I am unable to switch between the various TTY screens. i dont see that I am using the wrong keys or sequence but it wont take for some reason I dont quite understand. My /etc/init file is below though.. maybe someone can see something?

#
# inittab This file describes how the INIT process should set up
# the system in a certain run-level.
#
# Author: Miquel van Smoorenburg, <miquels@drinkel.nl.mugnet.org>
# Modified for RHS Linux by Marc Ewing and Donnie Barnes
#

# Default runlevel. The runlevels used by Mandriva Linux are:
# 0 - halt (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
# 1 - Single user mode
# 2 - Multiuser, without NFS (The same as 3, if you do not have networking)
# 3 - Full multiuser mode
# 4 - unused
# 5 - X11
# 6 - reboot (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
#
id:5:initdefault:

# System initialization.
si::sysinit:/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit

l0:0:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 0
l1:1:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 1
l2:2:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 2
l3:3:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 3
l4:4:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 4
l5:5:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 5
l6:6:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 6

# Trap CTRL-ALT-DELETE
ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now

# When our UPS tells us power has failed, assume we have a few minutes
# of power left. Schedule a shutdown for 2 minutes from now.
# This does, of course, assume you have powerd installed and your
# UPS connected and working correctly.
pfwerfail:/sbin/shutdown -f -h +2 "Power Failure; System Shutting Down"

# If power was restored before the shutdown kicked in, cancel it.
pr:12345owerokwait:/sbin/shutdown -c "Power Restored; Shutdown Cancelled"


# Run gettys in standard runlevels
1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1
2:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty2
3:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty3
4:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty4
5:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty5
6:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty6

# Single user mode
~~:S:wait:/bin/sh

Hya,

Can you describe what you did? (instead of you did correct)

Otherwise we do not have clue.

Happy Penguins!

Um...well I tried control-alt-f1 thru f5.

Check that you have /sbin/mingetty I don't known Mandriva, but some changes are in new distros, check if you have directory /etc/event.d or /etc/init

hm.. I dont seem to have an event.d OR etc/init...

Neither does Slackware64 ...

Check with ps command that these consoles are really started, for example:

Can you please post the contents of /etc/securetty ?

In response to eSelix... I did the command ps -A | grep tty and it returned tty1 through tty6 as running, each showing process ID numbers. So that makes me think that the command keystroke I am attempting isnt working? Or correct?

Here is my securetty file.

tty0
tty1
tty2
tty3
tty4
tty5
tty6
vc/1
vc/2
vc/3
vc/4
vc/5
vc/6

That was all it had in it

Check that you don't have enabled option "DontVTSwitch" in file "xorg.conf".

No I dont see it in there. Here is the file contents though, in case it maybe will help?

# File generated by XFdrake (rev )

# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the xorg.conf man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "DontZap" "False" # disable <Ctrl><Alt><BS> (server abort)
AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse does not work
#DontZoom # disable <Ctrl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "vmmouse"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "monitor1"
VendorName "Generic"
ModelName "Flat Panel 1440x900"
HorizSync 31.5-56.0
VertRefresh 56.0-65.0

# TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.
# 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync
ModeLine "768x576" 50.00 768 832 846 1000 576 590 595 630

# 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync
ModeLine "768x576" 63.07 768 800 960 1024 576 578 590 616

# modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
ModeLine "1440x900_120" 229.75 1440 1552 1712 1984 900 901 904 965 -HSync +Vsync

# modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
ModeLine "1440x900_100" 187.55 1440 1544 1704 1968 900 901 904 953 -HSync +Vsync

# modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
ModeLine "1440x900_85" 156.79 1440 1536 1696 1952 900 901 904 945 -HSync +Vsync

# modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
ModeLine "1440x900_75" 136.49 1440 1536 1688 1936 900 901 904 940 -HSync +Vsync

# modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
ModeLine "1440x900_60" 106.47 1440 1520 1672 1904 900 901 904 932 -HSync +Vsync

# modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
ModeLine "1440x900_50" 87.41 1440 1512 1664 1888 900 901 904 926 -HSync +Vsync

# modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
ModeLine "1280x800_120" 181.21 1280 1376 1520 1760 800 801 804 858 -HSync +Vsync

# modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
ModeLine "1280x800_100" 147.89 1280 1376 1512 1744 800 801 804 848 -HSync +Vsync

# modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
ModeLine "1280x800_85" 123.38 1280 1368 1504 1728 800 801 804 840 -HSync +Vsync

# modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
ModeLine "1280x800_75" 107.21 1280 1360 1496 1712 800 801 804 835 -HSync +Vsync

# modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
ModeLine "1280x800_60" 83.46 1280 1344 1480 1680 800 801 804 828 -HSync +Vsync

# modeline generated by gtf(1) [handled by XFdrake]
ModeLine "1280x800_50" 68.56 1280 1336 1472 1664 800 801 804 824 -HSync +Vsync
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "device1"
VendorName "VMware"
BoardName "VMware virtual video card"
Driver "vmware"
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout1"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
EndSection




As a side note though, I installed an image of Fedora right? AND Haiku and when I tried switching console display modes in them I was unable to. Could there be an issue with using that function within VMWare?

Yes. IDK VMware but when running under VirtualBox, to switch VTs in the VM you use <host key>+F1, F2 etc.

ohh.. do you happen to KNOW what <host key> it owuld be?

I can't remember what the default is (right Super/Windows?) but you can see and set it in VirtualBox Preferences -> Input

In virtualbox the default "host" key is the right CTRL key, in VMWare it's CTRL-ALT.