How to restart only the graphical side of OS X

Dec 05, '07 07:30:04AM

Contributed by: cientifico

I see a lot of hints, such as the one to remove 10.5's translucent menu bar, that tell you to restart your computer for the changes to take effect. However, you only really need to restart the WindowServer, which handles the graphical part of the system. I just do that in Terminal, with this command:

sudo killall -HUP WindowServer
Warning: All your opened programs will quit immediately! This is like a restart, but of only the graphical part of the system. Quit your open programs first! You have been warned. Here's what happens: You can see all the available signals by typing kill -l, but play with care!

[robg adds: A comment on the queue site notes that this may be useful for those times when the GUI locks up, if you're still able to connect via ssh -- try a restart of the window server before forcing a full reboot.]

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