux 2
To configure GRUB on an Amazon Linux 2 instance

  1. Connect to your instance.

  2. Add or change the following options in /etc/default/grub:

    • Set GRUB_TIMEOUT=1.

    • Add GRUB_TERMINAL="console serial".

    • Add GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --speed=115200".

    The following is an example of /etc/default/grub. You might need to change the configuration based on your system setup.

    GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0 nvme_core.io_timeout=4294967295 rd.emergency=poweroff rd.shell=0"
GRUB_TIMEOUT=1
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"
GRUB_TERMINAL="console serial"
GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --speed=115200"

  3. Apply the updated configuration by running the following command.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
Ubuntu
To configure GRUB on an Ubuntu instance

  1. Connect to your instance.

  2. Add or change the following options in /etc/default/grub.d/50-cloudimg-settings.cfg:

    • Set GRUB_TIMEOUT=1.

    • Add GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu.

    • Add GRUB_TERMINAL="console serial".

    • Remove GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT.

    • Add GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --speed=115200".

    The following is an example of /etc/default/grub.d/50-cloudimg-settings.cfg. You might need to change the configuration based on your system setup.

    # Cloud Image specific Grub settings for Generic Cloud Images
# CLOUD_IMG: This file was created/modified by the Cloud Image build process

# Set the recordfail timeout
GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT=0

# Do not wait on grub prompt
GRUB_TIMEOUT=1
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu

# Set the default commandline
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="console=tty1 console=ttyS0 nvme_core.io_timeout=4294967295"

# Set the grub console type
GRUB_TERMINAL="console serial"
GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --speed 115200"

  3. Apply the updated configuration by running the following command.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo update-grub
RHEL
To configure GRUB on a RHEL instance

  1. Connect to your instance.

  2. Add or change the following options in /etc/default/grub:

    • Remove GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT.

    • Add GRUB_TERMINAL="console serial".

    • Add GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --speed=115200".

    The following is an example of /etc/default/grub. You might need to change the configuration based on your system setup.

    GRUB_TIMEOUT=1
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="$(sed 's, release .*$,,g' /etc/system-release)"
GRUB_DEFAULT=saved
GRUB_DISABLE_SUBMENU=true
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 net.ifnames=0 rd.blacklist=nouveau nvme_core.io_timeout=4294967295 crashkernel=auto"
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"
GRUB_ENABLE_BLSCFG=true
GRUB_TERMINAL="console serial"
GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --speed=115200"

  3. Apply the updated configuration by running the following command.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
CentOS

For instances that are launched using a CentOS AMI, GRUB is configured for the serial console by default.

The following is an example of /etc/default/grub. Your configuration might be different based on your system setup.

GRUB_TIMEOUT=1
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="$(sed 's, release .*$,,g' /etc/system-release)"
GRUB_DEFAULT=saved
GRUB_DISABLE_SUBMENU=true
GRUB_TERMINAL="serial console"
GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --speed=115200"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="console=tty0 crashkernel=auto console=ttyS0,115200"
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"

Use GRUB

After GRUB is configured, connect to the serial console and reboot the instance with the reboot command. During reboot, you see the GRUB menu. Press any key when the GRUB menu appears to stop the boot process, allowing you to interact with the GRUB menu.

Single user mode

Single user mode will boot the kernel at a lower runlevel. For example, it might mount the filesystem but not activate the network, giving you the opportunity to perform the maintenance necessary to fix the instance.

To boot into single user mode

  1. Connect to the instance's serial console.

  2. Reboot the instance using the following command.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo reboot

  3. During reboot, when the GRUB menu appears, press any key to stop the boot process.

  4. In the GRUB menu, use the arrow keys to select the kernel to boot into, and press e on your keyboard.

  5. Use the arrow keys to locate your cursor on the line containing the kernel. The line begins with either linux or linux16 depending on the AMI that was used to launch the instance. For Ubuntu, two lines begin with linux, which must both be modified in the next step.

  6. At the end of the line, add the word single.

    The following is an example for Amazon Linux 2.

    linux /boot/vmlinuz-4.14.193-149.317.amzn2.aarch64 root=UUID=d33f9c9a-\
dadd-4499-938d-ebbf42c3e499 ro  console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 net.ifname\
s=0 biosdevname=0 nvme_core.io_timeout=4294967295 rd.emergency=poweroff rd.she\
ll=0 single

  7. Press Ctrl+X to boot into single user mode.

  8. At the login prompt, enter the user name of the password-based user that you set up previously, and then press Enter.

  9. At the Password prompt, enter the password, and then press Enter.

Emergency mode

Emergency mode is similar to single user mode except that the kernel runs at the lowest runlevel possible.

To boot into emergency mode, follow the steps in Single user mode in the preceding section, but at step 6 add the word emergency instead of single.