How to kill and to start the X server?

Question

In 12.04 How do you kill the X server from the command line and from the GUI interface and how do you start it from the virtual terminal?

Answer 1

One way to restart an instance of the X server is to run (from the commandline)

sudo service lightdm restart

For Ubuntu 15.04 and later:

sudo systemctl restart lightdm.service

and for Kubuntu 15.04 and later:

sudo systemctl stop sddm.service

Answer 2

On 12.04, you can restart the server with the shortcut keys: Right Alt + Print Screen + K.

Answer 3

In Ubuntu 14.04:

Press Ctrl+Alt+F1 and then run:

sudo service gdm stop

or

sudo service lightdm stop

… depending on your display manager.

NOTE: To recover use startx, alternatively replace the stop with start in either of the above commands.

Answer 4

Kill : xkill -a. -a means it will kill all display instances. For more information run man xkill.

Run : xinit. Also startx but this command is to start an instance and not the server itself. For more information run man xint and man startx.

I don't believe it's possible to kill Xserver from GUI, and even if it were, it would not be the right way to do it.

Answer 5

On Ubuntu 22.04 (and a few previous versions) you can add a hotkey to your gnome session to kill the x server. Install gnome-tweaks via sudo apt install gnome-tweaks and then open it (logo button and then "tweaks" and enter) then goto "Keyboard & Mouse" -> "Additional Layout Options" -> "Key sequence to kill the X server" -> "Ctrl+Alt+Backspace"

Answer 6

On more recent versions of Ubuntu (e.g. 22.04) which use Gnome and systemd, you can use:

$ sudo systemctl restart gdm.service