1 February 2003 Kernel Parameters v2.5.59
4 The following is a consolidated list of the kernel parameters as implemented
5 (mostly) by the __setup() macro and sorted into English Dictionary order
6 (defined as ignoring all punctuation and sorting digits before letters in a
7 case insensitive manner), and with descriptions where known.
9 Module parameters for loadable modules are specified only as the
10 parameter name with optional '=' and value as appropriate, such as:
12 modprobe usbcore blinkenlights=1
14 Module parameters for modules that are built into the kernel image
15 are specified on the kernel command line with the module name plus
16 '.' plus parameter name, with '=' and value if appropriate, such as:
18 usbcore.blinkenlights=1
20 The text in square brackets at the beginning of the description states the
21 restrictions on the kernel for the said kernel parameter to be valid. The
22 restrictions referred to are that the relevant option is valid if:
24 ACPI ACPI support is enabled.
25 ALSA ALSA sound support is enabled.
26 APIC APIC support is enabled.
27 APM Advanced Power Management support is enabled.
28 AX25 Appropriate AX.25 support is enabled.
29 CD Appropriate CD support is enabled.
30 DEVFS devfs support is enabled.
31 DRM Direct Rendering Management support is enabled.
32 EDD BIOS Enhanced Disk Drive Services (EDD) is enabled
33 EFI EFI Partitioning (GPT) is enabled
34 EIDE EIDE/ATAPI support is enabled.
35 FB The frame buffer device is enabled.
36 HW Appropriate hardware is enabled.
37 IA-32 IA-32 aka i386 architecture is enabled.
38 IA-64 IA-64 architecture is enabled.
39 IOSCHED More than one I/O scheduler is enabled.
40 IP_PNP IP DHCP, BOOTP, or RARP is enabled.
41 ISAPNP ISA PnP code is enabled.
42 ISDN Appropriate ISDN support is enabled.
43 JOY Appropriate joystick support is enabled.
44 LP Printer support is enabled.
45 LOOP Loopback device support is enabled.
46 M68k M68k architecture is enabled.
47 These options have more detailed description inside of
48 Documentation/m68k/kernel-options.txt.
49 MCA MCA bus support is enabled.
50 MDA MDA console support is enabled.
51 MOUSE Appropriate mouse support is enabled.
52 MTD MTD support is enabled.
53 NET Appropriate network support is enabled.
54 NUMA NUMA support is enabled.
55 NFS Appropriate NFS support is enabled.
56 OSS OSS sound support is enabled.
57 PARIDE The ParIDE subsystem is enabled.
58 PARISC The PA-RISC architecture is enabled.
59 PCI PCI bus support is enabled.
60 PCMCIA The PCMCIA subsystem is enabled.
61 PNP Plug & Play support is enabled.
62 PPC PowerPC architecture is enabled.
63 PPT Parallel port support is enabled.
64 PS2 Appropriate PS/2 support is enabled.
65 RAM RAM disk support is enabled.
66 S390 S390 architecture is enabled.
67 SCSI Appropriate SCSI support is enabled.
68 A lot of drivers has their options described inside of
70 SELINUX SELinux support is enabled.
71 SERIAL Serial support is enabled.
72 SMP The kernel is an SMP kernel.
73 SPARC Sparc architecture is enabled.
74 SWSUSP Software suspend is enabled.
75 TS Appropriate touchscreen support is enabled.
76 USB USB support is enabled.
77 USBHID USB Human Interface Device support is enabled.
78 V4L Video For Linux support is enabled.
79 VGA The VGA console has been enabled.
80 VT Virtual terminal support is enabled.
81 WDT Watchdog support is enabled.
82 XT IBM PC/XT MFM hard disk support is enabled.
83 X86-64 X86-64 architecture is enabled.
84 More X86-64 boot options can be found in
85 Documentation/x86_64/boot-options.txt .
87 In addition, the following text indicates that the option:
89 BUGS= Relates to possible processor bugs on the said processor.
90 KNL Is a kernel start-up parameter.
91 BOOT Is a boot loader parameter.
93 Parameters denoted with BOOT are actually interpreted by the boot
94 loader, and have no meaning to the kernel directly.
95 Do not modify the syntax of boot loader parameters without extreme
96 need or coordination with <Documentation/i386/boot.txt>.
98 Note that ALL kernel parameters listed below are CASE SENSITIVE, and that
99 a trailing = on the name of any parameter states that that parameter will
100 be entered as an environment variable, whereas its absence indicates that
101 it will appear as a kernel argument readable via /proc/cmdline by programs
102 running once the system is up.
104 53c7xx= [HW,SCSI] Amiga SCSI controllers
105 See header of drivers/scsi/53c7xx.c.
106 See also Documentation/scsi/ncr53c7xx.txt.
108 acpi= [HW,ACPI] Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
109 Format: { force | off | ht | strict | noirq }
110 force -- enable ACPI if default was off
111 off -- disable ACPI if default was on
112 noirq -- do not use ACPI for IRQ routing
113 ht -- run only enough ACPI to enable Hyper Threading
114 strict -- Be less tolerant of platforms that are not
115 strictly ACPI specification compliant.
117 See also Documentation/pm.txt, pci=noacpi
119 acpi_sleep= [HW,ACPI] Sleep options
120 Format: { s3_bios, s3_mode }
121 See Documentation/power/video.txt
123 acpi_sci= [HW,ACPI] ACPI System Control Interrupt trigger mode
124 Format: { level | edge | high | low }
126 acpi_irq_balance [HW,ACPI]
127 ACPI will balance active IRQs
130 acpi_irq_nobalance [HW,ACPI]
131 ACPI will not move active IRQs (default)
134 acpi_irq_pci= [HW,ACPI] If irq_balance, clear listed IRQs for
136 Format: <irq>,<irq>...
138 acpi_irq_isa= [HW,ACPI] If irq_balance, mark listed IRQs used by ISA
139 Format: <irq>,<irq>...
141 acpi_osi= [HW,ACPI] empty param disables _OSI
143 acpi_serialize [HW,ACPI] force serialization of AML methods
145 acpi_skip_timer_override [HW,ACPI]
146 Recognize and ignore IRQ0/pin2 Interrupt Override.
147 For broken nForce2 BIOS resulting in XT-PIC timer.
149 acpi_dbg_layer= [HW,ACPI]
151 Each bit of the <int> indicates an ACPI debug layer,
152 1: enable, 0: disable. It is useful for boot time
153 debugging. After system has booted up, it can be set
154 via /proc/acpi/debug_layer.
