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 state 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 suspension 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 }
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] ACPI will balance active IRQs
129 acpi_irq_nobalance [HW,ACPI] ACPI will not move active IRQs (default)
132 acpi_irq_pci= [HW,ACPI] If irq_balance, Clear listed IRQs for use by PCI
133 Format: <irq>,<irq>...
135 acpi_irq_isa= [HW,ACPI] If irq_balance, Mark listed IRQs used by ISA
136 Format: <irq>,<irq>...
138 acpi_osi= [HW,ACPI] empty param disables _OSI
140 acpi_serialize [HW,ACPI] force serialization of AML methods
142 acpi_skip_timer_override [HW,ACPI]
143 Recognize and ignore IRQ0/pin2 Interrupt Override.
144 For broken nForce2 BIOS resulting in XT-PIC timer.
146 acpi_dbg_layer= [HW,ACPI]
148 Each bit of the <int> indicates an acpi debug layer,
149 1: enable, 0: disable. It is useful for boot time
150 debugging. After system has booted up, it can be set
151 via /proc/acpi/debug_layer.
153 acpi_dbg_level= [HW,ACPI]
155 Each bit of the <int> indicates an acpi debug level,
156 1: enable, 0: disable. It is useful for boot time
157 debugging. After system has booted up, it can be set
158 via /proc/acpi/debug_level.
160 acpi_fake_ecdt [HW,ACPI] Workaround failure due to BIOS lacking ECDT
162 acpi_generic_hotkey [HW,ACPI]
163 Allow consolidated generic hotkey driver to
164 over-ride platform specific driver.
165 See also Documentation/acpi-hotkey.txt.
167 enable_timer_pin_1 [i386,x86-64]
168 Enable PIN 1 of APIC timer
169 Can be useful to work around chipset bugs (in particular on some ATI chipsets)
170 The kernel tries to set a reasonable default.
172 disable_timer_pin_1 [i386,x86-64]
173 Disable PIN 1 of APIC timer
174 Can be useful to work around chipset bugs.
177 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>
178 See also Documentation/sound/oss/AD1816.
181 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>,<type>
187 See header of drivers/scsi/advansys.c.
189 advwdt= [HW,WDT] Advantech WDT
190 Format: <iostart>,<iostop>
192 aedsp16= [HW,OSS] Audio Excel DSP 16
193 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<mss_io>,<mpu_io>,<mpu_irq>
194 See also header of sound/oss/aedsp16.c.
197 See Documentation/scsi/aha152x.txt.
200 Format: <portbase>[,<buson>,<busoff>[,<dmaspeed>]]
203 See Documentation/scsi/aic7xxx.txt.
206 See Documentation/scsi/aic79xx.txt.
209 Format: <host-scsi-id>,<target-scsi-id>,<max-rate>,<max-offset>
210 See also header of drivers/scsi/AM53C974.c.
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>
222 apc= [HW,SPARC] Power management functions (SPARCstation-4/5 + deriv.)
224 Disable APC CPU standby support. SPARCstation-Fox does
225 not play well with APC CPU idle - disable it if you have
226 APC and your system crashes randomly.
228 apic= [APIC,i386] Change the output verbosity whilst booting
229 Format: { quiet (default) | verbose | debug }
230 Change the amount of debugging information output
231 when initialising the APIC and IO-APIC components.
233 apm= [APM] Advanced Power Management
234 See header of arch/i386/kernel/apm.c.
239 arcrimi= [HW,NET] ARCnet - "RIM I" (entirely mem-mapped) cards
240 Format: <io>,<irq>,<nodeID>
244 atarimouse= [HW,MOUSE] Atari Mouse
246 atascsi= [HW,SCSI] Atari SCSI
248 atkbd.extra= [HW] Enable extra LEDs and keys on IBM RapidAccess,
249 EzKey and similar keyboards
251 atkbd.reset= [HW] Reset keyboard during initialization
253 atkbd.set= [HW] Select keyboard code set
254 Format: <int> (2 = AT (default) 3 = PS/2)
256 atkbd.scroll= [HW] Enable scroll wheel on MS Office and similar
259 atkbd.softraw= [HW] Choose between synthetic and real raw mode
260 Format: <bool> (0 = real, 1 = synthetic (default))
263 [HW] Use software keyboard repeat
267 awe= [HW,OSS] AWE32/SB32/AWE64 wave table synth
268 Format: <io>,<memsize>,<isapnp>
270 aztcd= [HW,CD] Aztech CD268 CDROM driver
271 Format: <io>,0x79 (?)
273 baycom_epp= [HW,AX25]
276 baycom_par= [HW,AX25] BayCom Parallel Port AX.25 Modem
278 See header of drivers/net/hamradio/baycom_par.c.
280 baycom_ser_fdx= [HW,AX25] BayCom Serial Port AX.25 Modem (Full Duplex Mode)
281 Format: <io>,<irq>,<mode>[,<baud>]
282 See header of drivers/net/hamradio/baycom_ser_fdx.c.
284 baycom_ser_hdx= [HW,AX25] BayCom Serial Port AX.25 Modem (Half Duplex Mode)
285 Format: <io>,<irq>,<mode>
286 See header of drivers/net/hamradio/baycom_ser_hdx.c.
288 blkmtd_device= [HW,MTD]
294 bttv.card= [HW,V4L] bttv (bt848 + bt878 based grabber cards)
295 bttv.radio= Most important insmod options are available as kernel args too.
