How to Install a Desktop (GUI) on an Ubuntu Server

Introduction

Ubuntu Server is a variant of the Ubuntu OS that does not include a graphical user interface (GUI) by default. GUI applications consume system resources needed for server-oriented tasks, so Linux server distributions usually avoid a GUI in favor of the command-line terminal.

Some tools, however, perform better and are easier to manage with a GUI. If you use a tool with a GUI, installing a desktop environment may improve the experience of working with the server.

This guide will show you how to install a desktop (GUI) graphical interface on your Ubuntu server.

Prerequisites

Update Repositories and Packages

Start by ensuring the software on the server is up to date.

Refresh the repository and package lists, and perform the necessary upgrades with the following command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Install and Set Up Display Manager

A display manager is an application that starts the display server, launches the desktop, and manages user authentication. The default GDM3 is a resource-intensive display manager. To conserve system resources, consider a lighter tool, such as SLiM or LightDM.

This guide uses SLiM to illustrate the rest of the GUI installation process.

To install SLiM, type:

sudo apt install slim -y

NOTE: If you prefer to install the LightDM display manager instead, type:

sudo apt install lightdm -y

Install GUI on Ubuntu Server

With a display manager installed, proceed to install a GUI. The sections below contain instructions for the most common Linux desktop environments.

Ubuntu Desktop

The default Ubuntu Desktop is a modified version of the GNOME desktop environment.

# install ubuntu desktop
# if asked, confirm slim as the default desktop manager
sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop
# reboot the system when the installation finishes
sudo reboot

NOTE: For the vanilla GNOME experience, install the following packages:

sudo apt install vanilla-gnome-desktop vanilla-gnome-default-settings

KDE Plasma

KDE Plasma is a flexible and customizable desktop environment that provides visual consistency and style while remaining fast and responsive.

# install KDE Plasma
sudo apt install kde-plasma-desktop -y
# reboot the system when the installation finishes
sudo reboot

XFCE

The XFCE desktop environment is designed to be lightweight and user-friendly. The main package, xfce4-session, provides a bare-bone environment. If you want the full experience, install the xfce4-goodies package as well.

# install XFCE
sudo apt-get install xfce4-session xfce4-goodies -y
# reboot the system when the installation finishes
sudo reboot

MATE

MATE is a fork of GNOME 2 and a popular graphical interface designed to be light on resource consumption.

# install XFCE
sudo apt install ubuntu-mate-desktop -y
# reboot the system when the installation finishes
sudo reboot

LXDE

LXDE is a desktop environment with a very lightweight GUI. Use LXDE if you need a graphical interface but want to minimize the impact on system memory and CPU.

# install XFCE
sudo apt install lxde -y
# reboot the system when the installation finishes
sudo reboot

Switching between GUI

If you install more than one desktop environment, you can switch between different GUIs from your display manager screen. SLiM, for example, lets you cycle through the installed environments by pressing F1 repeatedly. The name of the currently toggled environment is visible at the bottom of the screen.

Removing the GUI and Display Manager

To revert to the command line interface and remove the packages related to the display manager and the desktop environments:

sudo apt remove [display-manager] [desktop-environment]

# remove SLiM and LXDE
sudo apt remove slim lxde
# reboot the system
sudo reboot
# finish by removing orphaned or unnecessary dependencies with autoremove
sudo apt autoremove

Conclusion

If you’ve worked extensively with conventional operating systems, it can be challenging to have to work in a command-line interface. Fortunately, Ubuntu - like many Linux systems - is open-source, so there are many available GUIs to install.

Ref: phoenixnap.com