How to kill x server on ARCH?

[Yesyesloud]

Hello... I switched to ARCH, and I am wondering how to kill the X server. I researched a lot, nothing has worked so far. Ctrl+alt+backspace won't do it. Ctrl+alt+f1 won't do a thing (it could at least help me kill X, but the command line won't show up). Killing it manually through a terminal emulator will only make it restart. Stopping the display manager service does nothing, oddly. Any advice? A Grub approach is welcome, but I'd like to be able to do it any time, not only during boot.

 

[DevynCJohnson]

If you are using a laptop, try including "fn" with Ctrl+alt+f1.

Or, why not use this command with Root privileges - "init 3"

 

[Yesyesloud]

Hey, Devyn, thanks. I've just tried ctrl+alt+fn+f1, lucklessly still. I have tried "init 3" before... It returns "Excess arguments"... This is odd :O

 

[DevynCJohnson]

Hey, Devyn, thanks. I've just tried ctrl+alt+fn+f1, lucklessly still. I have tried "init 3" before... It returns "Excess arguments"... This is odd :O

Evidently, Arch manages this much differently than other systems. If you figure it out, please share with us.

Also, when you directly address someone, you can type "@" and then their username. This will then alert them even if they never participated in the thread.

 

[Yesyesloud]

when you directly address someone, you can type "@" and then their username. This will then alert them even if they never participated in the thread.

Alright, I'll do that from now on. Since you were in the thread already, I thought it was ok.

I guess I'll have to prevent X from starting during boot.

 

[DevynCJohnson]

Alright, I'll do that from now on. Since you were in the thread already, I thought it was ok.

I guess I'll have to prevent X from starting during boot.

Yeah, it is fine. I just wanted to make sure you knew.

 

[ryanvade]

Are you using a login manager? (KDM, GDM, Lightdm, .....)
Killing it with systemctl will also kill X.

Edit your xorg.conf and add

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "DontZap" "False"
EndSection

then restart. CTRL+ALT+Backspace should work now.

Also:

You can kill X by using PrntScrn-Alt-k (magic sysrq), though you have to enable sysrq's in /etc/sysctl.conf....But I don't know if this is the 'proper' way do to it...

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_SysRq_key

 

[Yesyesloud]

Thanks, ryanvade, systemctl was able to stop the display manager service. I'll try the other suggestions later, hotkeys will come handy.