296 bttv.pll= See Documentation/video4linux/bttv/Insmod-options
297 bttv.tuner= and Documentation/video4linux/bttv/CARDLIST
300 See drivers/scsi/BusLogic.c, comment before function
301 BusLogic_ParseDriverOptions().
303 c101= [NET] Moxa C101 synchronous serial card
305 cachesize= [BUGS=IA-32] Override level 2 CPU cache size detection.
306 Sometimes CPU hardware bugs make them report the cache
307 size incorrectly. The kernel will attempt work arounds
308 to fix known problems, but for some CPUs it is not
309 possible to determine what the correct size should be.
310 This option provides an override for these situations.
313 Format: <io>,<irq>[,PAS]
314 See header of drivers/cdrom/cdu31a.c.
316 chandev= [HW,NET] Generic channel device initialisation
318 checkreqprot [SELINUX] Set initial checkreqprot flag value.
319 Format: { "0" | "1" }
320 See security/selinux/Kconfig help text.
321 0 -- check protection applied by kernel (includes any implied execute protection).
322 1 -- check protection requested by application.
323 Default value is set via a kernel config option.
324 Value can be changed at runtime via /selinux/checkreqprot.
326 clock= [BUGS=IA-32, HW] gettimeofday timesource override.
327 Forces specified timesource (if avaliable) to be used
328 when calculating gettimeofday(). If specicified timesource
329 is not avalible, it defaults to PIT.
330 Format: { pit | tsc | cyclone | pmtmr }
332 hpet= [IA-32,HPET] option to disable HPET and use PIT.
336 Format: { auto | [<io>,][<irq>] }
338 com20020= [HW,NET] ARCnet - COM20020 chipset
339 Format: <io>[,<irq>[,<nodeID>[,<backplane>[,<ckp>[,<timeout>]]]]]
341 com90io= [HW,NET] ARCnet - COM90xx chipset (IO-mapped buffers)
344 com90xx= [HW,NET] ARCnet - COM90xx chipset (memory-mapped buffers)
345 Format: <io>[,<irq>[,<memstart>]]
347 condev= [HW,S390] console device
350 console= [KNL] Output console device and options.
352 tty<n> Use the virtual console device <n>.
355 Use the specified serial port. The options are of
356 the form "bbbbpn", where "bbbb" is the baud rate,
357 "p" is parity ("n", "o", or "e"), and "n" is bits.
360 See also Documentation/serial-console.txt.
362 uart,io,<addr>[,options]
363 uart,mmio,<addr>[,options]
364 Start an early, polled-mode console on the 8250/16550
365 UART at the specified I/O port or MMIO address,
366 switching to the matching ttyS device later. The
367 options are the same as for ttyS, above.
369 cpcihp_generic= [HW,PCI] Generic port I/O CompactPCI driver
370 Format: <first_slot>,<last_slot>,<port>,<enum_bit>[,<debug>]
373 Format: { parport<nr> | auto | none }
375 crashkernel=nn[KMG]@ss[KMG]
376 [KNL] Reserve a chunk of physical memory to
377 hold a kernel to switch to with kexec on panic.
380 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>,<mpuio>,<mpuirq>
385 cs89x0_media= [HW,NET]
386 Format: { rj45 | aui | bnc }
388 cyclades= [HW,SERIAL] Cyclades multi-serial port adapter.
391 See header of drivers/s390/block/dasd_devmap.c.
393 db9.dev[2|3]= [HW,JOY] Multisystem joystick support via parallel port
394 (one device per port)
395 Format: <port#>,<type>
396 See also Documentation/input/joystick-parport.txt
398 debug [KNL] Enable kernel debugging (events log level).
401 Format: <area>[,<node>]
402 See also Documentation/networking/decnet.txt.
405 See Documentation/filesystems/devfs/boot-options.
408 Set number of hash buckets for dentry cache.
411 IO parameters + enable/disable command.
413 digiepca= [HW,SERIAL]
414 See drivers/char/README.epca and
415 Documentation/digiepca.txt.
417 dmascc= [HW,AX25,SERIAL] AX.25 Z80SCC driver with DMA
419 Format: <io_dev0>[,<io_dev1>[,..<io_dev32>]]
421 dmasound= [HW,OSS] Sound subsystem buffers
427 earlyprintk= [IA-32, X86-64]
429 earlyprintk=serial[,ttySn[,baudrate]]
431 Append ,keep to not disable it when the real console
434 Only vga or serial at a time, not both.
436 Currently only ttyS0 and ttyS1 are supported.
438 Interaction with the standard serial driver is not
441 The VGA output is eventually overwritten by the real
451 Format: {"of[f]" | "sk[ipmbr]"}
452 See comment in arch/i386/boot/edd.S
455 Format: <id>,<membase>,<irq>
457 eisa_irq_edge= [PARISC,HW]
458 See header of drivers/parisc/eisa.c.
461 See comment before function elanfreq_setup() in
462 arch/i386/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/elanfreq.c.
465 Format: {"as"|"cfq"|"deadline"|"noop"}
466 See Documentation/block/as-iosched.txt
467 and Documentation/block/deadline-iosched.txt for details.
469 Specifies physical address of start of kernel core image
471 See Documentation/kdump.txt for details.
473 enforcing [SELINUX] Set initial enforcing status.
475 See security/selinux/Kconfig help text.
476 0 -- permissive (log only, no denials).
