1 July 2000 Kernel Parameters v2.4.0
2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3
4 The following is a consolidated list of the kernel parameters as implemented
5 by the __setup() macro and sorted into English Dictionary order (defined
6 as ignoring all punctuation and sorting digits before letters in a case
7 insensitive manner), and with descriptions where known.
8
9 The text in square brackets at the beginning of the description state the
10 restrictions on the kernel for the said kernel parameter to be valid. The
11 restrictions referred to are that the relevant option is valid if:
12
13 ACPI ACPI support is enabled.
14 APIC APIC support is enabled.
15 APM Advanced Power Management support is enabled.
16 AX25 Appropriate AX.25 support is enabled.
17 CD Appropriate CD support is enabled.
18 DEVFS devfs support is enabled.
19 DRM Direct Rendering Management support is enabled.
20 EIDE EIDE/ATAPI support is enabled.
21 FB The frame buffer device is enabled.
22 HW Appropriate hardware is enabled.
23 IA-32 IA-32 aka i386 architecture is enabled.
24 IA-64 IA-64 architecture is enabled.
25 ISDN Appropriate ISDN support is enabled.
26 JOY Appropriate joystick support is enabled.
27 LP Printer support is enabled.
28 LOOP Loopback device support is enabled.
29 M68k M68k architecture is enabled.
30 MCA MCA bus support is enabled.
31 MDA MDA console support is enabled.
32 MOUSE Appropriate mouse support is enabled.
33 NET Appropriate network support is enabled.
34 NFS Appropriate NFS support is enabled.
35 PARIDE The ParIDE subsystem is enabled.
36 PCI PCI bus support is enabled.
37 PCMCIA The PCMCIA subsystem is enabled.
38 PNP Plug & Play support is enabled.
39 PPT Parallel port support is enabled.
40 PS2 Appropriate PS/2 support is enabled.
41 RAM RAM disk support is enabled.
42 SCSI Appropriate SCSI support is enabled.
43 SERIAL Serial support is enabled.
44 SMP The kernel is an SMP kernel.
45 SOUND Appropriate sound system support is enabled.
46 V4L Video For Linux support is enabled.
47 VGA The VGA console has been enabled.
48 VT Virtual terminal support is enabled.
49 XT IBM PC/XT MFM hard disk support is enabled.
50
51 In addition, the following text indicates that the option:
52
53 BUGS= Relates to possible processor bugs on the said processor.
54 KNL Is a kernel start-up parameter.
55 BOOT Is a boot loader parameter.
56
57 Parameters denoted with BOOT are actually interpreted by the boot
58 loader, and have no meaning to the kernel directly.
59
60 Note that ALL kernel parameters listed below are CASE SENSITIVE, and that
61 a trailing = on the name of any parameter states that that parameter will
62 be entered as an environment variable, whereas its absence indicates that
63 it will appear as a kernel argument readable via /proc/cmdline by programs
64 running once the system is up.
65
66 53c7xx= [HW,SCSI] Amiga SCSI controllers.
67
68 acpi= [HW,ACPI] Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
69
70 ad1816= [HW,SOUND]
71
72 ad1848= [HW,SOUND]
73
74 adb_buttons= [HW,MOUSE]
75
76 adlib= [HW,SOUND]
77
78 advansys= [HW,SCSI]
79
80 aedsp16= [HW,SOUND]
81
82 aha152x= [HW,SCSI]
83
84 aha1542= [HW,SCSI]
85
86 aic7xxx= [HW,SCSI]
87
88 AM53C974= [HW,SCSI]
89
90 amijoy= [HW,JOY] Amiga joystick support
91
92 apm= [APM] Advanced Power Management.
93
94 applicom= [HW]
95
96 arcrimi= [HW,NET]
97
98 ataflop= [HW,M68k]
99
100 atarimouse= [HW,MOUSE] Atari Mouse.
101
102 atascsi= [HW,SCSI] Atari SCSI.
103
104 awe= [HW,SOUND]
105
106 aztcd= [HW,CD] Aztec CD driver.
107
108 baycom_epp= [HW,AX25]
109
110 baycom_par= [HW,AX25] BayCom Parallel Port AX.25 Modem.
111
112 baycom_ser_fdx= [HW,AX25] BayCom Serial Port AX.25 Modem in Full
113 Duplex Mode.
114
115 baycom_ser_hdx= [HW,AX25] BayCom Serial Port AX.25 Modem in Half
116 Duplex Mode.
117
118 bmouse= [HW,MOUSE,PS2] Bus mouse.
119
120 bttv.card= [HW,V4L] bttv (bt848 + bt878 based grabber cards), most
121 bttv.radio= important insmod options are available as kernel args too.
