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Is there a way to detect single-user mode in OSX (Lion, specifically) from the command line?

I've tried who -r, which returns 3 in either standard or single-user mode.

I've also tried nvram boot-args, which does not work either.

Google isn't helping much with this...

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3 Answers

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$ sysctl -n kern.singleuser
0

It's 1 when booted in single-user mode, 0 when not.

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Confirmed - thanks, Ingmar, just what I needed. – Scot Apr 12 '12 at 17:34
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Hmm. We don't have runlevel in OS X*, which would be the easy way. How about identifying something in the output of launchctl list which is not present in single user mode but is present otherwise - com.apple.Finder might be a candidate.

*man who includes: -r Print the current runlevel. This is meaningless on Mac OS X.

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Thanks, Adam - thought I'd try who anyway to confirm. As for launchctl list, it returns a Socket is not connected error when in Single User Mode...I wonder if that is enough of a hook? – Scot Apr 12 '12 at 0:49
Finder isn't always running even in 'normal mode'. It can be quit or replaced with another launcher. – mankoff Apr 12 '12 at 0:51
If that's consistent Scot, it might be very convenient! – Adam Eberbach Apr 12 '12 at 0:53
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In single user mode open directory is not available except by jumping through hoops. You can test the return value of dscl in that case.

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