477 1 -- enforcing (deny and log).
479 Value can be changed at runtime via /selinux/enforce.
482 Format: <lineout>[,<micbias>]
483 See also header of sound/oss/es1370.c.
486 Format: <spdif>,[<nomix>,[<amplifier>]]
487 See also header of sound/oss/es1371.c.
489 ether= [HW,NET] Ethernet cards parameters
490 This option is obsoleted by the "netdev=" option, which
491 has equivalent usage. See its documentation for details.
493 eurwdt= [HW,WDT] Eurotech CPU-1220/1410 onboard watchdog.
497 See header of drivers/scsi/fd_mcs.c.
500 See header of drivers/scsi/fdomain.c.
503 See Documentation/floppy.txt.
505 ftape= [HW] Floppy Tape subsystem debugging options.
506 See Documentation/ftape.txt.
509 [HW,JOY] Multisystem joystick and NES/SNES/PSX pad
510 support via parallel port (up to 5 devices per port)
511 Format: <port#>,<pad1>,<pad2>,<pad3>,<pad4>,<pad5>
512 See also Documentation/input/joystick-parport.txt
517 See header of drivers/scsi/gdth.c.
519 gpt [EFI] Forces disk with valid GPT signature but
520 invalid Protective MBR to be treated as GPT.
525 gt96100eth= [NET] MIPS GT96100 Advanced Communication Controller
528 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma16>
532 hashdist= [KNL,NUMA] Large hashes allocated during boot
533 are distributed across NUMA nodes. Defaults on
534 for IA-64, off otherwise.
536 hcl= [IA-64] SGI's Hardware Graph compatibility layer
538 hd= [EIDE] (E)IDE hard drive subsystem geometry
539 Format: <cyl>,<head>,<sect>
541 hd?= [HW] (E)IDE subsystem
542 hd?lun= See Documentation/ide.txt.
544 highmem=nn[KMG] [KNL,BOOT] forces the highmem zone to have an exact
545 size of <nn>. This works even on boxes that have no
546 highmem otherwise. This also works to reduce highmem
547 size on bigger boxes.
550 See Documentation/isdn/README.HiSax.
552 hugepages= [HW,IA-32,IA-64] Maximal number of HugeTLB pages.
554 noirqbalance [IA-32,SMP,KNL] Disable kernel irq balancing
556 i8042.direct [HW] Put keyboard port into non-translated mode
557 i8042.dumbkbd [HW] Pretend that controlled can only read data from
558 keyboard and can not control its state
559 (Don't attempt to blink the leds)
560 i8042.noaux [HW] Don't check for auxiliary (== mouse) port
561 i8042.nokbd [HW] Don't check/create keyboard port
562 i8042.nomux [HW] Don't check presence of an active multiplexing
564 i8042.nopnp [HW] Don't use ACPIPnP / PnPBIOS to discover KBD/AUX
567 [HW] Frequency with which keyboard LEDs should blink
568 when kernel panics (default is 0.5 sec)
569 i8042.reset [HW] Reset the controller during init and cleanup
570 i8042.unlock [HW] Unlock (ignore) the keylock
574 i8k.ignore_dmi [HW] Continue probing hardware even if DMI data
575 indicates that the driver is running on unsupported
577 i8k.force [HW] Activate i8k driver even if SMM BIOS signature
578 does not match list of supported models.
580 [HW] Report power status in /proc/i8k
581 (disabled by default)
582 i8k.restricted [HW] Allow controlling fans only if SYS_ADMIN
585 ibmmcascsi= [HW,MCA,SCSI] IBM MicroChannel SCSI adapter
586 See Documentation/mca.txt.
589 Format: <io>[,<membase>[,<icn_id>[,<icn_id2>]]]
591 ide= [HW] (E)IDE subsystem
592 Format: ide=nodma or ide=doubler or ide=reverse
593 See Documentation/ide.txt.
595 ide?= [HW] (E)IDE subsystem
596 Format: ide?=noprobe or chipset specific parameters.
597 See Documentation/ide.txt.
599 idebus= [HW] (E)IDE subsystem - VLB/PCI bus speed
600 See Documentation/ide.txt.
603 Format: idle=poll or idle=halt
606 Set number of hash buckets for inode cache.
609 See header of drivers/scsi/in2000.c.
613 Run specified binary instead of /sbin/init as init
616 initcall_debug [KNL] Trace initcalls as they are executed. Useful
617 for working out where the kernel is dying during
620 initrd= [BOOT] Specify the location of the initial ramdisk
622 inport.irq= [HW] Inport (ATI XL and Microsoft) busmouse driver
627 io7= [HW] IO7 for Marvel based alpha systems
628 See comment before marvel_specify_io7 in
629 arch/alpha/kernel/core_marvel.c.
632 See Documentation/nfsroot.txt.
634 ip2= [HW] Set IO/IRQ pairs for up to 4 IntelliPort boards
635 See comment before ip2_setup() in drivers/char/ip2.c.
637 ips= [HW,SCSI] Adaptec / IBM ServeRAID controller
638 See header of drivers/scsi/ips.c.
641 When an interrupt is not handled search all handlers
642 for it. Intended to get systems with badly broken
646 When an interrupt is not handled search all handlers
647 for it. Also check all handlers each timer
648 interrupt. Intended to get systems with badly broken
652 Format: <RDP>, <reset>, <pci_scan>, <verbosity>
654 isolcpus= [KNL,SMP] Isolate CPUs from the general scheduler.
