If you share your Linux box with someone and you are sick of continually logging in and out, or you just need multiple X sessions for your work, use this short tutorial. Assuming that your computer starts in graphical mode (runlevel 5), by simultaneously pressing the keys Control+Alt+F1 – you will get a login prompt. Insert your login and password and then execute:

startx — :1

to get into your graphical environment. To go back to the previous user session, press Ctrl+Alt+F7, while to get yours back press Ctrl+Alt+F8.

You can repeat this trick: the keys F1 to F6 identify six console sessions, while F7 to F12 identify six X sessions.

Although this is true in most cases, different distributions can implement this feature in a different way.

Tags | Graphic, Howto, Linux, Tips and Tricks