CTRL-ALT-Bkspace isn’t working? How to restart X on Ubuntu Karmic and Lucid

Some of you may find that CTRL-ALT-Bkspace key-combo does not work anymore with Ubuntu latest releases, this issue has been addressed by Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) Release Notes which explains that the key-combo cause users to trigger it by accident.

How to restart X server?
To obtain the same effect, Ubuntu has decided to change the key-combo to RightAlt-PrintScr-K. But this time, the key must be pressed in the respective order.

How to enables the original Ctrl-ALT-Bkspace key-combo?
Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) Release Notes contains information on how to enables the original keycombo back in the operating system.

1 – Ubuntu (GNOME Desktop)

  • Select “System”->”Preferences”->”Keyboard”
  • Select the “Layouts” tab and click on the “Layout Options” button.
  • Select “Key sequence to kill the X server” and enable “Control + Alt + Backspace”.

1 – Kubuntu (KDE Desktop)

  • # Click on the Application launcher and select “System Settings”
  • #Click on “Regional & Language”.
  • # Select “Keyboard Layout”.
  • # Click on “Enable keyboard layouts” (in the Layout tab).
  • # Select the “Advanced” tab. Then select “Key sequence to kill the X server” and enable “Control + Alt + Backspace”.

Hope that will help you!