Install GUI (Graphical User Interface) in Ubuntu 13.10 Server

I’ve written about how to install Ubuntu 13.10 Server. If you’re not familiar with command console you can install GUI on Ubuntu Server:

Desktop Environment on local server
Webmin on remote server.

Install Desktop Environment in Ubuntu 13.10 Server:

Before getting started, update system package lists by running the command below:

sudo apt-get update

1. To install Ubuntu Unity Desktop, run:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

For ‘minimal’ install without all the desktop add-on and other things that come with Ubuntu Desktop Edition, run:

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends ubuntu-desktop

Once installed, restart Ubuntu server and you’ll see the graphical login screen. Or run command below to start without reboot:

startx

2. To install the light weight desktop Xfce, run:

sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

3. To install KDE, run:

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

Install Webmin in Ubuntu 13.10 Server:

Webmin is a web-interface for remote users to configure Apache, DNS, FTP, and others on your Ubuntu server.

To install Webmin in Ubuntu server, run command below to download the DEB package:

wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin_1.660_all.deb

Then install it as well as the dependencies:

sudo dpkg -i webmin_1.660_all.deb; sudo apt-get -f install

Once installed, go to https://your-ubuntu-serverip:10000 on your client PC’s web browser and login with Administrator account:

Ji m

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I'm a freelance blogger who started using Ubuntu in 2007 and wishes to share my experiences and some useful tips with Ubuntu beginners and lovers. Please comment to let me know if the tutorial is outdated! And, notify me if you find any typo/grammar/language mistakes. English is not my native language. Contact me via [email protected] Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/ubuntuhandbook1

7 responses to Install GUI (Graphical User Interface) in Ubuntu 13.10 Server

Mark November 12, 2013 at 10:37 pm

I get:
Err http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/main libnet-ssleay-perl amd64 1.55-1
504 Connection Timed Out [IP: 202.158.214.106 80]
Err http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/universe libauthen-pam-perl amd64 0.16-2build2
504 Connection Timed Out [IP: 202.158.214.106 80]
0% [Waiting for headers]
Sanyam Kaporr December 26, 2013 at 11:59 am

Hey,
I wanted to installed the ubuntu desktop. But how do I know that gui has started running on the server.
I do a “startx” in the terminal via ssh (though that makes little sense), but then the console screen stops at a certain point, no further activity.
I do a “echo $DISPLAY” in the terminal via ssh, it shows blank output as expected. How do I do that because I have an app, that needs to run and creating a window is necessary (it is a video rendering application). But the only problem it faces as seen via error log is that it cannot find and X server to connect to.
killy December 29, 2013 at 11:11 am

before we install gui desktop, we must connect to internet, but i don’t know how to connect internet using console terminal,,,please your fast respone
- Panda December 29, 2013 at 12:00 pm
  edit the /etc/network/interfaces
  
  sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces
  
  Change the file to look like this
  
  #The primary network interface — use DHCP to find our address
  auto eth0
  iface eth0 inet dhcp
  
  then try the following commands:
  
  dhclient -r /etc/init.d/networking restart
ash January 15, 2014 at 6:37 am

would you list the step/tutorial for install ubuntu server 13.10 till install ubuntu 13.10 desktop environment??what should we do for the 1st step to run(install) ubuntu 13.10 tq :)
sniperdoc June 17, 2014 at 6:22 pm

Well… I did the install for Minimal Ubuntu Desktop and lets just say it’s friggin’ minimal. Not even a terminal. I couldn’t do squat. Had to start up in recovery mode and remove desktop just to be able to do stuff?
aditya udupa September 13, 2015 at 1:40 pm

I need to install GUI on server so i typed sudo apt-get ubuntu-desktop, but its showing excepion like broken package , now my question is hoow to download and place he pakage in he unix file system as i am runing this serer on virtual machine.

plz help me on his… thanks
in advance ….