156 acpi_dbg_level= [HW,ACPI]
158 Each bit of the <int> indicates an ACPI debug level,
159 1: enable, 0: disable. It is useful for boot time
160 debugging. After system has booted up, it can be set
161 via /proc/acpi/debug_level.
163 acpi_fake_ecdt [HW,ACPI] Workaround failure due to BIOS lacking ECDT
165 acpi_generic_hotkey [HW,ACPI]
166 Allow consolidated generic hotkey driver to
167 override platform specific driver.
168 See also Documentation/acpi-hotkey.txt.
170 enable_timer_pin_1 [i386,x86-64]
171 Enable PIN 1 of APIC timer
172 Can be useful to work around chipset bugs
173 (in particular on some ATI chipsets).
174 The kernel tries to set a reasonable default.
176 disable_timer_pin_1 [i386,x86-64]
177 Disable PIN 1 of APIC timer
178 Can be useful to work around chipset bugs.
181 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>
182 See also Documentation/sound/oss/AD1816.
185 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>,<type>
191 See header of drivers/scsi/advansys.c.
193 advwdt= [HW,WDT] Advantech WDT
194 Format: <iostart>,<iostop>
196 aedsp16= [HW,OSS] Audio Excel DSP 16
197 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<mss_io>,<mpu_io>,<mpu_irq>
198 See also header of sound/oss/aedsp16.c.
201 See Documentation/scsi/aha152x.txt.
204 Format: <portbase>[,<buson>,<busoff>[,<dmaspeed>]]
207 See Documentation/scsi/aic7xxx.txt.
210 See Documentation/scsi/aic79xx.txt.
212 amijoy.map= [HW,JOY] Amiga joystick support
213 Map of devices attached to JOY0DAT and JOY1DAT
215 See also Documentation/kernel/input/joystick.txt
217 analog.map= [HW,JOY] Analog joystick and gamepad support
218 Specifies type or capabilities of an analog joystick
219 connected to one of 16 gameports
220 Format: <type1>,<type2>,..<type16>
223 Power management functions (SPARCstation-4/5 + deriv.)
225 Disable APC CPU standby support. SPARCstation-Fox does
226 not play well with APC CPU idle - disable it if you have
227 APC and your system crashes randomly.
229 apic= [APIC,i386] Change the output verbosity whilst booting
230 Format: { quiet (default) | verbose | debug }
231 Change the amount of debugging information output
232 when initialising the APIC and IO-APIC components.
234 apm= [APM] Advanced Power Management
235 See header of arch/i386/kernel/apm.c.
240 arcrimi= [HW,NET] ARCnet - "RIM I" (entirely mem-mapped) cards
241 Format: <io>,<irq>,<nodeID>
245 atarimouse= [HW,MOUSE] Atari Mouse
247 atascsi= [HW,SCSI] Atari SCSI
249 atkbd.extra= [HW] Enable extra LEDs and keys on IBM RapidAccess,
250 EzKey and similar keyboards
252 atkbd.reset= [HW] Reset keyboard during initialization
254 atkbd.set= [HW] Select keyboard code set
255 Format: <int> (2 = AT (default), 3 = PS/2)
257 atkbd.scroll= [HW] Enable scroll wheel on MS Office and similar
260 atkbd.softraw= [HW] Choose between synthetic and real raw mode
261 Format: <bool> (0 = real, 1 = synthetic (default))
263 atkbd.softrepeat= [HW]
264 Use software keyboard repeat
268 awe= [HW,OSS] AWE32/SB32/AWE64 wave table synth
269 Format: <io>,<memsize>,<isapnp>
271 aztcd= [HW,CD] Aztech CD268 CDROM driver
272 Format: <io>,0x79 (?)
274 baycom_epp= [HW,AX25]
277 baycom_par= [HW,AX25] BayCom Parallel Port AX.25 Modem
279 See header of drivers/net/hamradio/baycom_par.c.
281 baycom_ser_fdx= [HW,AX25]
282 BayCom Serial Port AX.25 Modem (Full Duplex Mode)
283 Format: <io>,<irq>,<mode>[,<baud>]
284 See header of drivers/net/hamradio/baycom_ser_fdx.c.
286 baycom_ser_hdx= [HW,AX25]
287 BayCom Serial Port AX.25 Modem (Half Duplex Mode)
288 Format: <io>,<irq>,<mode>
289 See header of drivers/net/hamradio/baycom_ser_hdx.c.
291 blkmtd_device= [HW,MTD]
297 bttv.card= [HW,V4L] bttv (bt848 + bt878 based grabber cards)
298 bttv.radio= Most important insmod options are available as
300 bttv.pll= See Documentation/video4linux/bttv/Insmod-options
301 bttv.tuner= and Documentation/video4linux/bttv/CARDLIST
304 See drivers/scsi/BusLogic.c, comment before function
305 BusLogic_ParseDriverOptions().
307 c101= [NET] Moxa C101 synchronous serial card
309 cachesize= [BUGS=IA-32] Override level 2 CPU cache size detection.
310 Sometimes CPU hardware bugs make them report the cache
311 size incorrectly. The kernel will attempt work arounds
312 to fix known problems, but for some CPUs it is not
313 possible to determine what the correct size should be.
314 This option provides an override for these situations.
317 Format: <io>,<irq>[,PAS]
318 See header of drivers/cdrom/cdu31a.c.
320 chandev= [HW,NET] Generic channel device initialisation
322 checkreqprot [SELINUX] Set initial checkreqprot flag value.
323 Format: { "0" | "1" }
324 See security/selinux/Kconfig help text.
325 0 -- check protection applied by kernel (includes
326 any implied execute protection).
327 1 -- check protection requested by application.
328 Default value is set via a kernel config option.
329 Value can be changed at runtime via
330 /selinux/checkreqprot.
332 clock= [BUGS=IA-32,HW] gettimeofday timesource override.
333 Forces specified timesource (if avaliable) to be used
334 when calculating gettimeofday(). If specicified
335 timesource is not avalible, it defaults to PIT.
