I'm trying to completely install Ubuntu 14.04 I'm at the point where is ask for my Ubuntu login and password. Once I've completed that part its says Welcome to Ubuntu and talks about the warranty etc.
Silenthunter is my Ubuntu login username. What do I put for
silent hunter@Ubuntu:~$
I don't know what to type in.
That would be terminal, which displays your user name, @, then your computers name. You don't have to type anything in there, it is just waiting for your command.
Do you get a graphical user interface, or do you only see terminal interface?
You've installed the Ubuntu Server which comes with a terminal like this:
So the easiest thing to do for you right now is to download the Ubuntu Desktop and install that!
ubuntu-desktop with sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
Dec 10, 2015 at 22:53
Welcome to Ubuntu! Your problem seems very strange, because you should have a GUI if you downloaded the desktop edition of Ubuntu.
This line is an output automatically created by bash (Bourne Again SHell). This is Ubuntu's default command interpreter, and is very common in the Linux world. This output gives you some handy information when executing commands. It's like this:
username@computer-name:/path/to/directory/you're/in$
If you are a normal user, you will see a $ in the end. If you're root (has total power over the computer) you will see a #. Be VERY careful if you see a #.
If you run the command echo $PATH (be careful because bash is case sensitive), you will see a series of paths just like this:
/path1:/path2:/path3
PATH is the name of the environment variable that bash searches the commands from.
Commands are nothing but binaries (similar to Windows' .exe's) located in some specific directories, included in the PATH variable. Every time you run a command, bash searches for a binary with its name in these directories. If the binary is found, it is executed. Some commands also accept arguments/parameters, to modify their actions.
Ubuntu uses a system called APT (a heritage from its 'father', Debian GNU/Linux) to manage packages (software). There are front-ends for the APT system, such as the Software Center and Synaptic. What APT does is download a specified package from the Ubuntu official repositories. These packages have a .deb extension and contain eveything needed to install a program. A binary called dpkg is used to install .debs.
Sorry for the long explanations, but the above content is the basic you'll need to know. Let's get back to your specific case.
For some strange reason, Unity (Ubuntu's default Desktop Environment) is not installed or simply does not show up. Run the following commands, one by one to try to solve your problem (you will need wired internet connection):
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
You will need your user's password in this command, since it requires root privileges. It won't appear in the screen while you type.
If you get an output like "ubuntu-desktop is already installed", run:
sudo apt-get install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop
if you don't get this output, ignore the above command and wait for the installation to finish.
Do the same with the "lightdm" package:
sudo apt-get install lightdm
and
sudo apt-get install --reinstall lightdm
if you get that error.
After everything has finished, reboot your computer and there should be a Desktop, now.
