11.6 Dynamically Changing the Current Target

The systemctl set-default command outlined previously specifies the target that will be used the next time the system starts, but does not change the state of the currently running system. To change to a different target dynamically, use the systemctl command once again, this time using the isolate option followed by the destination target. To switch the current system to the graphical target without rebooting, for example, the following command would be used:

# systemctl isolate graphical.target

Once executed, the system will start the graphical desktop environment.