1Debugging Initial Setup can be tricky if what you need to work on relies on the 2system booting for the very first time, and can't be reproduced easily (or at 3all) from a regular session once the “real” initial setup has happened and the 4first user has been created. 5 6Examples of things you might want to do that can be especially tricky if you 7need to do them before creating the very first user: 8 9- Changing the default configuration of the system 10- Installing/updating packages to try something out 11- Getting logs from the journal 12- Getting a backtrace to debug a crash happening 13 14Here are some strategies that may be useful. 15 16## Force GDM to launch Initial Setup 17 18GDM is responsible for launching Initial Setup in a cut-down desktop session 19when no users exist on the system. Since GDM 3.26.1, you can force it to launch 20it even if users already exist by adding ` gnome.initial-setup=1` to the kernel 21command line. The exact method depends on your distribution, but in general terms: 22 23- Restart the computer 24- Force GRUB to display a boot menu (distro-dependent; try hitting `Escape` or 25 holding `Shift` during boot) 26- Hit `e` to edit the default menu entry 27- Use the arrow keys to select the line beginning with `linux` or `linuxefi` 28- Hit `End` 29- Type ` gnome.initial-setup=1` 30- Hit `F10` to boot 31 32## Get a root shell before Initial Setup is complete 33 34Follow the steps above, but add ` systemd.debug_shell` to the end of the kernel 35command line. Hit `Ctrl + Alt + F9` to switch to VT9, where you should find a 36root shell awaiting you. 37