336 Format: { pit | tsc | cyclone | pmtmr }
338 hpet= [IA-32,HPET] option to disable HPET and use PIT.
342 Format: { auto | [<io>,][<irq>] }
344 com20020= [HW,NET] ARCnet - COM20020 chipset
346 <io>[,<irq>[,<nodeID>[,<backplane>[,<ckp>[,<timeout>]]]]]
348 com90io= [HW,NET] ARCnet - COM90xx chipset (IO-mapped buffers)
352 ARCnet - COM90xx chipset (memory-mapped buffers)
353 Format: <io>[,<irq>[,<memstart>]]
355 condev= [HW,S390] console device
358 console= [KNL] Output console device and options.
360 tty<n> Use the virtual console device <n>.
363 Use the specified serial port. The options are of
364 the form "bbbbpn", where "bbbb" is the baud rate,
365 "p" is parity ("n", "o", or "e"), and "n" is bits.
368 See also Documentation/serial-console.txt.
370 uart,io,<addr>[,options]
371 uart,mmio,<addr>[,options]
372 Start an early, polled-mode console on the 8250/16550
373 UART at the specified I/O port or MMIO address,
374 switching to the matching ttyS device later. The
375 options are the same as for ttyS, above.
377 cpcihp_generic= [HW,PCI] Generic port I/O CompactPCI driver
379 <first_slot>,<last_slot>,<port>,<enum_bit>[,<debug>]
382 Format: { parport<nr> | auto | none }
384 crashkernel=nn[KMG]@ss[KMG]
385 [KNL] Reserve a chunk of physical memory to
386 hold a kernel to switch to with kexec on panic.
389 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>,<mpuio>,<mpuirq>
394 cs89x0_media= [HW,NET]
395 Format: { rj45 | aui | bnc }
397 cyclades= [HW,SERIAL] Cyclades multi-serial port adapter.
400 See header of drivers/s390/block/dasd_devmap.c.
402 db9.dev[2|3]= [HW,JOY] Multisystem joystick support via parallel port
403 (one device per port)
404 Format: <port#>,<type>
405 See also Documentation/input/joystick-parport.txt
407 debug [KNL] Enable kernel debugging (events log level).
410 Format: <area>[,<node>]
411 See also Documentation/networking/decnet.txt.
414 See Documentation/filesystems/devfs/boot-options.
417 Set number of hash buckets for dentry cache.
420 IO parameters + enable/disable command.
422 digiepca= [HW,SERIAL]
423 See drivers/char/README.epca and
424 Documentation/digiepca.txt.
426 dmascc= [HW,AX25,SERIAL] AX.25 Z80SCC driver with DMA
428 Format: <io_dev0>[,<io_dev1>[,..<io_dev32>]]
430 dmasound= [HW,OSS] Sound subsystem buffers
436 earlyprintk= [IA-32,X86-64]
438 earlyprintk=serial[,ttySn[,baudrate]]
440 Append ",keep" to not disable it when the real console
443 Only vga or serial at a time, not both.
445 Currently only ttyS0 and ttyS1 are supported.
447 Interaction with the standard serial driver is not
450 The VGA output is eventually overwritten by the real
460 Format: {"of[f]" | "sk[ipmbr]"}
461 See comment in arch/i386/boot/edd.S
464 Format: <id>,<membase>,<irq>
466 eisa_irq_edge= [PARISC,HW]
467 See header of drivers/parisc/eisa.c.
470 See comment before function elanfreq_setup() in
471 arch/i386/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/elanfreq.c.
474 Format: {"as" | "cfq" | "deadline" | "noop"}
475 See Documentation/block/as-iosched.txt and
476 Documentation/block/deadline-iosched.txt for details.
479 Specifies physical address of start of kernel core
481 See Documentation/kdump.txt for details.
483 enforcing [SELINUX] Set initial enforcing status.
485 See security/selinux/Kconfig help text.
486 0 -- permissive (log only, no denials).
487 1 -- enforcing (deny and log).
489 Value can be changed at runtime via /selinux/enforce.
492 Format: <lineout>[,<micbias>]
493 See also header of sound/oss/es1370.c.
496 Format: <spdif>,[<nomix>,[<amplifier>]]
497 See also header of sound/oss/es1371.c.
499 ether= [HW,NET] Ethernet cards parameters
500 This option is obsoleted by the "netdev=" option, which
501 has equivalent usage. See its documentation for details.
503 eurwdt= [HW,WDT] Eurotech CPU-1220/1410 onboard watchdog.
507 See header of drivers/scsi/fd_mcs.c.
510 See header of drivers/scsi/fdomain.c.
513 See Documentation/floppy.txt.
515 ftape= [HW] Floppy Tape subsystem debugging options.
516 See Documentation/ftape.txt.
519 [HW,JOY] Multisystem joystick and NES/SNES/PSX pad
520 support via parallel port (up to 5 devices per port)
521 Format: <port#>,<pad1>,<pad2>,<pad3>,<pad4>,<pad5>
522 See also Documentation/input/joystick-parport.txt
527 See header of drivers/scsi/gdth.c.
529 gpt [EFI] Forces disk with valid GPT signature but
530 invalid Protective MBR to be treated as GPT.
535 gt96100eth= [NET] MIPS GT96100 Advanced Communication Controller
538 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma16>
542 hashdist= [KNL,NUMA] Large hashes allocated during boot
543 are distributed across NUMA nodes. Defaults on
544 for IA-64, off otherwise.
545 Format: 0 | 1 (for off | on)
547 hcl= [IA-64] SGI's Hardware Graph compatibility layer
549 hd= [EIDE] (E)IDE hard drive subsystem geometry
550 Format: <cyl>,<head>,<sect>
552 hd?= [HW] (E)IDE subsystem
553 hd?lun= See Documentation/ide.txt.
555 highmem=nn[KMG] [KNL,BOOT] forces the highmem zone to have an exact
556 size of <nn>. This works even on boxes that have no
557 highmem otherwise. This also works to reduce highmem
558 size on bigger boxes.
561 See Documentation/isdn/README.HiSax.
563 hugepages= [HW,IA-32,IA-64] Maximal number of HugeTLB pages.
