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My desktop of 14.04 was frozen. I would like to restart without closing my running programs.

First I login into a text console by Ctrl-Alt-F1, and run a comand to restart compiz by 

compiz --displace :0 --replace & disown

That brings back the windows for my running programs, but I can't switch between programs' windows by Alt-Tab (the program on the top hides other running programs' windows, so I can't use mouse to select other programs either), moving and resizing the window of the top program by Alt-Space doesn't work, and there is no dash, top panel or left panel. (Fortunately, Firefox is on the top, so I can still ask question now, but I can't access other running programs).

Then I restart unity by 

unity &>/dev/null & disown

But that will take away the windows of my running programs, and only the backgroup of the desktop is shown on my screen, nothing else.

Restarting unity-panel-serice by the comment heredoesn't work either:

kill -9 $(pgrep unity-panel-ser)

Q:

How shall I make my desktop normal without killing my running programs?

At least what can I try to switch between programs' windows?

Thanks.

Note: A side problem when the desktop is frozen is: switching to a text console by ctrl-alt-F1 will take several minutes, while switching to graphical console by ctrl-alt-F7 is immediate. This side problem doesn't occur when the desktop is not frozen.

Mateo suggested me to install and run metacity, which brings back some programs' windows but not some others (including gnome terminal's window). Even

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Tim
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  • it happened to me few years ago . Maybe it could be related to an update/upgrade . My system : Samsung np530u3c ultrabook with ubuntu 14.04 x64 . I also tried Ctrl-Alt-F1 with no going to CLI no success , totally frozen system – E_Angel Apr 01 '15 at 00:16
  • For me, at least, restart compiz can let me see and interact with the program running on the top of the others. (That is why I can type in Firefox now, but I can't switch to other programs by Alt-tab or other mouse clicking way) – Tim Apr 01 '15 at 00:18
  • my system froze exactly when i tried to switch between programs using alt+tab , as you said not possible to click using mouse , and also not possible to go to CLI (Ctrl-Alt-F1) . So i pushed power button for few seconds to shutdown by force. – E_Angel Apr 01 '15 at 00:56
  • I am still possible to go to a console by Ctrl-Alt-F1 – Tim Apr 01 '15 at 01:24
  • why dont you try sudo su and hit your password ? when root you can use reboot comand there – E_Angel Apr 01 '15 at 01:44
  • I don't want closing my running programs. – Tim Apr 01 '15 at 02:08

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