If you have drives in /etc/fstab which are not accessible you probably won't get to desktop. Here is an error with following fstab configuration:

...
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
/dev/mapper/vgubuntu-root /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /boot was on /dev/nvme0n1p2 during installation
UUID=e63f81ad-f3d5-40a8-82f1-e4b7e4c31c92 /boot           ext4    defaults        0       2
# /boot/efi was on /dev/nvme0n1p1 during installation
UUID=CEE4-CBCA  /boot/efi       vfat    umask=0077      0       1
/dev/mapper/vgubuntu-swap_1 none            swap    sw              0       0

# swap space
/swapfile       none    swap    sw      0       0
UUID=f1a236ec-0809-4c61-b9c4-bee4427e728f /mnt/backup ext4 defaults,noatime 0 2
root@192.168.99.143:/media/touro /mnt/touro fuse.sshfs noauto,user,x-systemd.automount,defaults,_netdev,allow_other,identityfile=/root/.ssh/id_ed25519 0 0
UUID=033b3425-8b5c-4a58-b69a-108cfed2614b /mnt/wd4tb ext4 defaults,noatime 0 2
...

The drives with mount points on /mnt/touro and /mnt/wd4tb aren't attached to the laptop so we get this screen

You can also run

journalctl -xb

from the above screen (after hitting Enter) and scroll through the logs it should show something like:

lip 05 10:58:20 antisa-XPS-13-9310 systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-f1a236ec\x2d0809\x2d4c61\x2db9c4\x2dbee4427e728f.device: Job dev-disk-by\x2duuid-f1a236ec\x2d0809\x2d4c61\x2db9c4\x2dbee4427e728f.device/start >
lip 05 10:58:20 antisa-XPS-13-9310 systemd[1]: Timed out waiting for device /dev/disk/by-uuid/f1a236ec-0809-4c61-b9c4-bee4427e728f.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit dev-disk-by\x2duuid-f1a236ec\x2d0809\x2d4c61\x2db9c4\x2dbee4427e728f.device has failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
░░ 
░░ A start job for unit dev-disk-by\x2duuid-f1a236ec\x2d0809\x2d4c61\x2db9c4\x2dbee4427e728f.device has finished with a failure.
░░ 
░░ The job identifier is 65 and the job result is timeout.
lip 05 10:58:20 antisa-XPS-13-9310 systemd[1]: Dependency failed for /mnt/backup.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit mnt-backup.mount has failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
░░ 
░░ A start job for unit mnt-backup.mount has finished with a failure.
░░ 
░░ The job identifier is 64 and the job result is dependency.
lip 05 10:58:20 antisa-XPS-13-9310 systemd[1]: mnt-backup.mount: Job mnt-backup.mount/start failed with result 'dependency'.
lip 05 10:58:20 antisa-XPS-13-9310 systemd[1]: dev-disk-by\x2duuid-f1a236ec\x2d0809\x2d4c61\x2db9c4\x2dbee4427e728f.device: Job dev-disk-by\x2duuid-f1a236ec\x2d0809\x2d4c61\x2db9c4\x2dbee4427e728f.device/start >
lip 05 10:58:20 antisa-XPS-13-9310 systemd[1]: systemd-ask-password-wall.path: Deactivated successfully.
░░ Subject: Unit succeeded

To get around this problem add nofail,x-systemd.device-timeout=4 in the above fstab for the problematic entries or just delete them.

• Dell XPS 9310 laptop
• Ubuntu 22.04.2

• https://askubuntu.com/questions/638985/how-to-configure-systemd-to-ignore-fstab-drive-mount-failures