122 bttv.pll= see Documentation/video4linux/bttv/Insmod-options
123 bttv.tuner= and Documentation/video4linux/bttv/CARDLIST
124
125 BusLogic= [HW,SCSI]
126
127 cdu31a= [HW,CD]
128
129 chandev= [HW,NET]
130
131 cm206= [HW,CD]
132
133 com20020= [HW,NET]
134
135 com90io= [HW,NET]
136
137 com90xx= [HW,NET]
138
139 condev= [HW]
140
141 console= [KNL] output console + comm spec (speed, control,
142 parity).
143
144 cpia_pp= [HW,PPT]
145
146 cs4232= [HW,SOUND]
147
148 cs89x0_dma= [HW,NET]
149
150 ctc= [HW,NET]
151
152 cyclades= [HW,SERIAL] Cyclades multi-serial port adapter.
153
154 dasd= [HW,NET]
155
156 db9= [HW,JOY]
157
158 db9_2= [HW,JOY]
159
160 db9_3= [HW,JOY]
161
162 debug [KNL] Enable kernel debugging (events log level).
163
164 decnet= [HW,NET]
165
166 devfs= [DEVFS]
167
168 digi= [HW,SERIAL] io parameters + enable/disable command.
169
170 digiepca= [HW,SERIAL]
171
172 dmascc= [HW,AX25,SERIAL] AX.25 Z80SCC driver with DMA
173 support available.
174
175 dmasound= [HW,SOUND] (sound subsystem buffers).
176
177 dtc3181e= [HW,SCSI]
178
179 eata= [HW,SCSI]
180
181 eda= [HW,PS2]
182
183 edb= [HW,PS2]
184
185 eicon= [HW,ISDN]
186
187 es1370= [HW,SOUND]
188
189 es1371= [HW,SOUND]
190
191 ether= [HW,NET] Ethernet cards parameters (iomem, irq,
192 dev_name).
193
194 fd_mcs= [HW,SCSI]
195
196 fdomain= [HW,SCSI]
197
198 floppy= [HW]
199
200 ftape= [HW] Floppy Tape subsystem debugging options.
201
202 gamma= [HW,DRM]
203
204 gc= [HW,JOY]
205
206 gc_2= [HW,JOY]
207
208 gc_3= [HW,JOY]
209
210 gdth= [HW,SCSI]
211
212 gscd= [HW,CD]
213
214 gus= [HW,SOUND]
215
216 gvp11= [HW,SCSI]
217
218 hd= [EIDE] (E)IDE hard drive subsystem geometry
219 (Cyl/heads/sectors) or tune parameters.
220
221 hfmodem= [HW,AX25]
222
223 hisax= [HW,ISDN]
224
225 i810= [HW,DRM]
226
227 ibmmcascsi= [HW,MCA,SCSI] IBM MicroChannel SCSI adapter.
228
229 icn= [HW,ISDN]
230
231 ide?= [HW] (E)IDE subsystem : config (iomem/irq), tuning or
232 debugging (serialize,reset,no{dma,tune,probe}) or
233 chipset specific parameters.
234
235 idebus= [HW] (E)IDE subsystem : VLB/PCI bus speed.
236
237 idle= [HW]
238
239 in2000= [HW,SCSI]
240
241 init= [KNL]
242
243 initrd= [BOOT] Specify the location of the initial ramdisk.
244
245 ip= [PNP]
246
247 isp16= [HW,CD]
248
249 iucv= [HW,NET]
250
251 js= [HW,JOY] Analog joystick
252
253 kbd-reset [VT]
254
255 keep_initrd [HW, ARM]
256
257 load_ramdisk= [RAM] List of ramdisks to load from floppy.
258
259 logi_busmouse= [HW, MOUSE]
260
261 lp=0 [LP] Specify parallel ports to use, e.g,
262 lp=port[,port...] lp=none,parport0 (lp0 not configured, lp1 uses
263 lp=reset first parallel port). 'lp=0' disables the
264 lp=auto printer driver. 'lp=reset' (which can be
265 specified in addition to the ports) causes
266 attached printers to be reset. Using
267 lp=port1,port2,... specifies the parallel ports
268 to associate lp devices with, starting with
269 lp0. A port specification may be 'none' to skip
270 that lp device, or a parport name such as
271 'parport0'. Specifying 'lp=auto' instead of a
272 port specification list means that device IDs
273 from each port should be examined, to see if
274 an IEEE 1284-compliant printer is attached; if
275 so, the driver will manage that printer.