565 noirqbalance [IA-32,SMP,KNL] Disable kernel irq balancing
567 i8042.direct [HW] Put keyboard port into non-translated mode
568 i8042.dumbkbd [HW] Pretend that controlled can only read data from
569 keyboard and can not control its state
570 (Don't attempt to blink the leds)
571 i8042.noaux [HW] Don't check for auxiliary (== mouse) port
572 i8042.nokbd [HW] Don't check/create keyboard port
573 i8042.nomux [HW] Don't check presence of an active multiplexing
575 i8042.nopnp [HW] Don't use ACPIPnP / PnPBIOS to discover KBD/AUX
578 [HW] Frequency with which keyboard LEDs should blink
579 when kernel panics (default is 0.5 sec)
580 i8042.reset [HW] Reset the controller during init and cleanup
581 i8042.unlock [HW] Unlock (ignore) the keylock
585 i8k.ignore_dmi [HW] Continue probing hardware even if DMI data
586 indicates that the driver is running on unsupported
588 i8k.force [HW] Activate i8k driver even if SMM BIOS signature
589 does not match list of supported models.
591 [HW] Report power status in /proc/i8k
592 (disabled by default)
593 i8k.restricted [HW] Allow controlling fans only if SYS_ADMIN
596 ibmmcascsi= [HW,MCA,SCSI] IBM MicroChannel SCSI adapter
597 See Documentation/mca.txt.
600 Format: <io>[,<membase>[,<icn_id>[,<icn_id2>]]]
602 ide= [HW] (E)IDE subsystem
603 Format: ide=nodma or ide=doubler or ide=reverse
604 See Documentation/ide.txt.
606 ide?= [HW] (E)IDE subsystem
607 Format: ide?=noprobe or chipset specific parameters.
608 See Documentation/ide.txt.
610 idebus= [HW] (E)IDE subsystem - VLB/PCI bus speed
611 See Documentation/ide.txt.
614 Format: idle=poll or idle=halt
617 Set number of hash buckets for inode cache.
620 See header of drivers/scsi/in2000.c.
624 Run specified binary instead of /sbin/init as init
627 initcall_debug [KNL] Trace initcalls as they are executed. Useful
628 for working out where the kernel is dying during
631 initrd= [BOOT] Specify the location of the initial ramdisk
633 inport.irq= [HW] Inport (ATI XL and Microsoft) busmouse driver
636 combined_mode= [HW] control which driver uses IDE ports in combined
637 mode: legacy IDE driver, libata, or both
638 (in the libata case, libata.atapi_enabled=1 may be
639 useful as well). Note that using the ide or libata
640 options may affect your device naming (e.g. by
641 changing hdc to sdb).
642 Format: combined (default), ide, or libata
646 io7= [HW] IO7 for Marvel based alpha systems
647 See comment before marvel_specify_io7 in
648 arch/alpha/kernel/core_marvel.c.
651 See Documentation/nfsroot.txt.
653 ip2= [HW] Set IO/IRQ pairs for up to 4 IntelliPort boards
654 See comment before ip2_setup() in drivers/char/ip2.c.
656 ips= [HW,SCSI] Adaptec / IBM ServeRAID controller
657 See header of drivers/scsi/ips.c.
660 When an interrupt is not handled search all handlers
661 for it. Intended to get systems with badly broken
665 When an interrupt is not handled search all handlers
666 for it. Also check all handlers each timer
667 interrupt. Intended to get systems with badly broken
671 Format: <RDP>,<reset>,<pci_scan>,<verbosity>
673 isolcpus= [KNL,SMP] Isolate CPUs from the general scheduler.
674 Format: <cpu number>,...,<cpu number>
675 This option can be used to specify one or more CPUs
676 to isolate from the general SMP balancing and scheduling
677 algorithms. The only way to move a process onto or off
678 an "isolated" CPU is via the CPU affinity syscalls.
679 <cpu number> begins at 0 and the maximum value is
680 "number of CPUs in system - 1".
682 This option is the preferred way to isolate CPUs. The
683 alternative -- manually setting the CPU mask of all
684 tasks in the system -- can cause problems and
685 suboptimal load balancer performance.
688 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<setup>
692 js= [HW,JOY] Analog joystick
693 See Documentation/input/joystick.txt.
697 kstack=N [IA-32,X86-64] Print N words from the kernel stack
702 lapic [IA-32,APIC] Enable the local APIC even if BIOS
705 lasi= [HW,SCSI] PARISC LASI driver for the 53c700 chip
706 Format: addr:<io>,irq:<irq>
708 llsc*= [IA64] See function print_params() in
709 arch/ia64/sn/kernel/llsc4.c.
711 load_ramdisk= [RAM] List of ramdisks to load from floppy
712 See Documentation/ramdisk.txt.
718 logibm.irq= [HW,MOUSE] Logitech Bus Mouse Driver
721 loglevel= All Kernel Messages with a loglevel smaller than the
722 console loglevel will be printed to the console. It can
723 also be changed with klogd or other programs. The
724 loglevels are defined as follows:
726 0 (KERN_EMERG) system is unusable
727 1 (KERN_ALERT) action must be taken immediately
728 2 (KERN_CRIT) critical conditions
729 3 (KERN_ERR) error conditions
730 4 (KERN_WARNING) warning conditions
731 5 (KERN_NOTICE) normal but significant condition
732 6 (KERN_INFO) informational
733 7 (KERN_DEBUG) debug-level messages
735 log_buf_len=n Sets the size of the printk ring buffer, in bytes.
736 Format: { n | nk | nM }
737 n must be a power of two. The default size
738 is set in the kernel config file.
740 lp=0 [LP] Specify parallel ports to use, e.g,
741 lp=port[,port...] lp=none,parport0 (lp0 not configured, lp1 uses
742 lp=reset first parallel port). 'lp=0' disables the
743 lp=auto printer driver. 'lp=reset' (which can be
744 specified in addition to the ports) causes
745 attached printers to be reset. Using
746 lp=port1,port2,... specifies the parallel ports
747 to associate lp devices with, starting with
748 lp0. A port specification may be 'none' to skip
749 that lp device, or a parport name such as
750 'parport0'. Specifying 'lp=auto' instead of a
751 port specification list means that device IDs
752 from each port should be examined, to see if
753 an IEEE 1284-compliant printer is attached; if
754 so, the driver will manage that printer.
