Xserver

[dajawu]

When trying to update my video card drivers it says that xserver is running and I should shut it down. Being completly new to linux I don't know how to do this. I tried loggon on to the 'Failsafe Terminal' figuring that would work but no dice. Last time I messed with Linux was RedHat 7 I think when you had to type startx to get Xserver running so can someone catch me up on the times!

Thanks,
Albert

[klopfest]

You have a couple of options:

At the grub boot prompt (i.e. when booting) - hit any key to stop the countdown. Then select the current kernel (should be only one if this is a fresh install) and hit "e". Three more lines will show up (like below):

root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4.img

Select the second one (kernel...) and hit "e" again. Append the line with the number 3 (i.e. ...rhgb quite 3 ) and hit return. Now hit "b" and the system should boot into run level 3.

Alternatively, once the system has already booted, hit "CTL+ALT+F1" to get to a terminal. Log in as "root" and type:

init 3

This will also bring down the x-server, and put your system into run level 3

Run your update (nvidia?). Once this is complete, you can either reboot, or simply type :

init 5

from the same terminal, and X should restart.

Have fun!

[daveloves]

Hi, I have a DVR Server and when it boots it usually won't let me log in as root. So i have tried to use terminal and tried the init 3 but it says no such file or directory. Am lost..

[secipolla]

AFAIK, it won't let you login to the graphical desktop environment as root.
So when you are at the login screen, type ctrl_alt_f2 and this will take you to the command-line terminal.
Login as root and type init 3 to close the graphical desktop (that otherwise will still be active in terminal 1 - which you switch to with ctrl_alt_f1).

If you just want to do some stuff as root on the command-line, you can leave X (graphical server) running.

If instead all you want is to open some app as root, login normally to the desktop and run beesu <appname> (replace for the proper app name).