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I am a Ubuntu newbie. I followed this tutorial to install Gnome 3 on my Ubuntu Precise Pangolin.

I was expecting a desktop like this:
http://www.gnome.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/window-selection-3.12.png
and I ended up with a desktop like this:
http://imgur.com/dWIIkeI Please tell me what I can do to get the desired desktop.

NB: I have dual-booted using Wubi.

3 Answers 3

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That looks like GNOME Classic. You should choose GNOME when selecting the session at login: (screenshot from the tutorial)
enter image description here

If you still get GNOME Classic, you can force GNOME Shell by running these commands in a terminal:

gnome-shell --replace &
disown

This will replace the current WM, send GNOME Shell to the background and detach it from the terminal so that you can close it without killing gnome-shell.

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  • It IS Gnome. I didnt click on classic.
    – An SO User
    Aug 2, 2014 at 11:28
  • @LittleChild It certainly looks like GNOME Classic. Open a terminal and run gnome-shell.
    – muru
    Aug 2, 2014 at 11:29
  • Window manager warning: Screen 0 on display ":0.0" already has a window manager; try using the --replace option to replace the current window manager.
    – An SO User
    Aug 2, 2014 at 11:31
  • and not only that, my Gnome option has an Ubuntu symbol next to it rather than that footprint.
    – An SO User
    Aug 2, 2014 at 11:32
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    @LittleChild I'll try if can get my hands on a 12.04 box (which might not be until Monday). You can perhaps edit your question to reflect the fact that using the GNOME session gives you the GNOME Classic (or fallback) session, and the gnome-shell runs fine if you start it manually.
    – muru
    Aug 2, 2014 at 17:37
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Maybe the GNOME Shell you installed isn't compatible with your current Ubuntu version, so it fallbacks to the classic mode. GNOME Shell 3.4 is officially supported by Ubuntu Precise. Although it's a bit old, it's guaranteed to be stable and usable.

First of all, remove the PPA from Software Sources.

Then, sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

That should give you GNOME Shell 3.4. If you need 3.10 or above I think you should update your Ubuntu to 14.04.

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  • How do i remove the PPA ?
    – An SO User
    Aug 2, 2014 at 11:39
  • @LittleChild: askubuntu.com/questions/307/how-can-ppas-be-removed
    – muru
    Aug 2, 2014 at 11:40
  • @muru so I should remove the gnome-3 ppa ?
    – An SO User
    Aug 2, 2014 at 11:41
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    @LittleChild that the kernel and Gnome are different projects with unrelated version numbers. They both had version 3.8 at some time, but that was coincidence.
    – muru
    Aug 2, 2014 at 11:50
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    @LittleChild you can use the amd64 image. The i3 is 64-bit.
    – muru
    Aug 2, 2014 at 13:42
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I think the first screenshot is what you get if you press the Super key, not the desktop. But it's been a while since I used Ubuntu Gnome.

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  • Tried that also. Didnt work.
    – An SO User
    Aug 2, 2014 at 11:53

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