2

I tried installing from a usb with a full image, but was having issues. So, I tried a minimal install and selected to include ubuntu desktop, but upon first boot it brought me to an extremely bare bones command line interface. This is a quote from the canonical minimal page at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD:

"To install, boot your computer from the the mini iso and select "Install" at the prompt. You can then follow the instructions from the text-based installer. On the software selection screen, you can select from a number of collections of software such as different desktop environments (kde, xfce, etc), a multitude of different servers, multimedia creation tools, media center (mythbuntu), etc. You can also select "Manual package selection" which will take you to aptitude. You may also select nothing and just continue to finish the installation. If you selected nothing, upon reboot you will arrive at a cli prompt; from here you can fully customize your new system."

I'm going to go ahead and try re-installing it again, but does anybody know how I could install a desktop environment? Not just a desktop environment, but the current standard Ubuntu environment?

2
  • 1
    The 'current' desktop environment for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and 19.04 is GNOME gnome.org . The desktop environment for 16.04 LTS is Unity github.com/ubports/unity8/blob/xenial/README.md Since all three versions of Ubuntu are supported, the choice depends on which version of Ubuntu you use. Other DEs are also supported; see wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuFlavors . Please click edit and tell us which you want. Please do not click Add Comment; instead use edit.
    – K7AAY
    Commented Jul 30, 2019 at 20:41
  • It should have installed the desktop but sometimes you have to run tasksel after you do the initial install. Also, make sure to unplug the USB device before the system reboots so that the system doesn't reboot to the pendrive instead of the system. Another problem is that sometimes grub accidentally gets installed to the USB stick instead of the main drive but that doesn't sound like your issue.
    – mchid
    Commented Aug 8, 2019 at 14:29

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

Here is how you install a desktop on a minimum install or headless server.

First, run the following commands to install tasksel:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install tasksel

Run the following command to install a desktop:

sudo tasksel

Then, you can select your desired desktop environment. Choosing the "Ubuntu desktop" will install Gnome Shell which is the standard Ubuntu desktop on 18.04+. Do not select any of the "live cd" options.

Use the space bar to select or deselect a desktop and then use the tab key to select "OK" and then press Enter to install.

You can always run the sudo tasksel command in the future if you want to install another desktop environment.

NOTE: because of a bug in tasksel, DO NOT use tasksel to uninstall packages. ONLY use tasksel to install.

3
  • +1; It works to install the desktop environment directly too, with sudo apt update followed by one of the following command lines, sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop; sudo apt install kubuntu-desktop; sudo apt install lubuntu-desktop; ... sudo apt install xubuntu-desktop
    – sudodus
    Commented Aug 8, 2019 at 21:49
  • @sudodus Yes, you can install using one of those commands but tasksel is how the tutorials usually explain how to do it. Also, tasksel lists other package collections that are commonly installed or needed with a basic install like LAMP, multimedia packages, games, etc.
    – mchid
    Commented Aug 8, 2019 at 21:57
  • That's right, it is a good idea to learn using tasksel :-)
    – sudodus
    Commented Aug 8, 2019 at 22:01
0

A couple of steps here:

  1. ensure you're using the right desktop environment:
ls /usr/bin/*session

this should list gnome-desktop or something like that.

  1. You should be able to run the desktop by this:
startx
  1. If that doesn't work restart the daemon like this:
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

and then try step 2 again.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .