Most Linux distributions including Ubuntu uses a desktop environment over the base Linux system. Since no operating system is perfect, it’s just matter of time when you may experience sluggish performance or may be your desktop environment is behaving weird. Usually, rebooting the PC is the first thing that comes to mind which magically fixes the issue somehow.
Why to Refresh the Ubuntu Desktop?
You don’t need to reboot entire PC everytime if you experience sluggish performance or may be if the desktop got non-responsive. Refreshing desktop environment is sometimes equally as effective as reboot. It saves you bunch of time and you don’t need to kill the applications you are running. By refreshing the desktop, you’re only restarting the desktop environment. It’s also useful when you want to see the effects of an software update to the desktop.
How to Refresh Ubuntu desktop?
Now that you know the benefits of refreshing the Ubuntu desktop, let’s take a look at how to do it on various Ubuntu versions.
On Ubuntu GNOME
GNOME is default environment starting from Ubuntu 17.10. So, this segment of article may be the highest referred now and near future!
Method 1: From GUI
I would first try this quick GUI way to see if restarts GNOME, but in case your desktop is fully frozen and doesn’t respond, you should try method 2.
Step 1) Press ALT and F2 simultaneously. In modern laptop, you may need to additionally press the Fn key too (if it exists) to activate Function keys.
Step 2) Type r in the command box and press enter.
Restarting GNOME Ubuntu 17.10
GNOME should restart. If not, try Method 2.
Method 2: From Terminal
Step 1) Launch ‘Terminal’.
Step 2) Enter the following command and press enter.
gnome-shell --replace & disown
–replace function resets the running window manager, which is GNOME in this case.
Resetting GNOME from Terminal in Ubuntu 17.10
On Ubuntu Unity
If you are running older versions of Ubuntu with the Unity desktop environment, the command line is obviously different. Proceed as follows:
Step 1) Press ALT and F2 keys simultaneously.
Step 2) Enter unity command to restart Unity desktop.
unity
That’s it!
9 comments
Totally not helpful. When it’s frozen, it’s frozen. Nothing works. Cannot move the pointer. Neither Alt=F2 nor Ctrl+alt+T nor alt+f4 does anything.
This article helps you in restarting the UI portion of the desktop that can sometime get frozen. So, trying this can rescue if that’s the case. If it doesn’t work, the system froze due to some other reason and this guide doesn’t apply for it. Since no one will be sure as to what actually froze the system, it’s the first ‘try’ that might do the trick! If not, the usual ‘restart’ is always there.
This helps mate, thanks
This helped me !
On my desktop ubuntu 16.04 running Unity, got some menu window upon right-mouse click, it didn’t complete thing so it just displayed a translucent rectangular window instead.
So i just re-run Unity as u described and voila! Previously when this happened, i just had to reboot to clear thing up, which was not that efficient way
Thanks
HY GUYS! THAT IS FREAKING AWESOME!
Finally what I was looking for. THANK! YOU!
Does not work in Ubuntu 19.04-19.10-or the 19.10 Studio versions of Ubuntu Alt+F2 will only open the application launcher and nothing more. I hate that you learn the short cuts and how to use them and they get tossed away with the next version just because someone thinks they know better and then in the next version or latter down the “New and Improved” road guess what will be back as soon as they figure out we all hate or they think they can sneak it past as a New Ad-don and make a big deal out something that has already been their done that like everything else Linux has come up with in the last 30 years. Its all rehashing the exact same projects over and over with nothing really new that is why its so prone to Malware and Viruses now nothing new just cobbled on to old crap from before and recycled trash that never worked before for very long. Why someone does not start from scratch and fix this garbage make it work like it should I will never understand. Its bad work cobbled onto worse patches onto even nastier works by bling idiots.
Working great in 18.04
18.04 I see the mouse pointer moving, anything else is held.
I am able to ssh access from an other computer but
gnome-shell –replace & disown
didn’t solve the issue.