Can I interrupt a crashing/frozen Ubuntu desktop?
Is there any Linux (specifically, Ubuntu) equivalent to Window's Ctrl+Alt+Del? I am aware of the System Monitor, and of top on the Terminal, but the true beauty of Ctrl+Alt+Del is that it interrupts everything else, and works even when the computer is frozen and not responding to normal input. My computer does that frequently (usually because of ADHD-initiated tab explosion in Firefox, it must be said), and I am often reduced to using the physical button to restart it.
I'm currently running Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS.
3 answers
If you are still on X11 you can use Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to kill the X session and bring you back to your login manager. From there you can either log in again or reboot cleanly.
I'm not aware of a similar hotkey for Wayland though.
You might be looking for the Magic SysRq feature, which has many functions. One of the most useful is Alt+SysRq+f, which triggers the kernel's out-of-memory process killer.
On Ubuntu, you may need to enable this feature using a sysctl configuration file. Either enable all Magic SysRq functions with the value 1, or use this table to determine the code for the functions you want to enable (multiple values can be added together).
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