655 Format: <cpu number>,...,<cpu number>
656 This option can be used to specify one or more CPUs
657 to isolate from the general SMP balancing and scheduling
658 algorithms. The only way to move a process onto or off
659 an "isolated" CPU is via the CPU affinity syscalls.
660 <cpu number> begins at 0 and the maximum value is
661 "number of CPUs in system - 1".
663 This option is the preferred way to isolate CPUs. The
664 alternative - manually setting the CPU mask of all tasks
665 in the system can cause problems and suboptimal load
666 balancer performance.
669 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<setup>
673 js= [HW,JOY] Analog joystick
674 See Documentation/input/joystick.txt.
678 kstack=N [IA-32, X86-64] Print N words from the kernel stack
683 lapic [IA-32,APIC] Enable the local APIC even if BIOS disabled it.
685 lasi= [HW,SCSI] PARISC LASI driver for the 53c700 chip
686 Format: addr:<io>,irq:<irq>
689 See function print_params() in arch/ia64/sn/kernel/llsc4.c.
691 load_ramdisk= [RAM] List of ramdisks to load from floppy
692 See Documentation/ramdisk.txt.
698 logibm.irq= [HW,MOUSE] Logitech Bus Mouse Driver
701 loglevel= All Kernel Messages with a loglevel smaller than the
702 console loglevel will be printed to the console. It can
703 also be changed with klogd or other programs. The
704 loglevels are defined as follows:
706 0 (KERN_EMERG) system is unusable
707 1 (KERN_ALERT) action must be taken immediately
708 2 (KERN_CRIT) critical conditions
709 3 (KERN_ERR) error conditions
710 4 (KERN_WARNING) warning conditions
711 5 (KERN_NOTICE) normal but significant condition
712 6 (KERN_INFO) informational
713 7 (KERN_DEBUG) debug-level messages
715 log_buf_len=n Sets the size of the printk ring buffer, in bytes.
716 Format is n, nk, nM. n must be a power of two. The
717 default is set in kernel config.
719 lp=0 [LP] Specify parallel ports to use, e.g,
720 lp=port[,port...] lp=none,parport0 (lp0 not configured, lp1 uses
721 lp=reset first parallel port). 'lp=0' disables the
722 lp=auto printer driver. 'lp=reset' (which can be
723 specified in addition to the ports) causes
724 attached printers to be reset. Using
725 lp=port1,port2,... specifies the parallel ports
726 to associate lp devices with, starting with
727 lp0. A port specification may be 'none' to skip
728 that lp device, or a parport name such as
729 'parport0'. Specifying 'lp=auto' instead of a
730 port specification list means that device IDs
731 from each port should be examined, to see if
732 an IEEE 1284-compliant printer is attached; if
733 so, the driver will manage that printer.
734 See also header of drivers/char/lp.c.
737 Sets loops_per_jiffy to given constant, thus avoiding
738 time-consuming boot-time autodetection (up to 250 ms per
739 CPU). 0 enables autodetection (default). To determine
740 the correct value for your kernel, boot with normal
741 autodetection and see what value is printed. Note that
742 on SMP systems the preset will be applied to all CPUs,
743 which is likely to cause problems if your CPUs need
744 significantly divergent settings. An incorrect value
745 will cause delays in the kernel to be wrong, leading to
746 unpredictable I/O errors and other breakage. Although
747 unlikely, in the extreme case this might damage your
751 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>
754 Format: <can_queue>,<cmd_per_lun>,<sg_tablesize>,<hostid>,<use_tags>
757 Format: <num_esps>,<disconnect>,<nosync>,<can_queue>,<cmd_per_lun>,<sg_tablesize>,<hostid>,<use_tags>
760 Force the use of a particular machine-vector (machvec) in a generic
761 kernel. Example: machvec=hpzx1_swiotlb
764 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma16>,<mpu_io>,<mpu_irq>,<joystick>
769 max_loop= [LOOP] Maximum number of loopback devices that can
773 maxcpus= [SMP] Maximum number of processors that an SMP kernel
776 max_addr=[KMG] [KNL,BOOT,ia64] All physical memory greater than or
777 equal to this physical address is ignored.
779 max_luns= [SCSI] Maximum number of LUNs to probe
780 Should be between 1 and 2^32-1.
783 [SCSI] Maximum number of LUNs received
784 Should be between 1 and 16384.
786 mca-pentium [BUGS=IA-32]
791 Format: <port>,<irq>,<mitsumi_bug_93_wait>
795 mce [IA-32] Machine Check Exception
797 md= [HW] RAID subsystems devices and level
798 See Documentation/md.txt.
801 Format: <first>,<last>
802 Specifies range of consoles to be captured by the MDA.
804 mem=nn[KMG] [KNL,BOOT] Force usage of a specific amount of memory
805 Amount of memory to be used when the kernel is not able
806 to see the whole system memory or for test.
807 [IA-32] Use together with memmap= to avoid physical
808 address space collisions. Without memmap= PCI devices
809 could be placed at addresses belonging to unused RAM.
811 mem=nopentium [BUGS=IA-32] Disable usage of 4MB pages for kernel
814 memmap=exactmap [KNL,IA-32] Enable setting of an exact
815 E820 memory map, as specified by the user.
816 Such memmap=exactmap lines can be constructed based on
817 BIOS output or other requirements. See the memmap=nn@ss
820 memmap=nn[KMG]@ss[KMG]
821 [KNL] Force usage of a specific region of memory
822 Region of memory to be used, from ss to ss+nn.
824 memmap=nn[KMG]#ss[KMG]
825 [KNL,ACPI] Mark specific memory as ACPI data.
