How to start GUI on Ubuntu Linux Machine

Earlier I had written an article on How to start GUI on CentOS 8. After this article was read by one of my readers, he asked me to write a similar article for Ubuntu. Typically any Linux servers (CentOS or Ubuntu) don’t provide Graphical User Interface (GUI) as it adds up in RAM & CPU usage. This article explains how to install a desktop and start GUI on Ubuntu Linux machine.

How to Install a desktop and start GUI on Ubuntu

Pre-requisites

• Ubuntu Linux Server
• root access or sudo privileged user access

Update the server

Log in to your Ubuntu Linux Server using SSH and update the server.

root@ubuntu:~# apt update

Install tasksel utility manager

Tasksel is an easy-to-use tool that installs a group of software-related packages as a coordinated “task” onto the system.

root@ubuntu:~# apt-get install tasksel

Install a Desktop Environment on Ubuntu

Select a Display Manager

A display manager is an application responsible for launching a display server and managing user authentication and login session. A few display managers are gdm, gdm3, lightdm, slim, kdm etc., The default gdm3 is the popular display manager for GNOME desktop environment, however, it is a resource-intensive display manager. To conserve system resources, you can install lighter display managers such as lightdm, slim, etc.,

Install display manager

root@ubuntu:~# apt-get install slim

Verify the default display manager

root@ubuntu:~# cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager
/usr/bin/slim

Choose a Desktop Environment

Since Ubuntu 17.10, GNOME is the default desktop environment. With more features and a wider community. GNOME 3.36 has a lot to offer in the latest Ubuntu 20.04. Find out from here the various desktop environments available.

Install GNOME Desktop Environment on Ubuntu

root@ubuntu:~# tasksel

Opens a graphical interface. Use arrow keys to scroll the list and select Ubuntu Desktop(Space key to select).

Once selected, press tab to select Ok and press Enter.

Sit back and relax, as the system will take quite a time to install the necessary software (depending on the machine and the internet connection).

Reboot the server

root@ubuntu:~# reboot

After the reboot, a graphical login screen will be displayed by the display manager (In our case Slim).