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I'm running Ubuntu 14.04 Server. I've installed xfce as my desktop environment using the following command:

apt-get install xubuntu-desktop xfce4

However, the Graphical User Interface doesn't look as expected. Please have a look at the two images below. The first image is the GUI that got installed by running the command above. It's not appealing, being too raw, and it uses xterm as the terminal which I don't like. The second image shows the GUI that I would much rather install. Apparently, both GUI's use xfce as the desktop environment as per the instructions on the tutorial. However, no matter what I try, I can't get the GUI to look like the one on the second image. Any suggestions on how to install the GUI displayed on the second link below? Am I missing anything?

I would appreciate any feedback.

Bad looking GUI: Bad looking GUI

Good looking GUI: Good looking GUI

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  • How are you selecting which session to log in to? The first one looks like a plain xfce4 session - the second may be the xubuntu-themed session
    – steeldriver
    Jun 6, 2016 at 13:23
  • I see no option to choose which session to log in to. When I VNC into the vps, the GUI in the first image above is the GUI that I'm presented with.
    – Jennifer
    Jun 6, 2016 at 17:27
  • If you're using VNC (rather than a display manager) then the session would normally be determined by the contents of your ~/.vnc/xstartup file
    – steeldriver
    Jun 6, 2016 at 18:31
  • Hi "steeldriver". Here are the contents of ~/.vnc/xstartup #!/bin/sh unset SESSION_MANAGER unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS startxfce4 & [ -x /etc/vnc/xstartup ] && exec /etc/vnc/xstartup [ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources xsetroot -solid grey vncconfig -iconic &
    – Jennifer
    Jun 6, 2016 at 18:54
  • So after a bit of exploring, it looks like the main thing you are missing is the xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin. Additional instructions in this previous question Whisker menu missing
    – steeldriver
    Jun 7, 2016 at 1:00

1 Answer 1

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First you don't want to install xubuntu-desktop xfce4 but apt-get install xubuntu-desktop^. The first way pulls in tons of extra "recommended" packages (like extra untiy, gnome, qt, kde, and xscreensaver stuff) that can make the experience sub-par. The second way uses the xubuntu-desktop task that is more inline with how the xubuntu installation media is created.

Then you need to move or delete the ~/.config/xfce directory. This will cause a brand new set of XFCE defaults to be created that match the "Good Looking GUI".

You'll want to do this at a virtual terminal preferably not in a broken GUI session. I'd recommend rebooting after doing all of this so that the graphical greeter is used.

On the initial login via graphical login make sure to choose xubuntu-session.

This is based on what I had to do to get a decent XFCE desktop on Ubuntu 14.04 Server.

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