826 Region of memory to be used, from ss to ss+nn.
828 memmap=nn[KMG]$ss[KMG]
829 [KNL,ACPI] Mark specific memory as reserved.
830 Region of memory to be used, from ss to ss+nn.
832 meye.*= [HW] Set MotionEye Camera parameters
833 See Documentation/video4linux/meye.txt.
838 [MOUSE] Maximum time between finger touching and
839 leaving touchpad surface for touch to be considered
840 a tap and be reported as a left button click (for
841 touchpads working in absolute mode only).
843 mousedev.xres= [MOUSE] Horizontal screen resolution, used for devices
844 reporting absolute coordinates, such as tablets
845 mousedev.yres= [MOUSE] Vertical screen resolution, used for devices
846 reporting absolute coordinates, such as tablets
852 Format: <name>,<region-number>,<size>,<offset>
855 Format: <name>,<region-number>[,<base>,<size>,<buswidth>,<altbuswidth>]
858 See drivers/mtd/cmdline.c.
860 mtouchusb.raw_coordinates=
861 [HW] Make the MicroTouch USB driver use raw coordinates ('y', default)
862 or cooked coordinates ('n')
864 n2= [NET] SDL Inc. RISCom/N2 synchronous serial card
867 See header of drivers/scsi/NCR_D700.c.
873 ncr53c400a= [HW,SCSI]
875 ncr53c406a= [HW,SCSI]
879 netdev= [NET] Network devices parameters
880 Format: <irq>,<io>,<mem_start>,<mem_end>,<name>
881 Note that mem_start is often overloaded to mean
882 something different and driver-specific.
885 See Documentation/nfsroot.txt.
887 nfsroot= [NFS] nfs root filesystem for disk-less boxes.
888 See Documentation/nfsroot.txt.
890 nmi_watchdog= [KNL,BUGS=IA-32] Debugging features for SMP kernels
892 no387 [BUGS=IA-32] Tells the kernel to use the 387 maths
893 emulation library even if a 387 maths coprocessor
898 noapic [SMP,APIC] Tells the kernel to not make use of any
899 IOAPICs that may be present in the system.
901 noasync [HW,M68K] Disables async and sync negotiation for
904 nobats [PPC] Do not use BATs for mapping kernel lowmem
905 on "Classic" PPC cores.
909 nodisconnect [HW,SCSI,M68K] Disables SCSI disconnects.
913 noexec [IA-32, X86-64]
914 noexec=on: enable non-executable mappings (default)
915 noexec=off: disable nn-executable mappings
921 no-hlt [BUGS=IA-32] Tells the kernel that the hlt
922 instruction doesn't work correctly and not to
925 nohalt [IA-64] Tells the kernel not to use the power saving
926 function PAL_HALT_LIGHT when idle. This increases
927 power-consumption. On the positive side, it reduces
928 interrupt wake-up latency, which may improve performance
929 in certain environments such as networked servers or
932 noirqdebug [IA-32] Disables the code which attempts to detect and
933 disable unhandled interrupt sources.
935 noisapnp [ISAPNP] Disables ISA PnP code.
937 noinitrd [RAM] Tells the kernel not to load any configured
942 nolapic [IA-32,APIC] Do not enable or use the local APIC.
944 noltlbs [PPC] Do not use large page/tlb entries for kernel
945 lowmem mapping on PPC40x.
947 nomce [IA-32] Machine Check Exception
949 noresidual [PPC] Don't use residual data on PReP machines.
951 noresume [SWSUSP] Disables resume and restore original swap space.
953 no-scroll [VGA] Disables scrollback.
954 This is required for the Braillex ib80-piezo Braille
955 reader made by F.H. Papenmeier (Germany).
959 nosmp [SMP] Tells an SMP kernel to act as a UP kernel.
961 nosync [HW,M68K] Disables sync negotiation for all devices.
963 notsc [BUGS=IA-32] Disable Time Stamp Counter
965 nousb [USB] Disable the USB subsystem
973 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>,<mpu_io>,<mpu_irq>
976 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>,<mss_io>,<mpu_io>,<ymode>,<loopback>[,<isapnp>,<multiple]
979 Use timer interrupt instead of performance counters
984 osst= [HW,SCSI] SCSI Tape Driver
985 Format: <buffer_size>,<write_threshold>
986 See also Documentation/scsi/st.txt.
988 panic= [KNL] Kernel behaviour on panic
991 parkbd.port= [HW] Parallel port number the keyboard adapter is
992 connected to, default is 0.
994 parkbd.mode= [HW] Parallel port keyboard adapter mode of operation,
995 0 for XT, 1 for AT (default is AT).
998 parport=0 [HW,PPT] Specify parallel ports. 0 disables.
999 parport=auto Use 'auto' to force the driver to use
1000 parport=0xBBB[,IRQ[,DMA]] any IRQ/DMA settings detected (the
1001 default is to ignore detected IRQ/DMA
1002 settings because of possible
1003 conflicts). You can specify the base
1004 address, IRQ, and DMA settings; IRQ and
1005 DMA should be numbers, or 'auto' (for
1006 using detected settings on that
1007 particular port), or 'nofifo' (to avoid
1008 using a FIFO even if it is detected).