276
277 ltpc= [HW]
278
279 mac5380= [HW,SCSI]
280
281 mac53c9x= [HW,SCSI]
282
283 mad16= [HW,SOUND]
284
285 maui= [HW,SOUND]
286
287 max_loop=[0-255] [LOOP] Set the maximum number of loopback devices
288 that can be mounted.
289
290 maxcpus= [SMP] States the maximum number of processors that
291 an SMP kernel should make use of.
292
293 max_scsi_luns= [SCSI]
294
295 mca-pentium [BUGS=ix86]
296
297 mcd= [HW,CD]
298
299 mcdx= [HW,CD]
300
301 md= [HW] RAID subsystems devices and level.
302
303 mdisk= [HW]
304
305 mdacon= [MDA]
306
307 megaraid= [HW,SCSI]
308
309 mem=nn[KMG] [KNL,BOOT] force use of a specific amount of
310 memory; to be used when the kernel is not able
311 to see the whole system memory or for test.
312
313 memfrac= [KNL]
314
315 mga= [HW,DRM]
316
317 mpu401= [HW,SOUND]
318
319 msmouse= [HW,MOUSE] Microsoft Mouse.
320
321 ncr5380= [HW,SCSI]
322
323 ncr53c400= [HW,SCSI]
324
325 ncr53c400a= [HW,SCSI]
326
327 ncr53c406a= [HW,SCSI]
328
329 ncr53c8xx= [HW,SCSI]
330
331 netdev= [NET]
332
333 nfsaddrs= [NFS]
334
335 nfsroot= [NFS] nfs root filesystem for disk-less boxes.
336
337 nmi_watchdog= [KNL,BUGS=ix86] debugging features for SMP kernels.
338
339 no387 [BUGS=ix86] Tells the kernel to use the 387 maths
340 emulation library even if a 387 maths coprocessor
341 is present.
342
343 noalign [KNL,ARM]
344
345 noapic [SMP,APIC] Tells the kernel not to make use of any
346 APIC that may be present on the system.
347
348 noasync [HW, M68K] Disables async and sync negotiation for
349 all devices.
350
351 nocache [ARM]
352
353 nodisconnect [HW,SCSI, M68K] Disables SCSI disconnects.
354
355 nohlt [BUGS=ARM]
356
357 no-hlt [BUGS=ix86]
358
359 noinitrd [RAM] Tells the kernel not to load any configured
360 initial RAM disk.
361
362 nointroute [IA-64]
363
364 no-scroll [VGA]
365
366 nosmp [SMP] Tells an SMP kernel to act as a UP kernel.
367
368 nosync [HW, M68K] Disables sync negotiation for all devices.
369
370 notsc [BUGS=ix86] Disable Time Stamp Counter
371
372 nowb [ARM]
373
374 opl3= [HW,SOUND]
375
376 opl3sa= [HW,SOUND]
377
378 opl3sa2= [HW,SOUND]
379
380 optcd= [HW,CD]
381
382 panic= [KNL] kernel behaviour on panic.
383
384 parport=0 [HW,PPT] Specify parallel ports. 0 disables.
385 parport=auto Use 'auto' to force the driver to use
386 parport=0xBBB[,IRQ[,DMA]] any IRQ/DMA settings detected (the
387 default is to ignore detected IRQ/DMA
388 settings because of possible
389 conflicts). You can specify the base
390 address, IRQ, and DMA settings; IRQ and
391 DMA should be numbers, or 'auto' (for
392 using detected settings on that
393 particular port), or 'nofifo' (to avoid
394 using a FIFO even if it is detected).
395 Parallel ports are assigned in the
396 order they are specified on the command
397 line, starting with parport0.
398
399 pas2= [HW,SOUND]
400
401 pas16= [HW,SCSI]
402
403 pcbit= [HW,ISDN]
404
405 pcd. [PARIDE]
406
407 pci=option[,option...] [PCI] various PCI subsystem options:
408 off [IA-32] don't probe for the PCI bus
409 bios [IA-32] force use of PCI BIOS, don't access
410 the hardware directly. Use this if your machine
411 has a non-standard PCI host bridge.
412 nobios [IA-32] disallow use of PCI BIOS, only direct
413 hardware access methods are allowed. Use this
414 if you experience crashes upon bootup and you
415 suspect they are caused by the BIOS.
416 conf1 [IA-32] Force use of PCI Configuration Mechanism 1.
417 conf2 [IA-32] Force use of PCI Configuration Mechanism 2.
418 nosort [IA-32] Don't sort PCI devices according to
419 order given by the PCI BIOS. This sorting is done
420 to get a device order compatible with older kernels.
