When you change your DNS settings, modify a VPN configuration, or experience sudden Wi-Fi dropouts on Ubuntu Linux, you rarely need to reboot the entire computer. Instead, you can simply restart the Network Manager service. This background daemon handles all network connections on your system, and restarting it forces Ubuntu to immediately reapply your configurations and establish fresh connections.
How to Restart Network Manager Using systemctl
Modern versions of Ubuntu (16.04 and newer) use systemd to manage background services. You can use the systemctl command to control the Network Manager.
- Open the Terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T).
- Type the following command to restart the service:
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager - Press Enter and provide your administrator password when prompted.
Your internet connection will drop for approximately 2 to 3 seconds as the daemon shuts down and starts back up. Once it completes, your network interfaces will automatically reconnect using any new configurations you applied.
How to Check the Status of Network Manager
If your internet is still not working after a restart, you should check the exact status of the service to see if it failed to load or encountered an error.
Run the following command:sudo systemctl status NetworkManager
Look for the green text that says active (running). If the text is red and says failed, the command output will display the recent log entries indicating exactly why the daemon crashed (such as a typo in a configuration file). You can press the q key on your keyboard to exit the status screen.