755 See also header of drivers/char/lp.c.
758 Sets loops_per_jiffy to given constant, thus avoiding
759 time-consuming boot-time autodetection (up to 250 ms per
760 CPU). 0 enables autodetection (default). To determine
761 the correct value for your kernel, boot with normal
762 autodetection and see what value is printed. Note that
763 on SMP systems the preset will be applied to all CPUs,
764 which is likely to cause problems if your CPUs need
765 significantly divergent settings. An incorrect value
766 will cause delays in the kernel to be wrong, leading to
767 unpredictable I/O errors and other breakage. Although
768 unlikely, in the extreme case this might damage your
772 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>
774 mac5380= [HW,SCSI] Format:
775 <can_queue>,<cmd_per_lun>,<sg_tablesize>,<hostid>,<use_tags>
777 mac53c9x= [HW,SCSI] Format:
778 <num_esps>,<disconnect>,<nosync>,<can_queue>,<cmd_per_lun>,<sg_tablesize>,<hostid>,<use_tags>
780 machvec= [IA64] Force the use of a particular machine-vector
781 (machvec) in a generic kernel.
782 Example: machvec=hpzx1_swiotlb
784 mad16= [HW,OSS] Format:
785 <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma16>,<mpu_io>,<mpu_irq>,<joystick>
790 max_loop= [LOOP] Maximum number of loopback devices that can
794 maxcpus= [SMP] Maximum number of processors that an SMP kernel
797 max_addr=[KMG] [KNL,BOOT,ia64] All physical memory greater than or
798 equal to this physical address is ignored.
800 max_luns= [SCSI] Maximum number of LUNs to probe.
801 Should be between 1 and 2^32-1.
804 [SCSI] Maximum number of LUNs received.
805 Should be between 1 and 16384.
807 mca-pentium [BUGS=IA-32]
812 Format: <port>,<irq>,<mitsumi_bug_93_wait>
816 mce [IA-32] Machine Check Exception
818 md= [HW] RAID subsystems devices and level
819 See Documentation/md.txt.
822 Format: <first>,<last>
823 Specifies range of consoles to be captured by the MDA.
825 mem=nn[KMG] [KNL,BOOT] Force usage of a specific amount of memory
826 Amount of memory to be used when the kernel is not able
827 to see the whole system memory or for test.
828 [IA-32] Use together with memmap= to avoid physical
829 address space collisions. Without memmap= PCI devices
830 could be placed at addresses belonging to unused RAM.
832 mem=nopentium [BUGS=IA-32] Disable usage of 4MB pages for kernel
835 memmap=exactmap [KNL,IA-32] Enable setting of an exact
836 E820 memory map, as specified by the user.
837 Such memmap=exactmap lines can be constructed based on
838 BIOS output or other requirements. See the memmap=nn@ss
841 memmap=nn[KMG]@ss[KMG]
842 [KNL] Force usage of a specific region of memory
843 Region of memory to be used, from ss to ss+nn.
845 memmap=nn[KMG]#ss[KMG]
846 [KNL,ACPI] Mark specific memory as ACPI data.
847 Region of memory to be used, from ss to ss+nn.
849 memmap=nn[KMG]$ss[KMG]
850 [KNL,ACPI] Mark specific memory as reserved.
851 Region of memory to be used, from ss to ss+nn.
853 meye.*= [HW] Set MotionEye Camera parameters
854 See Documentation/video4linux/meye.txt.
859 [MOUSE] Maximum time between finger touching and
860 leaving touchpad surface for touch to be considered
861 a tap and be reported as a left button click (for
862 touchpads working in absolute mode only).
864 mousedev.xres= [MOUSE] Horizontal screen resolution, used for devices
865 reporting absolute coordinates, such as tablets
866 mousedev.yres= [MOUSE] Vertical screen resolution, used for devices
867 reporting absolute coordinates, such as tablets
873 Format: <name>,<region-number>,<size>,<offset>
875 MTD_Region= [MTD] Format:
876 <name>,<region-number>[,<base>,<size>,<buswidth>,<altbuswidth>]
879 See drivers/mtd/cmdline.c.
881 mtouchusb.raw_coordinates=
882 [HW] Make the MicroTouch USB driver use raw coordinates
883 ('y', default) or cooked coordinates ('n')
885 n2= [NET] SDL Inc. RISCom/N2 synchronous serial card
888 See header of drivers/scsi/NCR_D700.c.
894 ncr53c400a= [HW,SCSI]
896 ncr53c406a= [HW,SCSI]
900 netdev= [NET] Network devices parameters
901 Format: <irq>,<io>,<mem_start>,<mem_end>,<name>
902 Note that mem_start is often overloaded to mean
903 something different and driver-specific.
904 This usage is only documented in each driver source
908 See Documentation/nfsroot.txt.
910 nfsroot= [NFS] nfs root filesystem for disk-less boxes.
911 See Documentation/nfsroot.txt.
913 nfs.callback_tcpport=
914 [NFS] set the TCP port on which the NFSv4 callback
915 channel should listen.
917 nfs.idmap_cache_timeout=
918 [NFS] set the maximum lifetime for idmapper cache
921 nmi_watchdog= [KNL,BUGS=IA-32] Debugging features for SMP kernels
923 no387 [BUGS=IA-32] Tells the kernel to use the 387 maths
924 emulation library even if a 387 maths coprocessor
929 noapic [SMP,APIC] Tells the kernel to not make use of any
930 IOAPICs that may be present in the system.
932 noasync [HW,M68K] Disables async and sync negotiation for
935 nobats [PPC] Do not use BATs for mapping kernel lowmem
936 on "Classic" PPC cores.
940 nodisconnect [HW,SCSI,M68K] Disables SCSI disconnects.
944 noexec [IA-32,X86-64]
945 noexec=on: enable non-executable mappings (default)
946 noexec=off: disable nn-executable mappings
952 no-hlt [BUGS=IA-32] Tells the kernel that the hlt
953 instruction doesn't work correctly and not to
956 nohalt [IA-64] Tells the kernel not to use the power saving
957 function PAL_HALT_LIGHT when idle. This increases
958 power-consumption. On the positive side, it reduces
959 interrupt wake-up latency, which may improve performance
960 in certain environments such as networked servers or
963 noirqdebug [IA-32] Disables the code which attempts to detect and
964 disable unhandled interrupt sources.
