How can I read and capture error messages that appear on the screen before login?

Question

I am having errors pop up quickly (can't read them) before my login window appears. I can't find them in syslog. Is there some way I can figure out what these errors are?

Will this work? https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/203743/saving-linux-boot-messages-in-a-file — EODCraft Staff, Apr 16 '18 at 13:37
use dmesg or go dmesg > dmesg.log & the log will be in your home folder to read thru. — doug, Apr 16 '18 at 14:00

cl-netbox · Answer 1 · 2018-06-29T12:05:59.423

5

Executing journalctl -b "should do the trick" ... this will show the journal entries that have been collected since the most recent reboot. journalctl -b -1 shows the entries from the boot event before. Reference (and information) : How To Use Journalctl to View and Manipulate Systemd Logs

To see additional options you have with journalctl, such like journalctl -b --list-boots,
you can check them out by executing the commands journalctl --help or man journalctl.

edited Jun 29 '18 at 12:05

answered Apr 16 '18 at 14:03

cl-netbox

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+1 journalctl is powerful tool. If you have 16.04 you can't see previous boots until you configure it: https://askubuntu.com/a/1008210/307523 – WinEunuuchs2Unix Jun 29 '18 at 10:52

How can I read and capture error messages that appear on the screen before login?

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