1009 Parallel ports are assigned in the
1010 order they are specified on the command
1011 line, starting with parport0.
1014 [HW,PPT] Configure VIA parallel port to
1015 operate in specific mode. This is
1016 necessary on Pegasos computer where
1017 firmware has no options for setting up
1018 parallel port mode and sets it to
1019 spp. Currently this function knows
1020 686a and 8231 chips.
1021 Format: [spp|ps2|epp|ecp|ecpepp]
1024 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma16>,<sb_io>,<sb_irq>,<sb_dma>,<sb_dma16>
1027 See header of drivers/scsi/pas16.c.
1032 See header of drivers/block/paride/pcd.c.
1033 See also Documentation/paride.txt.
1035 pci=option[,option...] [PCI] various PCI subsystem options:
1036 off [IA-32] don't probe for the PCI bus
1037 bios [IA-32] force use of PCI BIOS, don't access
1038 the hardware directly. Use this if your machine
1039 has a non-standard PCI host bridge.
1040 nobios [IA-32] disallow use of PCI BIOS, only direct
1041 hardware access methods are allowed. Use this
1042 if you experience crashes upon bootup and you
1043 suspect they are caused by the BIOS.
1044 conf1 [IA-32] Force use of PCI Configuration Mechanism 1.
1045 conf2 [IA-32] Force use of PCI Configuration Mechanism 2.
1046 nosort [IA-32] Don't sort PCI devices according to
1047 order given by the PCI BIOS. This sorting is done
1048 to get a device order compatible with older kernels.
1049 biosirq [IA-32] Use PCI BIOS calls to get the interrupt
1050 routing table. These calls are known to be buggy
1051 on several machines and they hang the machine when used,
1052 but on other computers it's the only way to get the
1053 interrupt routing table. Try this option if the kernel
1054 is unable to allocate IRQs or discover secondary PCI
1055 buses on your motherboard.
1056 rom [IA-32] Assign address space to expansion ROMs.
1057 Use with caution as certain devices share address
1058 decoders between ROMs and other resources.
1059 irqmask=0xMMMM [IA-32] Set a bit mask of IRQs allowed to be assigned
1060 automatically to PCI devices. You can make the kernel
1061 exclude IRQs of your ISA cards this way.
1062 pirqaddr=0xAAAAA [IA-32] Specify the physical address
1063 of the PIRQ table (normally generated
1064 by the BIOS) if it is outside the
1065 F0000h-100000h range.
1066 lastbus=N [IA-32] Scan all buses till bus #N. Can be useful
1067 if the kernel is unable to find your secondary buses
1068 and you want to tell it explicitly which ones they are.
1069 assign-busses [IA-32] Always assign all PCI bus
1070 numbers ourselves, overriding
1071 whatever the firmware may have
1073 usepirqmask [IA-32] Honor the possible IRQ mask
1074 stored in the BIOS $PIR table. This is
1075 needed on some systems with broken
1076 BIOSes, notably some HP Pavilion N5400
1077 and Omnibook XE3 notebooks. This will
1078 have no effect if ACPI IRQ routing is
1080 noacpi [IA-32] Do not use ACPI for IRQ routing
1081 or for PCI scanning.
1082 routeirq Do IRQ routing for all PCI devices.
1083 This is normally done in pci_enable_device(),
1084 so this option is a temporary workaround
1085 for broken drivers that don't call it.
1087 firmware [ARM] Do not re-enumerate the bus but
1088 instead just use the configuration
1089 from the bootloader. This is currently
1090 used on IXP2000 systems where the
1091 bus has to be configured a certain way
1094 pcmv= [HW,PCMCIA] BadgePAD 4
1097 See Documentation/paride.txt.
1099 pdcchassis= [PARISC,HW] Disable/Enable PDC Chassis Status codes at
1102 See arch/parisc/kernel/pdc_chassis.c
1105 See Documentation/paride.txt.
1108 See Documentation/paride.txt.
1110 pirq= [SMP,APIC] Manual mp-table setup
1111 See Documentation/i386/IO-APIC.txt.
1113 plip= [PPT,NET] Parallel port network link
1114 Format: { parport<nr> | timid | 0 }
1115 See also Documentation/parport.txt.
1121 { on | off | curr | res | no-curr | no-res }
1124 [ISAPNP] Exclude IRQs for the autoconfiguration
1127 [ISAPNP] Exclude DMAs for the autoconfiguration
1129 pnp_reserve_io= [ISAPNP] Exclude I/O ports for the autoconfiguration
1130 Ranges are in pairs (I/O port base and size).
1133 [ISAPNP] Exclude memory regions for the autoconfiguration
1134 Ranges are in pairs (memory base and size).
1136 profile= [KNL] Enable kernel profiling via /proc/profile
1137 { schedule | <number> }
1138 (param: schedule - profile schedule points}
1139 (param: profile step/bucket size as a power of 2 for
1140 statistical time based profiling)
1142 processor.max_cstate= [HW, ACPI]
1143 Limit processor to maximum C-state
1144 max_cstate=9 overrides any DMI blacklist limit.
1146 prompt_ramdisk= [RAM] List of RAM disks to prompt for floppy disk
1148 See Documentation/ramdisk.txt.
1150 psmouse.proto= [HW,MOUSE] Highest PS2 mouse protocol extension to
1151 probe for (bare|imps|exps|lifebook|any).
