How to restart X Window Server from command line?
How can I restart X Window Server from the command line?
I'd really like to be able to restart my GUI without having to do a full system reboot.
Solution 1:
NOTE: This will forcefully quit all graphical programs, you'll lose any unsaved work, and you'll be logged out. Non-graphical programs will not be affected.
TL;DR: on systems with systemd (Ubuntu 15.04 and newer)
sudo systemctl restart display-manager
This will restart the appropriate display manager service (lightdm
till 17.04, gdm3
after, sddm
in Kubuntu, etc.). You can replace display-manager
with lightdm
, gdm3
, sddm
, etc. if needed, but this should be enough.
For other Ubuntu versions, first find which display manager your ubuntu is having with following command:
cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager
Than depending on what display manager, you can use one of the following commands:
-
Default Ubuntu (with LightDM)
sudo systemctl restart lightdm
-
Gnome (with GDM)
sudo systemctl restart gdm
-
KDE (with KDM)
sudo systemctl restart kdm
Note: From 12.10 to 15.04, Kubuntu also uses LightDM.
-
For MDM (e.g. for Mint Cinnamon)
sudo systemctl restart mdm
Solution 2:
For 11.04 and earlier:
sudo service gdm restart
For 11.10 and later:
sudo service lightdm restart
Solution 3:
Found out that you can do
sudo pkill X
and it seems to work for me!
Solution 4:
Newest version of Ubuntu as of 24 Oct, 2012.
- Open Dash Home
- Search for keyboard layout
- Click Options
- Expand tab labelled "Key sequence to kill the X server"
- Enable it and Close.
Command Line:
sudo restart lightdm