stop Xserver in Xubuntu 11

Question

I want to shutdown my X to be able to install proprietary NVidia driver, but I couldn't find out how. There are some suggestions that didn't work for me.

I neither have /etc/init.d/gdm nor /etc/init.d/kdm nor /etc/init.d/xdm, on which I could call stop or start.

/etc/init.d/x11-common commands seem to have no effect, neither does init 2.

What can I try next?

Solution 1

Xubuntu uses upstart, so you should use

sudo service gdm stop

or

sudo service lightdm stop

depending if you are using Ubuntu 11.04 (or prior) or Ubuntu 11.10.

Solution 2

check /etc/inittab and see if X is getting respawned everytime?. BTW, I would usually go to init 3 myself to shutdown X and perform any X related configuration. You can alternatively try to login into the other terminals provided with Ctrl + Alt + F2 or F3 and make the changes in there rather while X is shutdown using init 3

Ubuntu uses upstart so Xubuntu might as well be. I tried looking elsewhere for this .. ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1584286

Comments

[CodeNoob]

init 3 seems to have no effect. So if I go to tty2 as root and enter init 3 nothing happens. I have on ctrl+alt+f7` the same xfce screen with windos open than before. I don't have /etc/inittab either to look at

[Nikhil Mulley]

/etc/inittab does not exist, you meant? sounds strange to me. Ubuntu uses upstart so Xubuntu might as well be. I tried looking elsewhere for this .. ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1584286

[Nikhil Mulley]

Use update-rc.d to disable the gdm service and try a reboot. Perhaps it can take you to the text logins.

[CodeNoob]

yes, /etc/inittab does not exist.

[CodeNoob]

thx! service lightdm stop does its job for me :) I know why I prefer stackexchange over ubuntuforums ;)