1152 psmouse.rate= [HW,MOUSE] Set desired mouse report rate, in reports
1155 [HW,MOUSE] Try to reset the device after so many bad packets
1158 [HW,MOUSE] Set desired mouse resolution, in dpi.
1159 psmouse.smartscroll=
1160 [HW,MOUSE] Controls Logitech smartscroll autorepeat,
1161 0 = disabled, 1 = enabled (default).
1163 pss= [HW,OSS] Personal Sound System (ECHO ESC614)
1164 Format: <io>,<mss_io>,<mss_irq>,<mss_dma>,<mpu_io>,<mpu_irq>
1167 See Documentation/paride.txt.
1169 quiet= [KNL] Disable log messages
1174 See Documentation/md.txt.
1176 ramdisk= [RAM] Sizes of RAM disks in kilobytes [deprecated]
1177 See Documentation/ramdisk.txt.
1181 See Documentation/ramdisk.txt.
1183 ramdisk_size= [RAM] Sizes of RAM disks in kilobytes
1184 New name for the ramdisk parameter.
1185 See Documentation/ramdisk.txt.
1189 Run specified binary instead of /init from the ramdisk,
1190 used for early userspace startup. See initrd.
1192 reboot= [BUGS=IA-32,BUGS=ARM,BUGS=IA-64] Rebooting mode
1193 Format: <reboot_mode>[,<reboot_mode2>[,...]]
1194 See arch/*/kernel/reboot.c.
1196 reserve= [KNL,BUGS] Force the kernel to ignore some iomem area
1198 resume= [SWSUSP] Specify the partition device for software suspension
1200 rhash_entries= [KNL,NET]
1201 Set number of hash buckets for route cache
1203 riscom8= [HW,SERIAL]
1204 Format: <io_board1>[,<io_board2>[,...<io_boardN>]]
1206 ro [KNL] Mount root device read-only on boot
1208 root= [KNL] Root filesystem
1210 rootdelay= [KNL] Delay (in seconds) to pause before attempting to
1211 mount the root filesystem
1213 rootflags= [KNL] Set root filesystem mount option string
1215 rootfstype= [KNL] Set root filesystem type
1217 rw [KNL] Mount root device read-write on boot
1219 S [KNL] Run init in single mode
1222 See drivers/net/irda/sa1100_ir.c.
1225 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>
1227 sbni= [NET] Granch SBNI12 leased line adapter
1229 sbpcd= [HW,CD] Soundblaster CD adapter
1231 See a comment before function sbpcd_setup() in
1232 drivers/cdrom/sbpcd.c.
1234 sc1200wdt= [HW,WDT] SC1200 WDT (watchdog) driver
1235 Format: <io>[,<timeout>[,<isapnp>]]
1237 scsi_debug_*= [SCSI]
1238 See drivers/scsi/scsi_debug.c.
1240 scsi_default_dev_flags=
1241 [SCSI] SCSI default device flags
1244 scsi_dev_flags= [SCSI] Black/white list entry for vendor and model
1245 Format: <vendor>:<model>:<flags>
1246 (flags are integer value)
1248 scsi_logging= [SCSI]
1250 selinux [SELINUX] Disable or enable SELinux at boot time.
1251 Format: { "0" | "1" }
1252 See security/selinux/Kconfig help text.
1255 Default value is set via kernel config option.
1256 If enabled at boot time, /selinux/disable can be used
1257 later to disable prior to initial policy load.
1259 serialnumber [BUGS=IA-32]
1261 sg_def_reserved_size=
1265 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>,<sgbase>
1268 Maximal number of shapers.
1271 See header of drivers/scsi/sim710.c.
1277 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>
1278 See header of drivers/cdrom/sjcd.c.
1283 Format: <io1>[,<io2>[,...,<io8>]]
1285 snd-ad1816a= [HW,ALSA]
1287 snd-ad1848= [HW,ALSA]
1289 snd-ali5451= [HW,ALSA]
1291 snd-als100= [HW,ALSA]
1293 snd-als4000= [HW,ALSA]
1295 snd-azt2320= [HW,ALSA]
1297 snd-cmi8330= [HW,ALSA]
1299 snd-cmipci= [HW,ALSA]
1301 snd-cs4231= [HW,ALSA]
1303 snd-cs4232= [HW,ALSA]
1305 snd-cs4236= [HW,ALSA]
1307 snd-cs4281= [HW,ALSA]
1309 snd-cs46xx= [HW,ALSA]
1311 snd-dt019x= [HW,ALSA]
1313 snd-dummy= [HW,ALSA]
1315 snd-emu10k1= [HW,ALSA]
1317 snd-ens1370= [HW,ALSA]
1319 snd-ens1371= [HW,ALSA]
1321 snd-es968= [HW,ALSA]
1323 snd-es1688= [HW,ALSA]
1325 snd-es18xx= [HW,ALSA]
1327 snd-es1938= [HW,ALSA]
1329 snd-es1968= [HW,ALSA]
1331 snd-fm801= [HW,ALSA]
1333 snd-gusclassic= [HW,ALSA]
1335 snd-gusextreme= [HW,ALSA]
1337 snd-gusmax= [HW,ALSA]
1341 snd-ice1712= [HW,ALSA]
1343 snd-intel8x0= [HW,ALSA]
1345 snd-interwave= [HW,ALSA]
1350 snd-korg1212= [HW,ALSA]
1352 snd-maestro3= [HW,ALSA]
1354 snd-mpu401= [HW,ALSA]
1356 snd-mtpav= [HW,ALSA]
1358 snd-nm256= [HW,ALSA]
1360 snd-opl3sa2= [HW,ALSA]
1368 snd-opti93x= [HW,ALSA]
1372 snd-rme32= [HW,ALSA]
1374 snd-rme96= [HW,ALSA]
1376 snd-rme9652= [HW,ALSA]
1382 snd-sbawe= [HW,ALSA]
1384 snd-serial= [HW,ALSA]
1386 snd-sgalaxy= [HW,ALSA]
1388 snd-sonicvibes= [HW,ALSA]
1393 snd-sun-cs4231= [HW,ALSA]
1395 snd-trident= [HW,ALSA]
1397 snd-usb-audio= [HW,ALSA,USB]
1399 snd-via82xx= [HW,ALSA]
1401 snd-virmidi= [HW,ALSA]
1403 snd-wavefront= [HW,ALSA]
1405 snd-ymfpci= [HW,ALSA]
1407 sonicvibes= [HW,OSS]
