If I type unmount /net/<server>/<path> it just hangs forever.

What's happened is the VPN link has died and the server is no longer accessible. Gnome-Shell has hung on the screen saver as a result.

Doing the following just hangs:

fuser /net/<server>/<path> hangs
df
lsof | grep "/net/"


lsof -b | grep "/net/" works but nothings listed.

How do I get out of this situation without rebooting?

Well got a little further on this. If I create a virtual IP

ifconfig p5p1:1 x.x.x.x

I can get the system partly unlocked. (still no desktop)

but unmount

unmount /net/<server>/<path>
umount.nfs: /net/<server>/<path>: Stale file handle

unmount -f /net/<server>/<path>
umount.nfs: /net/<server>/<path>: Stale file handle

unmount -lf /net/<server>/<path>
umount.nfs: /net/<server>/<path>: Stale file handle


This mount just won't go away. Any ideas?

when you mounted the share did you place any kind of timeout length? if not this is going to be a problem until the system releases the mount point. you could re-establish the VPN connect?

if you are using autofs to mount this share, as you should instead of using fstab, then you could add --timeout=### --ghost

those two options will cause the connection to automatically disconnect/umount after X amount of time and does this quietly without causing issues to the system like you are having now.

as for killing the dead mount point if umount -f does not work, and you are unwilling to wait it out, you might have to reboot the system.

also you should be able to restart the GUI by either init 3, init 5 or by going to the GUI and hitting ctrl+alt+backspace. both of those commands should restart X and your GUI manager (gdm or kdm or xdm or what ever manager you are using on that system).