I'm not sure what changed, but for some reason I'm no longer able to drop into rescue mode on my laptop (i.e. using "systemctl rescue") - or to boot directly into single user mode.

When I try either of these, the kernel loads, and then looks like it's entering single user mode, prompting me to enter my root password to proceed (as it should). But when I do enter the root password at the prompt - or even just press enter - the system quickly displays "Reloading system manager configuration", followed by something about switching to default target, and then switches into full interactive mode complete with graphical login prompt.

I tried downgrading down to several earlier versions of systemd (back to 248), as well as trying to boot using the LTS kernel in single user mode, but I still get the issue.

This behavior has definitely changed very recently (i.e., within a few days to a week) as I use single user mode often, and only just noticed this today. I'd file a bug about this but I have no idea what package might be at fault. Any pointers appreciated!

Thanks,

DR