1411 Format: <io>[,<irq>]
1413 sonypi.*= [HW] Sony Programmable I/O Control Device driver
1414 See Documentation/sonypi.txt
1416 specialix= [HW,SERIAL] Specialix multi-serial port adapter
1417 See Documentation/specialix.txt.
1419 spia_io_base= [HW,MTD]
1425 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<mpu_io>,<mpu_irq>
1427 st= [HW,SCSI] SCSI tape parameters (buffers, etc.)
1428 See Documentation/scsi/st.txt.
1431 See header of drivers/scsi/seagate.c.
1435 Set the STI (builtin display/keyboard on the HP-PARISC
1436 machines) console (graphic card) which should be used
1437 as the initial boot-console.
1438 See also comment in drivers/video/console/sticore.c.
1441 See comment in drivers/video/console/sticore.c.
1444 Format: bpp:<bpp1>[:<bpp2>[:<bpp3>...]]
1446 stram_swap= [HW,M68k]
1448 swiotlb= [IA-64] Number of I/O TLB slabs
1452 sym53c416= [HW,SCSI]
1453 See header of drivers/scsi/sym53c416.c.
1456 See header of drivers/scsi/t128.c.
1460 thash_entries= [KNL,NET]
1461 Set number of hash buckets for TCP connection
1463 time Show timing data prefixed to each printk message line
1465 tipar.timeout= [HW,PPT]
1466 Set communications timeout in tenths of a second
1469 tipar.delay= [HW,PPT]
1470 Set inter-bit delay in microseconds (default 10).
1473 See header of drivers/scsi/seagate.c.
1476 See comment before function dc390_setup() in
1477 drivers/scsi/tmscsim.c.
1481 trix= [HW,OSS] MediaTrix AudioTrix Pro
1482 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>,<sb_io>,<sb_irq>,<sb_dma>,<mpu_io>,<mpu_irq>
1484 tsdev.xres= [TS] Horizontal screen resolution.
1485 tsdev.yres= [TS] Vertical screen resolution.
1487 turbografx.map[2|3]=
1488 [HW,JOY] TurboGraFX parallel port interface
1489 Format: <port#>,<js1>,<js2>,<js3>,<js4>,<js5>,<js6>,<js7>
1490 See also Documentation/input/joystick-parport.txt
1492 u14-34f= [HW,SCSI] UltraStor 14F/34F SCSI host adapter
1493 See header of drivers/scsi/u14-34f.c.
1501 usb-handoff [HW] Enable early USB BIOS -> OS handoff
1504 [USBHID] The interval which mice are to be polled at.
1506 video= [FB] Frame buffer configuration
1507 See Documentation/fb/modedb.txt.
1509 vga= [BOOT,IA-32] Select a particular video mode
1510 See Documentation/i386/boot.txt and Documentation/svga.txt.
1511 Use vga=ask for menu.
1512 This is actually a boot loader parameter; the value is
1513 passed to the kernel using a special protocol.
1515 vmalloc=nn[KMG] [KNL,BOOT] forces the vmalloc area to have an exact
1516 size of <nn>. This can be used to increase the
1517 minimum size (128MB on x86). It can also be used to
1518 decrease the size and leave more room for directly
1525 waveartist= [HW,OSS]
1526 Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>
1529 See header of drivers/scsi/wd33c93.c.
1532 See header of drivers/scsi/wd7000.c.
1535 See Documentation/watchdog/watchdog.txt.
1537 xd= [HW,XT] Original XT pre-IDE (RLL encoded) disks.
1538 xd_geo= See header of drivers/block/xd.c.
1540 xirc2ps_cs= [NET,PCMCIA]
1541 Format: <irq>,<irq_mask>,<io>,<full_duplex>,<do_sound>,<lockup_hack>[,<irq2>[,<irq3>[,<irq4>]]]
1547 The last known update (for 2.4.0) - the changelog was not kept before.
1548 2000-06-?? Mr. Unknown
1550 Update for 2.5.49, description for most of the options introduced,
1551 references to other documentation (C files, READMEs, ..), added S390,
1552 PPC, SPARC, MTD, ALSA and OSS category. Minor corrections and
1554 2002-11-24 Petr Baudis <pasky@ucw.cz>
1555 Randy Dunlap <randy.dunlap@verizon.net>
1559 Add documentation for ALSA options.
1560 Add more DRM drivers.