Enabling /var/log/messages in Ubuntu Edit file /etc/rsyslog.d/50-default.conf and uncomment following lines. *.=info;*.=notice;*.=warn;\ auth,authpriv.none;\ cron,daemon.none;\ mail,news.none -/var/log/messages daemon.*;mail.*;\ news.err;\ *.=debug;*.=info;\ *.=notice;*.=warn |/dev/xconsole After that restart rsyslog: sudo restart rsyslog