It is hard and nonintuitive to switch to console ttys on Ubuntu 17.10

[Norbert]

Steps to reproduce:
1. Install Ubuntu 17.10
2. Login to the session
3. Press <Ctrl+Alt+F3> (how should I guess this?) to switch to console tty

Expected results:
display switches to console tty immediately

Actual results:
* user need to repeat keypress on <Ctrl+Alt+F3> to switch to console tty

Notes:
* slick-greeter is placed on tty1 and opened desktop session is placed on tty2, so user should use <Ctrl+Alt+F3>
* tty7 shows some kind of systemd log - reports fsck results
* if user switched to tty1 he/she may think to try to login, this confuses user

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
Package: slick-greeter (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-16.19-generic 4.13.4
Uname: Linux 4.13.0-16-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Sun Oct 22 12:53:33 2017
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-10-21 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" - Release amd64 (20171018)
SourcePackage: slick-greeter
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Vincent Louviaux (vincent-louviaux)]

for me, when I make ctrl alt f3, the screen freezes and I have to make an alt f1 to return to the session

[Alex N. (a-nox)]

I can confirm this and my screen freezes when pressing <CTRL+ALT+F3> (same behaviour up to <CTRL+ALT+F10>)

[Jeffery To (jefferyto)]

The fact that Ctrl-Alt-F1 now brings up the login screen is documented: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArtfulAardvark/ReleaseNotes#Ubuntu_Desktop

"GDM has replaced LightDM as the default display manager. The login screen now uses virtual terminal 1 instead of virtual terminal 7."

(Ctrl-Alt-F1 switches to virtual terminal 1.)

I've been looking for a way to switch back to having 6 text terminals but I haven't been successful. I've tried uncommenting "NAutoVTs=6" and "ReserveVT=6" in /etc/systemd/logind.conf but it had no effect.

[Jeffery To (jefferyto)]

Turns out this is the default for gdm. According to this blog post:

http://rubereality.com/2012/11/08/change-the-vt-setup-with-gdm-3-6-1-and-systemd/
(Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20141228051646/http://rubereality.com/2012/11/08/change-the-vt-setup-with-gdm-3-6-1-and-systemd/ )

changing it back to previous behaviour will require recompiling gdm :-(

[trendzetter (trendzetter)]

I also have no tty's to check what is happening during boot, is this the same issue or should I file another bug?
My laptop was doing something for 5 minutes but I couldn't check the text modus by pressing ctrl-alt-F1 or any other FN.

[trendzetter (trendzetter)]

I am seeing tty's in the process list in gnome terminal but I can't access them. The screen just freezes.

$ ps waux | grep tty3
root 2606 0.0 0.0 16128 2008 tty3 Ss+ 18:25 0:00 /sbin/agetty --noclear tty3 linux

[Zibri Soft (zibri-)]

The problem is not only that..
from GUI,
ctrl+alt+f3 brings up tty3
from tty3, alt+f4...f5f..f6 bring up tty4 tty 5 tty6

If I wat to see what is on tty1 there seems to be no way!
Stupid.
I hate 17.10 every day more.
Damn me. I should have never "upgraded".
Oh.. and WIFI does not work at all in networkmanager!!! Very well done canonical!

[trendzetter (trendzetter)]

I have a more positive impression about 17.10 in general and I am seeing improvement for my situation.
Since an update today I can see the tty's again when fully booted and pressing ctrl-alt-f2 but still unable to see them during slow boot.
dpkg.log:
2017-11-18 09:28:54 upgrade accountsservice:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3 0.6.42-0ubuntu3.1
2017-11-18 09:28:54 status half-configured accountsservice:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3
2017-11-18 09:28:54 status unpacked accountsservice:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3
2017-11-18 09:28:54 status half-installed accountsservice:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3
2017-11-18 09:28:54 status triggers-pending dbus:amd64 1.10.22-1ubuntu1
2017-11-18 09:28:54 status triggers-pending dbus:amd64 1.10.22-1ubuntu1
2017-11-18 09:28:54 status half-installed accountsservice:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status unpacked accountsservice:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3.1
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status unpacked accountsservice:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3.1
2017-11-18 09:28:55 upgrade libaccountsservice0:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3 0.6.42-0ubuntu3.1
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status triggers-pending libc-bin:amd64 2.26-0ubuntu2
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status half-configured libaccountsservice0:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status unpacked libaccountsservice0:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status half-installed libaccountsservice0:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status half-installed libaccountsservice0:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status unpacked libaccountsservice0:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3.1
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status unpacked libaccountsservice0:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3.1
2017-11-18 09:28:55 upgrade gir1.2-accountsservice-1.0:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3 0.6.42-0ubuntu3.1
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status half-configured gir1.2-accountsservice-1.0:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status unpacked gir1.2-accountsservice-1.0:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status half-installed gir1.2-accountsservice-1.0:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status half-installed gir1.2-accountsservice-1.0:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status unpacked gir1.2-accountsservice-1.0:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3.1
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status unpacked gir1.2-accountsservice-1.0:amd64 0.6.42-0ubuntu3.1
2017-11-18 09:28:55 upgrade mutter-common:all 3.26.1-2ubuntu2 3.26.2-0ubuntu0.1
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status half-configured mutter-common:all 3.26.1-2ubuntu2
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status unpacked mutter-common:all 3.26.1-2ubuntu2
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status half-installed mutter-common:all 3.26.1-2ubuntu2
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status triggers-pending gconf2:amd64 3.2.6-4ubuntu1
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status half-installed mutter-common:all 3.26.1-2ubuntu2
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status triggers-pending libglib2.0-0:amd64 2.54.1-1ubuntu1
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status half-installed mutter-common:all 3.26.1-2ubuntu2
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status triggers-pending libglib2.0-0:i386 2.54.1-1ubuntu1
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status half-installed mutter-common:all 3.26.1-2ubuntu2
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status triggers-pending man-db:amd64 2.7.6.1-2
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status half-installed mutter-common:all 3.26.1-2ubuntu2
2017-11-18 09:28:55 status unpacked mutter-common:all 3.26.2-0ubuntu0.1...

[trendzetter (trendzetter)]

If you are not seeing your tty's but only a frozen screen you could try this solution. It worked for me:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/162535/why-does-switching-to-the-tty-give-me-a-blank-screen