Hi guys,

recently I've a server crashed and thought "since its a fresh install, I'll use RHEL4 Update 2 iso"

Which I did, to catch up with the patches etc.

I need a CLI only environment (rc3). so naturally i remove all the packages that are GUI-related. No xwindow etc...

on first boot after installation, to my surprise it goes to rc5! I was like "huh"

Ok, I thought i try logging in, but it says root logins is not allowed. But I only have root account after installation.

- is there something I should know, yet I don't, about RHEL ES 4 update 2?
- is there a way to intercept the boot sequence? and if so, how do I switch to rc3?
- with a gui login, does it mean I have x-window packages in the server? damm that's going to take up unnecessary resources.

That's a very bad idea, for many reasons I won't go into here.

edit your /etc/inittab and change the line like
to

hi there,

what i mean is.. after a fresh installation of Linux (RHEL4 in this case), i should have only root user right? That's what I mean. Its a first bootup upon complete installation.

Problem is, though I specified no GNOME, X-Windows (basically, no GUI), on boot it loads at runlevel5.

So ok..I thought its an update2 thing, but I still can't login as I only have root (being the first boot AFTER a FRESH install) - since it doesn't allow root loging.

Am I missing out on something here?

I suspect that you are talking about firstboot. Firstboot is run only once, after the installation and its for configuring things like users, time, soundcard, resolution etc. Once you configure those things you should be dropped straight into a terminal. If you don't want firstboot to run, then deselect it during installation.

I don't see any 'firstboot' option.

if that's the case, how do I overwrite it? Obviously I will only have root account as it is a fresh install. But yet through this login screen it doesn't allow root login.

I have disabled all GUI option already but still this turn out...
did I miss something?

http://www.up-z.com/images/redhat.jpg

Ahh thats not firstboot. It seems like its KDM or XDM so you have an X server running. You will have to do as spooon suggested and change the default runlevel in /etc/inittab from 5 to 3.

That's weird..

1) I Have already unselect all GUI options (KDM, Xwindow, GNOME etc)

2) If I want to edit /etc/initab, I will need to log in right? But at this point I only have a root account, nothing else and they don't allow root login.

Advice?

When the login manager starts, do CTRL-ALT-F1 and you will be dropped into a terminal. You can then use your favourite editor to change the settings in /etc/fstab from the cli.