How to disable GUI on boot in 18.04 (Bionic Beaver)?

To disable GUI on boot, run:

sudo systemctl set-default multi-user.target

To enable GUI again issue the command:

sudo systemctl set-default graphical.target

To start Gnome session on a system without a current GUI just execute:

sudo systemctl start gdm3.service

To answer @nurp's comment

The screen is now pretty small in VirtualBox .

update your /etc/default/grub accordingly:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"
GRUB_GFXMODE=1152x864x32
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=1152x864x32

run sudo update-grub.
- nomodeset so that the kernel does not attempt changing the resolution set by GRUB.
- GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX if this variable is set, it controls the video mode in which the Linux kernel starts up, replacing the ‘vga=’ boot option.

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