Linux

How to restart Cinnamon

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Let’sfind ways to restart cinnamon. Some methods are disabled by default and may require preparation before they are available to your linux box:

Method 1:

  • Requires a somewhat responsive GUI
  • Super easy

Steps:

  1. Press alt+F2, then r and then press enter

Method 2:

  • it is not enabled by default in some cases, may require configuration a priori
  • will kill all windows
  • As simple as it gets

Steps:

  1. Press simultaneously: ctrl+alt+backspace

Method 3:

  • Requires a responsive terminal which in many cases is not accessible
  • Requires more than one command to be executed
  • May not work properly if more than 1 display is used
  • Windows are not lost which may be a good thing or a bad thing

Steps:

  1. Find the display number (the column FROM, from w command, usually :0)
  2. Use export to restart cinnamon:
w
export DISPLAY=:0.0 && cinnamon --replace

Method 4:

  • Requires a responsive terminal
  • Uses pkill, an agent of evil

Steps:

  1. Type:
pkill -HUP -f "cinnamon --replace"

Method 5:

  • Requires a responsive terminal
  • Uses killall, another agent of evil

Steps:

  1. Type:
killall -HUP cinnamon

Method 6:

  • Use the OOM killer, which it is not enabled by default in some cases and may require configuration a priori
  • sometimes it kills processes in unpredictable way
  • a little desperate approach, but almost always works

Steps:

  1. Keep pressing alt+SysRq+f to kill random processes until (and hoping) GUI restarts

Method 7:

  • Requires a responsive terminal
  • Restarts the window manager

Steps:

  1. Type:
sudo service mdm restart

Method 8:

  • Get control of the keyboard to apply any method requiring a terminal

Steps:

  1. Press Alt+SysRq+r to get control of the keyboard
  2. Switch to a different virtual console (eg Ctrl+Alt+F1) and use any of the methods that require a terminal

 

References:

 

 

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