# How to relaunch plasma

**URL:** <https://discuss.kde.org/t/how-to-relaunch-plasma/16101>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [May 25, 2024, 8:43am UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/how-to-relaunch-plasma/16101 "2024-05-25T08:43:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Unamelable](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/user_avatar/discuss.kde.org/unamelable/32/10628_2.png) [@Unamelable](https://discuss.kde.org/u/Unamelable)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 8:43am UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/how-to-relaunch-plasma/16101/1 "2024-05-25T08:43:49Z")

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I had situation where plasma is unresponsive, and i have to kill process. But when i kill it, i don’t know how to launch desktop back.

In windows i could just type: Win+R → Explorer

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**Author:** ![rockandstone](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@rockandstone](https://discuss.kde.org/u/rockandstone)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 9:42am UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/how-to-relaunch-plasma/16101/2 "2024-05-25T09:42:13Z")

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> [@Unamelable](#):
>
> Win+R → Explorer

😅 😂 🤣

Try in terminal:

$ `systemctl restart --user plasma-plasmashell.service`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Unamelable](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/user_avatar/discuss.kde.org/unamelable/32/10628_2.png) [@Unamelable](https://discuss.kde.org/u/Unamelable)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 9:54am UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/how-to-relaunch-plasma/16101/3 "2024-05-25T09:54:30Z")

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Can i make command shortcut to not type this every time? Like just open konsole and type: restartplasma

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**Author:** ![rockandstone](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@rockandstone](https://discuss.kde.org/u/rockandstone)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 10:11am UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/how-to-relaunch-plasma/16101/4 "2024-05-25T10:11:43Z")

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yes, you can use an _alias_ (`man alias`) in your bash configuration file `.bashrc` if your distro is using the _bash shell_ by default, located in your `/home/$USER` directory (unhide all files in _Dolphin_) .

You can find out what shell you have if you type `echo $0` , in that case it would show you `/bin/bash`. If your distro has another shell by default, let’s say `zsh` you would have to edit its file called `.zshrc`.

Edit that file with _Kwrite_ or _Kate_ or use the nano text editor (`nano ~/.bashrc`) and scroll down, you will find a section with few or many aliases. Add there an alias name according to your liking, in your example

`restartplasma='systemctl --user restart plasma-plasmashell.service'`

After saving the changes you can

- restart _konsole_ for the changes to be read
- or if you don’t want to close it you can source the file with `source ~/.bashrc`
- or execute another instance of shell with `exec bash`

* * *

P.S. you can also add another alias if you want changes in plasma configuration to be loaded first with `'systemctl --user daemon-reload && systemctl --user restart plasma-plasmashell.service'`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Unamelable](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/user_avatar/discuss.kde.org/unamelable/32/10628_2.png) [@Unamelable](https://discuss.kde.org/u/Unamelable)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 10:24am UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/how-to-relaunch-plasma/16101/5 "2024-05-25T10:24:45Z")

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Yeah, that worked for me.

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**Author:** ![rqkeating](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/user_avatar/discuss.kde.org/rqkeating/32/645_2.png) [@rqkeating](https://discuss.kde.org/u/rqkeating)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 3:33pm UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/how-to-relaunch-plasma/16101/6 "2024-05-25T15:33:39Z")

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How is the above command with systemctl different from these commands?

`DISPLAY=:0 kquitapp5 plasmashell || DISPLAY=:0 killall plasmashell && DISPLAY=:0 kstart5 plasmashell’

Also, what is the difference between restarting plasma desktop and restarting plasma shell? Is one a subset of the other?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rockandstone](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@rockandstone](https://discuss.kde.org/u/rockandstone)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 5:09pm UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/how-to-relaunch-plasma/16101/7 "2024-05-25T17:09:04Z")

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> [@rqkeating](#):
>
> How is the above command with systemctl different from these commands?

This is helpful: [Plasma and the systemd startup – David Edmundson's Web Log](https://blog.davidedmundson.co.uk/blog/plasma-and-the-systemd-startup/)