How To Kill An Unresponsive Process In Ubuntu

By Randy Jensen | Mar 11, 2009

Xkill in UbuntuWhile this doesn’t seem to happen near as much in Ubuntu as it does in Windows, sometimes an application or process just stops responding. Luckily, however, killing this process in Linux is much easier than in Windows. Here’s how to do it.

  1. Open a terminal window and type ‘xkill’
    xkill on Ubuntu
  2. Your cursor will turn into an ‘X’. Simply click on whatever application isn’t responding and it will stop immediately.

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  • none
    Thanks. I upgraded by desktop and google earth decided to stop responding. I never use it, but since it looks like the chrome icon, I sometimes click it. Anyway, kill -9 (even as root), didn't work, this did!
  • Anton
    I installed an xp program (through Wine - in Ubuntu) but because its splash screen didn't come up I want to uninstall.

    I ran the uninstall but it asked that I stop the current process running then I can uninstall. But where can I stop the process if I cant see it on screen?

  • Matt
    I have a stubbornly unresponsive process, and while this kills the window, the underlying process seems to continue.
  • Hey Matt,

    There are a couple different ways to kill a process. You can go into the command line and type "killall -v processnamehere" (with no quotes and of course, you'll have to know the process name).

    You can also try this: System --> Administration --> System Monitor --> Click on "Processes" tab. Then select the process you want to kill and click the "End Process" button.

    Hope that helps!
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