Command To Run Htop Without Loading User Configuration

This article explains how to launch the htop process viewer on Ubuntu without loading your personal settings. You will learn the specific command line flag required to bypass the user configuration file. This is useful for troubleshooting or when default settings are preferred over customized ones.

To run htop without loading the user configuration file, use the --no-config flag. Open your terminal and enter the following command:

htop --no-config

This option is available in htop version 3.0 and newer, which is included in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and later. It instructs htop to ignore the settings stored in your home directory, typically located at ~/.config/htop/htoprc. Instead, the application will start with its factory default settings.

This method is particularly helpful if your current configuration file is corrupted or if you need to verify if a specific issue is caused by your custom settings. If you are using an older version of Ubuntu with htop version 2.x, this flag may not be recognized. In that case, you must temporarily rename the configuration file before launching the program.