{"id":9235,"date":"2026-06-01T09:41:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T07:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/?post_type=manual_kb&#038;p=9235"},"modified":"2026-06-01T09:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T07:41:08","slug":"how-to-close-a-process-from-htop","status":"publish","type":"manual_kb","link":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-close-a-process-from-htop\/","title":{"rendered":"How to close a process from htop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"translation-block translation-block-merged\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <code>htop<\/code> tool is an interactive process manager for Linux systems that allows you to monitor and manage running processes in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It also lets you terminate (kill) processes directly from its interface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_86 ez-toc-wrap-left counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-close-a-process-from-htop\/#Step_1_Start_htop\" >Step 1: Start htop<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-close-a-process-from-htop\/#Step_2_Find_the_process\" >Step 2: Find the process<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-close-a-process-from-htop\/#Step_3_Select_the_process\" >Step 3: Select the process<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-close-a-process-from-htop\/#Step_4_Kill_the_process\" >Step 4: Kill the process<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-close-a-process-from-htop\/#Step_5_Choose_a_signal\" >Step 5: Choose a signal<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-close-a-process-from-htop\/#Optional_Stop_or_suspend_a_process\" >Optional: Stop or suspend a process<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-close-a-process-from-htop\/#Important_notes\" >Important notes<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-close-a-process-from-htop\/#Summary\" >Summary<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Step_1_Start_htop\"><\/span>Step 1: Start htop<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<div id=\"mybox-119558970\" class=\"mybox-content mybox-entity-placement\"><div class=\"early-access-banner-inpost\">\r\n  <div class=\"banner-left-inpost\">\r\n    <div class=\"icon-box-inpost\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/square-info-icon.svg\" alt=\"Info\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"text-box-inpost\">\r\n      <span class=\"label-inpost\"><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Early access<\/span><\/span>\r\n      <h4><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Still need help?<\/span><\/h4>\r\n      <p><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Contact our customer service team.<\/span><\/p>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <div class=\"banner-right-inpost\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/panel.mybox.com\/helpdesk2\/v\/list\/\" class=\"banner-button-inpost\"><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Message us<\/span><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"translation-block translation-block-merged\"><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Run the command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>htop\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This will open the interactive process viewer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Step_2_Find_the_process\"><\/span>Step 2: Find the process<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Inside <code>htop<\/code>, locate the process you want to stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>scroll through the list using arrow keys<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>sort processes by CPU or memory usage<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>search for a process (depending on configuration)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Step_3_Select_the_process\"><\/span>Step 3: Select the process<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Use the arrow keys to highlight the process you want to terminate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Step_4_Kill_the_process\"><\/span>Step 4: Kill the process<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Press:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>F9<\/strong> (Kill command)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">or sometimes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>k<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This will open the signal selection menu.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"659\" src=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-1024x659.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-1024x659.png 1024w, https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-300x193.png 300w, https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-768x494.png 768w, https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-18x12.png 18w, https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image.png 1153w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"translation-block translation-block-merged\">\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Step_5_Choose_a_signal\"><\/span>Step 5: Choose a signal<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You will be prompted to select a signal to send to the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Common options include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><code>15 (SIGTERM)<\/code> \u2013 gracefully stops the process<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><code>9 (SIGKILL)<\/code> \u2013 forcefully terminates the process<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After selecting, press <strong>Enter<\/strong> to confirm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Optional_Stop_or_suspend_a_process\"><\/span>Optional: Stop or suspend a process<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In some cases, you may want to temporarily suspend a process instead of killing it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>F7 \/ F8<\/strong> \u2013 adjust process priority (nice value)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ctrl + Z<\/strong> (outside htop) \u2013 suspend process in shell<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Important_notes\"><\/span>Important notes<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Always try <code>SIGTERM<\/code> first before using <code>SIGKILL<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Killing critical system processes may cause instability<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some processes may restart automatically if managed by services (e.g. systemd)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Summary\"><\/span>Summary<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To close a process in <code>htop<\/code>, select it, press <strong>F9<\/strong>, choose a termination signal, and confirm. This allows quick and interactive process management directly from the terminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","manualknowledgebasecat":[54],"manual_kb_tag":[5431,5717,5725,5726,5727,5728,5729,5730,5731,5732],"class_list":["post-9235","manual_kb","type-manual_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","manualknowledgebasecat-ssh","manual_kb_tag-kill-process","manual_kb_tag-process-monitoring","manual_kb_tag-htop-tool","manual_kb_tag-process-manager","manual_kb_tag-terminate-process","manual_kb_tag-interactive-process-viewer","manual_kb_tag-linux-systems","manual_kb_tag-real-time-monitoring","manual_kb_tag-kill-command","manual_kb_tag-signal-selection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb\/9235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/manual_kb"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb\/9235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9237,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb\/9235\/revisions\/9237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"manualknowledgebasecat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manualknowledgebasecat?post=9235"},{"taxonomy":"manual_kb_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb_tag?post=9235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}