966 noisapnp [ISAPNP] Disables ISA PnP code.
968 noinitrd [RAM] Tells the kernel not to load any configured
973 nolapic [IA-32,APIC] Do not enable or use the local APIC.
975 noltlbs [PPC] Do not use large page/tlb entries for kernel
976 lowmem mapping on PPC40x.
978 nomce [IA-32] Machine Check Exception
980 noresidual [PPC] Don't use residual data on PReP machines.
982 noresume [SWSUSP] Disables resume and restores original swap
985 no-scroll [VGA] Disables scrollback.
986 This is required for the Braillex ib80-piezo Braille
987 reader made by F.H. Papenmeier (Germany).
991 nosmp [SMP] Tells an SMP kernel to act as a UP kernel.
993 nosync [HW,M68K] Disables sync negotiation for all devices.
995 notsc [BUGS=IA-32] Disable Time Stamp Counter
997 nousb [USB] Disable the USB subsystem
1005 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>,<mpu_io>,<mpu_irq>
1007 opl3sa2= [HW,OSS] Format:
1008 <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>,<mss_io>,<mpu_io>,<ymode>,<loopback>[,<isapnp>,<multiple]
1010 oprofile.timer= [HW]
1011 Use timer interrupt instead of performance counters
1016 osst= [HW,SCSI] SCSI Tape Driver
1017 Format: <buffer_size>,<write_threshold>
1018 See also Documentation/scsi/st.txt.
1020 panic= [KNL] Kernel behaviour on panic
1023 parkbd.port= [HW] Parallel port number the keyboard adapter is
1024 connected to, default is 0.
1026 parkbd.mode= [HW] Parallel port keyboard adapter mode of operation,
1027 0 for XT, 1 for AT (default is AT).
1030 parport= [HW,PPT] Specify parallel ports. 0 disables.
1031 Format: { 0 | auto | 0xBBB[,IRQ[,DMA]] }
1032 Use 'auto' to force the driver to use any
1033 IRQ/DMA settings detected (the default is to
1034 ignore detected IRQ/DMA settings because of
1035 possible conflicts). You can specify the base
1036 address, IRQ, and DMA settings; IRQ and DMA
1037 should be numbers, or 'auto' (for using detected
1038 settings on that particular port), or 'nofifo'
1039 (to avoid using a FIFO even if it is detected).
1040 Parallel ports are assigned in the order they
1041 are specified on the command line, starting
1044 parport_init_mode= [HW,PPT]
1045 Configure VIA parallel port to operate in
1046 a specific mode. This is necessary on Pegasos
1047 computer where firmware has no options for setting
1048 up parallel port mode and sets it to spp.
1049 Currently this function knows 686a and 8231 chips.
1050 Format: [spp|ps2|epp|ecp|ecpepp]
1052 pas2= [HW,OSS] Format:
1053 <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma16>,<sb_io>,<sb_irq>,<sb_dma>,<sb_dma16>
1056 See header of drivers/scsi/pas16.c.
1061 See header of drivers/block/paride/pcd.c.
1062 See also Documentation/paride.txt.
1064 pci=option[,option...] [PCI] various PCI subsystem options:
1065 off [IA-32] don't probe for the PCI bus
1066 bios [IA-32] force use of PCI BIOS, don't access
1067 the hardware directly. Use this if your machine
1068 has a non-standard PCI host bridge.
1069 nobios [IA-32] disallow use of PCI BIOS, only direct
1070 hardware access methods are allowed. Use this
1071 if you experience crashes upon bootup and you
1072 suspect they are caused by the BIOS.
1073 conf1 [IA-32] Force use of PCI Configuration
1075 conf2 [IA-32] Force use of PCI Configuration
1077 nosort [IA-32] Don't sort PCI devices according to
1078 order given by the PCI BIOS. This sorting is
1079 done to get a device order compatible with
1081 biosirq [IA-32] Use PCI BIOS calls to get the interrupt
1082 routing table. These calls are known to be buggy
1083 on several machines and they hang the machine
1084 when used, but on other computers it's the only
1085 way to get the interrupt routing table. Try
1086 this option if the kernel is unable to allocate
1087 IRQs or discover secondary PCI buses on your
1089 rom [IA-32] Assign address space to expansion ROMs.
1090 Use with caution as certain devices share
1091 address decoders between ROMs and other
1093 irqmask=0xMMMM [IA-32] Set a bit mask of IRQs allowed to be
1094 assigned automatically to PCI devices. You can
1095 make the kernel exclude IRQs of your ISA cards
1097 pirqaddr=0xAAAAA [IA-32] Specify the physical address
1098 of the PIRQ table (normally generated
1099 by the BIOS) if it is outside the
1100 F0000h-100000h range.
1101 lastbus=N [IA-32] Scan all buses thru bus #N. Can be
1102 useful if the kernel is unable to find your
1103 secondary buses and you want to tell it
1104 explicitly which ones they are.
1105 assign-busses [IA-32] Always assign all PCI bus
1106 numbers ourselves, overriding
1107 whatever the firmware may have done.
1108 usepirqmask [IA-32] Honor the possible IRQ mask stored
1109 in the BIOS $PIR table. This is needed on
1110 some systems with broken BIOSes, notably
1111 some HP Pavilion N5400 and Omnibook XE3
1112 notebooks. This will have no effect if ACPI
1113 IRQ routing is enabled.
1114 noacpi [IA-32] Do not use ACPI for IRQ routing
1115 or for PCI scanning.
1116 routeirq Do IRQ routing for all PCI devices.
1117 This is normally done in pci_enable_device(),
1118 so this option is a temporary workaround
1119 for broken drivers that don't call it.
1120 firmware [ARM] Do not re-enumerate the bus but instead
1121 just use the configuration from the
1122 bootloader. This is currently used on
1123 IXP2000 systems where the bus has to be
1124 configured a certain way for adjunct CPUs.