421 biosirq [IA-32] Use PCI BIOS calls to get the interrupt
422 routing table. These calls are known to be buggy
423 on several machines and they hang the machine when used,
424 but on other computers it's the only way to get the
425 interrupt routing table. Try this option if the kernel
426 is unable to allocate IRQs or discover secondary PCI
427 buses on your motherboard.
428 rom [IA-32] Assign address space to expansion ROMs.
429 Use with caution as certain devices share address
430 decoders between ROMs and other resources.
431 irqmask=0xMMMM [IA-32] Set a bit mask of IRQs allowed to be assigned
432 automatically to PCI devices. You can make the kernel
433 exclude IRQs of your ISA cards this way.
434 lastbus=N [IA-32] Scan all buses till bus #N. Can be useful
435 if the kernel is unable to find your secondary buses
436 and you want to tell it explicitly which ones they are.
437
438 pd. [PARIDE]
439
440 pf. [PARIDE]
441
442 pg. [PARIDE]
443
444 pirq= [SMP,APIC] mp-table.
445
446 plip= [PPT,NET] Parallel port network link.
447
448 profile= [KNL] enable kernel profiling via /proc/profile
449 (param:log level).
450
451 prompt_ramdisk= [RAM] List of RAM disks to prompt for floppy disk
452 before loading.
453
454 pss= [HW,SOUND]
455
456 pt. [PARIDE]
457
458 quiet= [KNL] Disable log messages.
459
460 r128= [HW,DRM]
461
462 raid= [HW,RAID]
463
464 ramdisk= [RAM] Sizes of RAM disks in kilobytes [deprecated].
465
466 ramdisk_blocksize=
467 [RAM]
468
469 ramdisk_size= [RAM] New name for the ramdisk parameter.
470
471 ramdisk_start= [RAM] Starting block of RAM disk image (so you can
472 place it after the kernel image on a boot floppy).
473
474 reboot= [BUGS=ix86]
475
476 reserve= [KNL,BUGS] force the kernel to ignore some iomem area.
477
478 riscom8= [HW,SERIAL]
479
480 ro [KNL] Mount root device read-only on boot.
481
482 root= [KNL] root filesystem.
483
484 rw [KNL] Mount root device read-write on boot.
485
486 S [KNL] run init in single mode.
487
488 sb= [HW,SOUND]
489
490 sbpcd= [HW,CD] Soundblaster CD adapter.
491
492 scsi_logging= [SCSI]
493
494 scsihosts= [SCSI]
495
496 sg_def_reserved_size=
497 [SCSI]
498
499 sgalaxy= [HW,SOUND]
500
501 sim710= [SCSI,HW]
502
503 sjcd= [HW,CD]
504
505 smart2= [HW]
506
507 sonicvibes= [HW,SOUND]
508
509 sonycd535= [HW,CD]
510
511 sound= [SOUND]
512
513 soundmodem= [HW,AX25,SOUND] Use sound card as packet radio modem.
514
515 specialix= [HW,SERIAL] Specialix multi-serial port adapter.
516
517 sscape= [HW,SOUND]
518
519 st= [HW,SCSI] SCSI tape parameters (buffers, etc.).
520
521 st0x= [HW,SCSI]
522
523 stram_swap= [HW]
524
525 swiotlb= [IA-64] Number of I/O TLB slabs.
526
527 switches= [HW, M68K]
528
529 sym53c416= [HW,SCSI]
530
531 sym53c8xx= [HW,SCSI]
532
533 t128= [HW,SCSI]
534
535 tdfx= [HW,DRM]
536
537 tgfx= [HW,JOY]
538
539 tgfx_2= [HW,JOY]
540
541 tgfx_3= [HW,JOY]
542
543 tmc8xx= [HW,SCSI]
544
545 tmscsim= [HW,SCSI]
546
547 tp720= [HW,PS2]
548
549 trix= [HW,SOUND]
550
551 u14-34f= [HW,SCSI]
552
553 uart401= [HW,SOUND]
554
555 uart6850= [HW,SOUND]
556
557 usbfix [BUGS=IA-64]
558
559 video= [FB] frame buffer configuration.
560
561 vga= [BOOT] on ix386, select a particular video mode
562 (use vga=ask for menu). This is actually a
563 boot loader parameter; the value is passed to
564 the kernel using a special protocol. See
565 linux/Documentation/i386/boot.txt for information.
566
567 vmhalt= [KNL,S390]
568
569 vmpoff= [KNL,S390]
570
571 waveartist= [HW,SOUND]
572
573 wd33c93= [HW,SCSI]
574
575 wd7000= [HW,SCSI]
576
577 wdt= [HW]
578
579 xd= [HW,XT] Original XT pre-IDE (RLL encoded) disks.
580
581 xd_geo= [HW,XT]
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