enter restore/live environment with live cd for Ubuntu 18.04
 

Could anyone point me to a link or simply tell me how I can access a restore environment that doesn't mount my root partition? It seems impossible to do with a server cd image. There's no menu whatsoever. I can only install Ubuntu. I'd like to be able to shrink my root partition, but I see no way. It seems the only way would to be actually use the desktop iso image, which is crazy, in my opinion. Why would would you be dependent on the desktop version if you're using the server?

An ideas?

any live bootable medium will do to resize a partition (assuming it has the appropriate tools installed).
maybe your server iso is not live bootable?

I agree, but I was asking exactly about Ubuntu Server version. I'd have expected a restore option, so that I get a basic command line. They seem not to be offering this or I'm missing something, I don't know.