How to stop the X server in Debian

Temporarily stopping the X server

Sometimes we may need to work in our Debian desktop with the X server not running, for instance when we want to install a new graphics driver. To stop the server:

1. Close the graphical session by selecting “System->Logout” in the top menu.
2. Press Ctrl+Alt+F1. This shuts down the X server, and we land in an alphanumerical window. However, the windows manager is still running at this point.
3. Login as root and run the command “/etc/init.d/gdm3 stop” (you may need to replace “gdm3” with the actual name of the script corresponding to the windows manager installed in your system: “gdm”, “kdm”, xdm”,etc…)

Start again the X server

To start again the X server and the windows manager, we use the same command as in step 3 above, passing it the argument “start” instead of “stop”: “/etc/init.d/gdm3 start”

How to prevent the X server from running at boot time

We can disable the execution of  the X server and windows manager at system boot time with the command:

once again, substitute “gdm3” with the name of the windows manager actually installed (“gdm”, “kdm”, “xdm”,… )

To start manually the X server, login as root and execute “/etc/init.d/gdm3 start”

And to configure again the execution of the X server at system boot time: