Disabling the graphical interface in Linux

For servers, having a graphical interface running can be a waste of resources. It's fairly easy to turn it off in SUSE Linux. In Linux, there are different runtime levels:

• 1 - Single User
• 2 - Non-Networked Multiuser
• 3 - Full Multiuser
• 4 - Reserved
• 5 - Full Multiuser with Graphics

Generally on servers, you use the runlevel 3.

Switching to Run Level 3

At a command line, you can type:

sudo /sbin/init 3

sudo? will ask for root's password by default, or your password if have configured it to do so. The graphical interface should disappear in a moment.

Making the change permanent

Many distributions have a graphical way to change runlevels, but this will work on all of them. Open up /etc/inittab in your favorite text editor, and look for the following line up at the top:

id:5:initdefault:

Change the 5 to a 3, and your set.