It’s turned off by default in a lot of distros these days but it can be turned back on. It used to be that editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf was recommended but because file inclusions are a thing these days, it makes more sense to create a new file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/enable-killing-xserver.conf:
Then restart the X server (which, these days, is pretty much a reboot). Or, going through the x.org documentation archives, it looks like you could dispense with the config files and run setxkbmap -option"terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp" in a terminal session and that’ll do the same thing.
There is a proposal to consider making a Wayland extension where programs can sit around and re-attach to a fresh, non-deaded display server. KDE is much closer to having a working version.
On Linux, if a graphical app does not crash from this, that is a rare exception.
On windows, if a graphical app crashes from that, that is an exception.
There used to exist a hotkey CTRL-ALT-BKSP for restarting your current X-Session, don’t know if this still exists
That’s specific to X11. It also wasn’t always enabled for security reasons (breaking out of a locked screen). Now with Wayland there’s no standard.
How is it a security risk to break out of a lock screen only to end up at a login screen?
You wouldn’t end up at a login screen, you’d end up in the last logged in user’s session.
It’s turned off by default in a lot of distros these days but it can be turned back on. It used to be that editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf was recommended but because file inclusions are a thing these days, it makes more sense to create a new file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/enable-killing-xserver.conf:
Section "ServerFlags" Option "DontZap" "false" EndSection Section "InputClass" Identifier "Keyboard Defaults" MatchIsKeyboard "yes" Option "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp" EndSectionThen restart the X server (which, these days, is pretty much a reboot). Or, going through the x.org documentation archives, it looks like you could dispense with the config files and run
setxkbmap -option "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"in a terminal session and that’ll do the same thing.Additionally, it terminated all gui processes. Which the windows shortcut mentioned in the question doesn’t.
There is a proposal to consider making a Wayland extension where programs can sit around and re-attach to a fresh, non-deaded display server. KDE is much closer to having a working version.
That doesn’t restart anything. That kills the X11 server.
It may or may not restart depending on system settings.
That doesn’t work for Wayland and I’m unsure which one Zorin uses
It uses Wayland
That is not an equivalent.
On Linux, if a graphical app does not crash from this, that is a rare exception.
On windows, if a graphical app crashes from that, that is an exception.
I was thinking of that when I read this and was like. windows has something like this???
That is just the key to kill the X server. It does not restart anything.