How to Restart a Frozen Desktop in Linux

While Linux has a reputation for being stable, able to keep chugging along for years, there are times when the desktop will just freeze and stop responding to input. One of the most common fixes for a frozen desktop is to restart the PC. An easier way is to just restart the desktop.

Let’s see how to do this on five of the most popular desktop environments in Linux: Gnome, KDE, XFCE, LXQt and MATE. We are using Ubuntu (Kubuntu/Xubuntu/Lubuntu/Ubuntu MATE) for this illustration.

Also read: How to Hide the Top Bar and Side Panel in Ubuntu

Restart Gnome in Ubuntu

If your desktop can still respond to your keyboard, press Alt + F2, type the single letter r on the pop-up window, and press Enter.

This will restart your desktop environment without much fuss. If your desktop doesn’t respond to your input, though, you will have to take more drastic measures.

Press Ctrl + Alt + F3 to access the first terminal outside of your desktop environment.

Enter the following command to restart the Gnome desktop environment:

gnome-shell --replace

Press Ctrl + Alt + F2 to move back to the desktop and, if everything goes according to plan, a refreshed version of your desktop will be waiting for you.

If that doesn’t work, you can try restarting the display manager. Since the display manager is the “base” on which the desktop environment runs, by restarting it, you also end up reloading the desktop environment. To do that, go back to the terminal and enter the following:

sudo systemctl restart gdm

Note that this fully reloads the desktop environment, so you will have to log in again from scratch.

Also read: How to Fix the “No Installation Candidate” Problem in Ubuntu

Restart KDE in Kubuntu

Restarting the KDE desktop environment follows the same approach as Gnome, but there are small differences in the individual steps you have to take.

In Kubuntu, the first available terminal outside your desktop environment is TTY3, so you will have to use the Ctrl + Alt + F3 combination to get there.

In the latest versions of KDE, the proper way to restart the desktop from the terminal is:

kquitapp5 plasmashell && kstart5 plasmashell

If that doesn’t work, you can also try:

pkill -ABRT plasmashell

If that fails as well, it will be worth a try to restart the display manager itself as a last option before rebooting your whole PC. Try it with:

pkill -ABRT kwin_x11

Note, though, that this forced restart of the desktop environment may also lead to the appearance of some error messages.

Also read: How to Enable Wake-on-LAN in Ubuntu

Restart XFCE in Xubuntu

With XFCE being a much simpler desktop environment than Gnome and KDE, restarting it is also easier.

The primary desktop element of XFCE – and the most probable to freeze – is its panel. If your desktop is still somewhat responsive, restart it by firing up a terminal with the Ctrl + Alt + T combination and typing:

killall xfce4-panel

This command will “kill” the panel. To reload it, enter:

xfce4-panel & disown

To restart the whole window manager, move to the first available terminal outside of your desktop. On the Xubuntu installation, it was the first one, accessible with the Ctrl + Alt + F2 combination. There, try the official approach:

xfwm4 --replace

If that doesn’t work, try the more forceful approach:

killall xfwm4 & xfwm4 & disown

Hopefully, your desktop will be back up and running, waiting for you.

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Restart LXQt in Lubuntu

LXQt is a simple desktop environment that aims to work with small, lightweight machines. Similar to XFCE, reloading this desktop environment mostly consists of restarting its panel.

To start, access a terminal emulator inside the environment. Create a .desktop file that can launch a terminal emulator by pressing right-click on the Desktop and selecting “Create Launcher.”

This will display a prompt where you can provide the details for your shortcut. To create a Terminal launcher, write /bin/bash in the “Command” field and toggle the “Terminal” option.

Click this shortcut to open a new Terminal, then run the following commands to restart the LXQt panel:

qdbus org.lxqt.session /LXQtSession stopModule lxqt-panel.desktop
qdbus org.lxqt.session /LXQtSession startModule lxqt-panel.desktop

On the other hand, it is also possible to reload the entire LXQt desktop. This is handy if you cannot access any of the environment’s features through the graphical interface.

Press Ctrl + Alt + F3 to drop to a TTY shell, then run the following command to fully restart LXQt:

sudo systemctl restart sddm

Also read: How to Fix Windows MBR from Ubuntu

Restart MATE in Ubuntu MATE

MATE is a flexible desktop environment that aims to continue the GNOME2 design language. To restart this environment, open a Terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T.

Run the following commands to fully reload MATE:

mate-settings-daemon --replace
mate-panel --replace
marco --no-composite --replace

It can be useful to fully reset the MATE desktop in instances where you want to undo a system configuration that can potentially break your system.

Similar to other desktop environments, do this by dropping to a TTY, then run the following command:

mate-panel --reset

Also read: Top 7 Debian-Based Distros to Try If You Want an Ubuntu Alternative

Restart the Xorg Server

Restarting the entire Xorg server instead of your specific desktop environment is useful if you want to restart your display and are either running without a display manager or using a window manager such as bspwm.

To restart Xorg, you need to drop to your TTY. Press Ctrl + Alt + F3.

Send a SIGTERM signal to the main Xorg process by running the following command:

pkill X

Xorg will immediately stop and restart itself in your machine. Go back to your graphical interface by pressing Ctrl + Alt + F1.

Also read: How to Fix the Ubuntu Login Loop

Frequently Asked Questions

Image credit: Simone Pellegrini via Unsplash. All screenshots by Ramces Red.

Ramces Red - Staff Writer

Ramces is a technology writer that lived with computers all his life. A prolific reader and a student of Anthropology, he is an eccentric character that writes articles about Linux and anything *nix.