"tty" does not change something $ cat /proc/cmdline BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.16-2-default root=UUID=57883ccb-f7a6-4497-b6d9-14ca895c6dd8 noresume console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty showopts $ cat /proc/consoles tty0 -WU (EC p ) 4:1 ttyS0 -W- (E p a) 4:64 BTW my initial bug report is wrong about "13.1 works". I have some 13.1 systems which work and some which do not work. This bug may be the same like his one https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/3403#event-755108845 They don't say how they fixed it. But if the bug is in systemd then the fix is between 230 and 231. Maybe Werner's 6af62124, "ask-password: ask for passphrases not only on the first console of /dev/console"