How can I remove the top panel in Unity?

Question

I want to keep the Unity launcher only and remove the panel. Is there a way to do that?

Answer 1

By panel, you mean the global menu on the top of the screen?

If that's the case, I don't think it's possible because it's used for application's menu. If you would get rid of it, your apps wouldn't have menus.

Answer 2

Not a complete answer, but you'll need to disable Global Menu first :

sudo -s
echo "export UBUNTU_MENUPROXY=" > /etc/X11/Xsession.d/81ubuntumenuproxy

Then restart your computer. If you want the Global Menus restored, simply remove that file (sudo rm /etc/X11/Xsession.d/81ubuntumenuproxy).

After that, if you can delete the top panel somehow, at least you'll keep most of your functionality. You'll need some kind of replacement for some of the indicators, like network-manager and the session menu.

Answer 3

Use gnome to run the unity launcher (with it you can completely remove panels, since unity uses nautilus anyway it is essentially the same), and then run unity-2d-shell to get back just the unity launcher, you can then add it to start-up programs, by running gnome-session-properties

With this you can even run the unity launcher in xubuntu! And it solves the window maximizing bug where the close icons disappear or move to the other side.