Open a Second Console Session on Ubuntu Server

Ubuntu Server has the native ability to run multiple console sessions from the server console prompt. If you are working on the actual console and are waiting for a long running command to finish, there’s no reason why you have to sit and wait… you can just open another console and keep working.

Use the Alt+F1, Alt+F2, etc commands to open multiple consoles. There are 6 available tty consoles, using F1-F6.

For example, if I hit the key combination:

Alt+F3

I will see a new login window:

I find this very useful when you are compiling a package and wish to keep working on something else.