1126 pcmv= [HW,PCMCIA] BadgePAD 4
1129 See Documentation/paride.txt.
1131 pdcchassis= [PARISC,HW] Disable/Enable PDC Chassis Status codes at
1134 See arch/parisc/kernel/pdc_chassis.c
1137 See Documentation/paride.txt.
1140 See Documentation/paride.txt.
1142 pirq= [SMP,APIC] Manual mp-table setup
1143 See Documentation/i386/IO-APIC.txt.
1145 plip= [PPT,NET] Parallel port network link
1146 Format: { parport<nr> | timid | 0 }
1147 See also Documentation/parport.txt.
1153 { on | off | curr | res | no-curr | no-res }
1156 [ISAPNP] Exclude IRQs for the autoconfiguration
1159 [ISAPNP] Exclude DMAs for the autoconfiguration
1161 pnp_reserve_io= [ISAPNP] Exclude I/O ports for the autoconfiguration
1162 Ranges are in pairs (I/O port base and size).
1165 [ISAPNP] Exclude memory regions for the
1167 Ranges are in pairs (memory base and size).
1169 profile= [KNL] Enable kernel profiling via /proc/profile
1170 Format: [schedule,]<number>
1171 Param: "schedule" - profile schedule points.
1172 Param: <number> - step/bucket size as a power of 2 for
1173 statistical time based profiling.
1175 processor.max_cstate= [HW,ACPI]
1176 Limit processor to maximum C-state
1177 max_cstate=9 overrides any DMI blacklist limit.
1179 processor.nocst [HW,ACPI]
1180 Ignore the _CST method to determine C-states,
1181 instead using the legacy FADT method
1183 prompt_ramdisk= [RAM] List of RAM disks to prompt for floppy disk
1185 See Documentation/ramdisk.txt.
1187 psmouse.proto= [HW,MOUSE] Highest PS2 mouse protocol extension to
1188 probe for; one of (bare|imps|exps|lifebook|any).
1189 psmouse.rate= [HW,MOUSE] Set desired mouse report rate, in reports
1191 psmouse.resetafter= [HW,MOUSE]
1192 Try to reset the device after so many bad packets
1195 [HW,MOUSE] Set desired mouse resolution, in dpi.
1196 psmouse.smartscroll=
1197 [HW,MOUSE] Controls Logitech smartscroll autorepeat.
1198 0 = disabled, 1 = enabled (default).
1200 pss= [HW,OSS] Personal Sound System (ECHO ESC614)
1202 <io>,<mss_io>,<mss_irq>,<mss_dma>,<mpu_io>,<mpu_irq>
1205 See Documentation/paride.txt.
1207 quiet= [KNL] Disable log messages
1212 See Documentation/md.txt.
1214 ramdisk= [RAM] Sizes of RAM disks in kilobytes [deprecated]
1215 See Documentation/ramdisk.txt.
1217 ramdisk_blocksize= [RAM]
1218 See Documentation/ramdisk.txt.
1220 ramdisk_size= [RAM] Sizes of RAM disks in kilobytes
1221 New name for the ramdisk parameter.
1222 See Documentation/ramdisk.txt.
1226 Run specified binary instead of /init from the ramdisk,
1227 used for early userspace startup. See initrd.
1229 reboot= [BUGS=IA-32,BUGS=ARM,BUGS=IA-64] Rebooting mode
1230 Format: <reboot_mode>[,<reboot_mode2>[,...]]
1231 See arch/*/kernel/reboot.c.
1233 reserve= [KNL,BUGS] Force the kernel to ignore some iomem area
1236 Specify the partition device for software suspend
1238 rhash_entries= [KNL,NET]
1239 Set number of hash buckets for route cache
1241 riscom8= [HW,SERIAL]
1242 Format: <io_board1>[,<io_board2>[,...<io_boardN>]]
1244 ro [KNL] Mount root device read-only on boot
1246 root= [KNL] Root filesystem
1248 rootdelay= [KNL] Delay (in seconds) to pause before attempting to
1249 mount the root filesystem
1251 rootflags= [KNL] Set root filesystem mount option string
1253 rootfstype= [KNL] Set root filesystem type
1255 rw [KNL] Mount root device read-write on boot
1257 S [KNL] Run init in single mode
1260 See drivers/net/irda/sa1100_ir.c.
1263 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>
1265 sbni= [NET] Granch SBNI12 leased line adapter
1267 sbpcd= [HW,CD] Soundblaster CD adapter
1269 See a comment before function sbpcd_setup() in
1270 drivers/cdrom/sbpcd.c.
1272 sc1200wdt= [HW,WDT] SC1200 WDT (watchdog) driver
1273 Format: <io>[,<timeout>[,<isapnp>]]
1275 scsi_debug_*= [SCSI]
1276 See drivers/scsi/scsi_debug.c.
1278 scsi_default_dev_flags=
1279 [SCSI] SCSI default device flags
1282 scsi_dev_flags= [SCSI] Black/white list entry for vendor and model
1283 Format: <vendor>:<model>:<flags>
1284 (flags are integer value)
1286 scsi_logging= [SCSI]
1288 selinux [SELINUX] Disable or enable SELinux at boot time.
1289 Format: { "0" | "1" }
1290 See security/selinux/Kconfig help text.
1293 Default value is set via kernel config option.
1294 If enabled at boot time, /selinux/disable can be used
1295 later to disable prior to initial policy load.
1297 serialnumber [BUGS=IA-32]
1299 sg_def_reserved_size= [SCSI]
