Booting to a console window on a Mac

So recently I had the need to boot a mac into console mode only since it was being used as a webserver. If you too want to do the same and boot your mac into text-only mode, then read on.

A quick google search will reveal that there are sereval ways to do this. However, since I always prefer the easiest ways, I'll only post the quick and dirty way here.

First off open a terminal window or log into your computer through ssh (if you don't know what that is, I suggest that you keep graphical mode on your computer for now and think about using a text-only mode later on).

Then get root access to the computer via
$ sudo su

After this, you'll have to open up
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist
in your favourite editor
And change the default login to the following:

 <key>RetriesUntilHint</key>
        <integer>3</integer>
        <key>SHOWFULLNAME</key>
        <false/>
        <key>autoLoginUser</key>
        <string>>console</string>
        <key>lastUser</key>
        <string>loggedIn</string>
        <key>lastUserName</key>
        <string>rishi</string>
        <key>noPasswordKey</key>
        <false/>


Notice the >console

Then simply save the file and reboot.

After the login manager starts, it'll boot you right into the console window.

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