X to console

[foot]

When I use cntrl-alt F* to switch to a different console I cannot seem to switch back to the console with X.

When I do it comes to a black console screen showing X's status.. the only way I seem to be able to get back in is to cntrl-c X and then restart it... this is however not good for my open files..

Is there a way to get back into X after switching?

[bwkaz]

I think you may be slightly confused about what should be running on which virtual console. Correct me if I'm wrong, though, of course.

When you switch away from X, which F-key are you using? And when you switch back, which are you using then?

If you're trying to switch back with Ctrl-Alt-F1, then what you're seeing is normal. X does not run on the VC it was started from, it runs on either 7, 8, 9, 10 (on my system), or even higher, it depends on how your distro is set up. If you just hit Alt-left arrow and Alt-right arrow, you can scroll through all the VC's until you find the one that X is running on, or you can just try Ctrl-Alt-F7 (or Alt-F7) directly.