Ubuntu – How to switch from GUI to CLI mode and terminate any GUI program

command linegui

I am using Ubuntu 13.04 64-bit. I need to perform some database benchmarks on my computer so I want to make it in strict terminal mode, without desktop. I know I can ctrl-alt-f1 to go to terminal mode, but there is still graphical desktop running in background. (Using CPU and RAM which I do not want it to).

So please help me to kill all graphical components and switch to only terminal mode (for better performance). I will not need multiple users to be able to log in and do not need to have networking (all benchmarks will be on localhost interface).

Best Answer

The command below will stop the graphical interface. The next one will restart it for you (everything will be reset as if you had restarted your computer).

sudo service lightdm stop
sudo service lightdm start

This works for Unity, I don't know for sure if it works on Gnome desktop.

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Ubuntu – How to remove the graphical user interface

It is not needed to remove the GUI (unity, lightdm, compiz, etc.) from the system.

You can leave it and just make your default boot as a text mode and if once you need a GUI you can restore it easily.

open /etc/default/grub as root in your favourite text editor, for example sudo vi /etc/default/grub And change the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" To GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="text" and update Grub.sudo update-grub Your system will then always boot to text mode.

If you once want to use GUI you can easly start lightdm, the GUI:

sudo service lightdm start

Here are some hints that you may use to increase performance of your system.

Ubuntu – start terminal from bootable USB drive

When GRUB is loading, shortly after the BIOS finishes loading, quickly press shift or esc. This should allow you to boot the recovery mode.

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