Sometimes programs tell me I can't start it because there is already another instance of it running. Best example would be Firefox and Chromium, but this problem accounts for many applications.
I cannot find the applications PID in the running processes.
How to kill all running instances of a program, e.g. Firefox?
I tried:
ps ax | grep firefoxBut everything I can find is:
8193 ? Rl 0:08 /usr/lib/firefox/firefoxI tried:
kill 8193But I get:
Process not foundActually, even when Firefox is running accurately, I cannot find its instances in ps.
What did I miss?
34 Answers
The easiest solution for a program that is not responding would be:
killall firefoxand if this doesn't work
killall -9 firefoxand if this still doesn't work, reboot, nothing else will.
For other killall options, see this article on Wikipedia: Link
Check if this works
kill -9 `ps -e | grep firefox | cut -b1-6`Also,
to add more functionality to your Ubuntu system
go into settings > keyboard > keyboard shortcuts
click add to add to a new shortcut
call the command forcequit or something
the command is xkill
set the shortcut to your choice of buttons
your mouse should turn into a 'x' and it will kill any process you click on
In certain circumstances kill and killall may not have the desired effect. This can happen, for instance, if the graphical container of a programme goes haywire. In such cases the process must be killed through xkill.
Simply open the a command line and run xkill. The mouse pointer becomes a cross and the following message appears:
Select the window whose client you wish to kill with button 1....
Then left-click with the mouse pointer on the window containing the rogue programme.