1302 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>,<sgbase>
1305 Maximal number of shapers.
1308 See header of drivers/scsi/sim710.c.
1314 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>
1315 See header of drivers/cdrom/sjcd.c.
1320 Format: <io1>[,<io2>[,...,<io8>]]
1322 snd-ad1816a= [HW,ALSA]
1324 snd-ad1848= [HW,ALSA]
1326 snd-ali5451= [HW,ALSA]
1328 snd-als100= [HW,ALSA]
1330 snd-als4000= [HW,ALSA]
1332 snd-azt2320= [HW,ALSA]
1334 snd-cmi8330= [HW,ALSA]
1336 snd-cmipci= [HW,ALSA]
1338 snd-cs4231= [HW,ALSA]
1340 snd-cs4232= [HW,ALSA]
1342 snd-cs4236= [HW,ALSA]
1344 snd-cs4281= [HW,ALSA]
1346 snd-cs46xx= [HW,ALSA]
1348 snd-dt019x= [HW,ALSA]
1350 snd-dummy= [HW,ALSA]
1352 snd-emu10k1= [HW,ALSA]
1354 snd-ens1370= [HW,ALSA]
1356 snd-ens1371= [HW,ALSA]
1358 snd-es968= [HW,ALSA]
1360 snd-es1688= [HW,ALSA]
1362 snd-es18xx= [HW,ALSA]
1364 snd-es1938= [HW,ALSA]
1366 snd-es1968= [HW,ALSA]
1368 snd-fm801= [HW,ALSA]
1370 snd-gusclassic= [HW,ALSA]
1372 snd-gusextreme= [HW,ALSA]
1374 snd-gusmax= [HW,ALSA]
1378 snd-ice1712= [HW,ALSA]
1380 snd-intel8x0= [HW,ALSA]
1382 snd-interwave= [HW,ALSA]
1387 snd-korg1212= [HW,ALSA]
1389 snd-maestro3= [HW,ALSA]
1391 snd-mpu401= [HW,ALSA]
1393 snd-mtpav= [HW,ALSA]
1395 snd-nm256= [HW,ALSA]
1397 snd-opl3sa2= [HW,ALSA]
1405 snd-opti93x= [HW,ALSA]
1409 snd-rme32= [HW,ALSA]
1411 snd-rme96= [HW,ALSA]
1413 snd-rme9652= [HW,ALSA]
1419 snd-sbawe= [HW,ALSA]
1421 snd-serial= [HW,ALSA]
1423 snd-sgalaxy= [HW,ALSA]
1425 snd-sonicvibes= [HW,ALSA]
1430 snd-sun-cs4231= [HW,ALSA]
1432 snd-trident= [HW,ALSA]
1434 snd-usb-audio= [HW,ALSA,USB]
1436 snd-via82xx= [HW,ALSA]
1438 snd-virmidi= [HW,ALSA]
1440 snd-wavefront= [HW,ALSA]
1442 snd-ymfpci= [HW,ALSA]
1444 sonicvibes= [HW,OSS]
1448 Format: <io>[,<irq>]
1450 sonypi.*= [HW] Sony Programmable I/O Control Device driver
1451 See Documentation/sonypi.txt
1453 specialix= [HW,SERIAL] Specialix multi-serial port adapter
1454 See Documentation/specialix.txt.
1456 spia_io_base= [HW,MTD]
1462 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<mpu_io>,<mpu_irq>
1464 st= [HW,SCSI] SCSI tape parameters (buffers, etc.)
1465 See Documentation/scsi/st.txt.
1468 See header of drivers/scsi/seagate.c.
1472 Set the STI (builtin display/keyboard on the HP-PARISC
1473 machines) console (graphic card) which should be used
1474 as the initial boot-console.
1475 See also comment in drivers/video/console/sticore.c.
1478 See comment in drivers/video/console/sticore.c.
1481 Format: bpp:<bpp1>[:<bpp2>[:<bpp3>...]]
1483 swiotlb= [IA-64] Number of I/O TLB slabs
1487 sym53c416= [HW,SCSI]
1488 See header of drivers/scsi/sym53c416.c.
1491 See header of drivers/scsi/t128.c.
1495 thash_entries= [KNL,NET]
1496 Set number of hash buckets for TCP connection
1498 time Show timing data prefixed to each printk message line
1500 tipar.timeout= [HW,PPT]
1501 Set communications timeout in tenths of a second
1504 tipar.delay= [HW,PPT]
1505 Set inter-bit delay in microseconds (default 10).
1508 See header of drivers/scsi/seagate.c.
1511 See comment before function dc390_setup() in
1512 drivers/scsi/tmscsim.c.
1516 trix= [HW,OSS] MediaTrix AudioTrix Pro
1518 <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>,<sb_io>,<sb_irq>,<sb_dma>,<mpu_io>,<mpu_irq>
1520 tsdev.xres= [TS] Horizontal screen resolution.
1521 tsdev.yres= [TS] Vertical screen resolution.
1523 turbografx.map[2|3]= [HW,JOY]
1524 TurboGraFX parallel port interface
1526 <port#>,<js1>,<js2>,<js3>,<js4>,<js5>,<js6>,<js7>
1527 See also Documentation/input/joystick-parport.txt
1529 u14-34f= [HW,SCSI] UltraStor 14F/34F SCSI host adapter
1530 See header of drivers/scsi/u14-34f.c.
1539 [USBHID] The interval which mice are to be polled at.
1541 video= [FB] Frame buffer configuration
1542 See Documentation/fb/modedb.txt.
1544 vga= [BOOT,IA-32] Select a particular video mode
1545 See Documentation/i386/boot.txt and
1546 Documentation/svga.txt.
1547 Use vga=ask for menu.
1548 This is actually a boot loader parameter; the value is
1549 passed to the kernel using a special protocol.
1551 vmalloc=nn[KMG] [KNL,BOOT] Forces the vmalloc area to have an exact
1552 size of <nn>. This can be used to increase the
1553 minimum size (128MB on x86). It can also be used to
1554 decrease the size and leave more room for directly
1561 waveartist= [HW,OSS]
1562 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>
1565 See header of drivers/scsi/wd33c93.c.
1568 See header of drivers/scsi/wd7000.c.
1571 See Documentation/watchdog/watchdog.txt.
1573 xd= [HW,XT] Original XT pre-IDE (RLL encoded) disks.
1574 xd_geo= See header of drivers/block/xd.c.
1576 xirc2ps_cs= [NET,PCMCIA]
1578 <irq>,<irq_mask>,<io>,<full_duplex>,<do_sound>,<lockup_hack>[,<irq2>[,<irq3>[,<irq4>]]]
1581 ______________________________________________________________________
1584 2000-06-?? Mr. Unknown
1585 The last known update (for 2.4.0) - the changelog was not kept before.
1587 2002-11-24 Petr Baudis <pasky@ucw.cz>
1588 Randy Dunlap <randy.dunlap@verizon.net>
1589 Update for 2.5.49, description for most of the options introduced,
1590 references to other documentation (C files, READMEs, ..), added S390,
1591 PPC, SPARC, MTD, ALSA and OSS category. Minor corrections and
1594 2005-10-19 Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@xenotime.net>
1595 Lots of typos, whitespace, some reformatting.
1599 Add documentation for ALSA options.
1600 Add more DRM drivers.