Are you using an Ubuntu-based system and can’t seem to connect to your network? You’d be surprised how many problems a simple restart can fix.
In this article, I will go over several ways you can reboot the network on Ubuntu and other Linux distributions, so you can use whatever suits your needs. The methods are basically divided into two parts:
Reboot Ubuntu network on command line Reboot Ubuntu network
- via graphical user interface Restart network
on
Ubuntu using command line
If you are using Ubuntu server edition, you are already in the terminal. If you are using the desktop edition, you can access the terminal using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + T in Ubuntu.
You now have several commands at your disposal to restart the network in Ubuntu. Some (or perhaps most) of the commands mentioned here should be applicable to reboot the network on Debian and other Linux distributions as well.
1. Network
Administrator Service
This is the easiest way to restart your network using the command line. It is equivalent to the graphical way of doing it (restart the Network-Manager service).
sudo Service Network-Manager Restart The
network icon should disappear for a moment and then reappear
. 2. systemd The service command is just a wrapper for this method (and also for init.d scripts
and Upstart commands). The systemctl command is much more versatile than service. This is what I usually prefer.
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager.service
The network icon (again) should disappear for a moment. For other systemctl options, you can refer to its man page.
3. nmcli
This is another tool for managing networking on a Linux machine. It’s a pretty powerful tool that I find very practical. Many system administrators prefer it as it is easy to use.
There are two steps to this method: turn the network off, and then turn it back on.
sudo nmcli networking disabled
The network will shut down and the icon will disappear. To turn it back on:
sudo nmcli networking enabled
You can refer to the nmcli man page for more options
.
4. ifup & ifdown
These commands handle a network interface directly, changing its state to one in which it may or may not transmit and receive data. It is one of the must-have network commands in Linux.
To shut down all network interfaces, use ifdown
, and then use ifup to turn all network interfaces back on.
A good practice would be to combine both commands
: sudo ifdown -a && sudo ifup -a
Note: This method will not make the network icon disappear in your system tray, and yet You will not be able to have a connection of any kind.
That’s all! You have successfully rebooted your
network
Reboot network in Ubuntu graphically
This is, of course, the easiest way to restart the network for Ubuntu desktop users. If this one doesn’t work, of course, you can check the command line options mentioned in the previous section.
NM-applet is the system tray applet indicator for NetworkManager. That’s what we’re going to use to restart our network.
First, take a look at your top panel. You should find a network icon in your system tray (in my case, it’s a Wi-Fi icon, since that’s what I use).
Go ahead and click on that icon (or the sound or drum icon). This will open the menu. Select “Power Off” here.
The network icon should disappear from the top panel. This means that the network has been successfully shut down.
Click the system tray again to reopen the menu. Select “Activate”.
congratulations! You have now restarted your network.
Bonus Tip: Update the list of
available networks
Let’s say you’re already connected to one network but want to connect to another network. How do I update the WiFi to see what other networks are available? Let me show you that.
Ubuntu does not have an option to ‘update wifi networks’ directly. It is somewhat hidden.
You will have to open the settings menu again and this time, click on “Select Network”.
Now, you will not see the list of immediately available wireless networks. When you open the list of networks, it takes about 5 seconds to refresh and display other available wireless networks.
And here, you can select the network of your choice and click connect. That’s all.
Rebooting
your network
or connection is something every Linux user has to go through at some point in their experience.
We hope we have helped you with many methods to handle such problems!
What do you use to reboot/manage your network? Is there something we missed? Leave us a comment below.
