Linux start without gui

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How to run ubuntu/xubuntu in a complete non-gui mode
6 Answers 6
Using Linux without GUI
How to install Linux without a GUI
Linux without a GUI – pros and cons
How to disable GUI
Closing Thoughts
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Starting Ubuntu without the GUI
2 Answers 2

How to run ubuntu/xubuntu in a complete non-gui mode

I am looking to run Ubuntu/Xubuntu in a complete non-GUI mode. Like, when the system starts it needs to log in into console. That is all, no loading of any display manager, x server, GUI-based app support, nothing in the background either for GUI.

6 Answers 6

What you want is can be achieved by installing Ubuntu Server Edition which does not has a display manager, X server etc. But if you do have an Ubuntu or a Xubuntu installation in your computer and want to work in a non-GUI environment, you can use virtual consoles which are called tty.

Close all opened applications.
press ctrl + alt + F2
Log in with you user name and password.
Stop display server and Xserver by giving sudo service lightdm stop command.

To restart GUI, sudo service lightdm start command is enough.

And you are ready to work in an environment as you described in your post.

Another workaround you can use to remove a lot of packages to obtain «pure Ubuntu» as described in this blog post. For Xubuntu, the command that will leave you with «pure Ubuntu» is

sudo apt-get remove abiword abiword-common abiword-plugin-grammar abiword-plugin-mathview alacarte bison blueman brltty-x11 catfish espeak exo-utils flex fonts-droid fonts-lyx gcalctool gigolo gimp gimp-data gksu gmusicbrowser gnome-desktop-data gnome-system-tools gnome-time-admin gnumeric gnumeric-common gnumeric-doc gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gthumb gthumb-data gtk2-engines-pixbuf indicator-application-gtk2 indicator-sound-gtk2 libabiword-2.9 libamd2.2.0 libbabl-0.1-0 libbison-dev libblas3 libcolamd2.7.1 libdigest-crc-perl libexo-1-0 libexo-common libexo-helpers libfl-dev libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common libgdome2-0 libgdome2-cpp-smart0c2a libgegl-0.2-0 libgimp2.0 libgksu2-0 libglade2-0 libgnomevfs2-0 libgnomevfs2-common libgnomevfs2-extra libgoffice-0.10-10 libgoffice-0.10-10-common libgsf-1-114 libgsf-1-common libgstreamer-perl libgtk2-notify-perl libgtk2-trayicon-perl libgtkmathview0c2a libgtksourceview2.0-0 libgtksourceview2.0-common libgtkspell0 libido-0.1-0 libintl-perl libjavascriptcoregtk-1.0-0 libjpeg-progs libjpeg-turbo-progs libkeybinder0 liblink-grammar4 libloudmouth1-0 libnet-dbus-perl liboobs-1-5 libotr5 libots0 librarian0 libsdl1.2debian libsexy2 libsigsegv2 libtagc0 libthunarx-2-0 libtidy-0.99-0 libtie-ixhash-perl libtumbler-1-0 libumfpack5.4.0 libunique-1.0-0 libvte-common libvte9 libwebkitgtk-1.0-0 libwebkitgtk-1.0-common libwv-1.2-4 libxfce4ui-1-0 libxfce4ui-utils libxfce4util-bin libxfce4util-common libxfce4util6 libxfcegui4-4 libxfconf-0-2 libxml-parser-perl libxml-twig-perl libxml-xpath-perl lightdm-gtk-greeter link-grammar-dictionaries-en locate lp-solve m4 mousepad orage parole pastebinit pavucontrol pidgin pidgin-data pidgin-libnotify pidgin-microblog pidgin-otr plymouth-theme-xubuntu-logo plymouth-theme-xubuntu-text python-configobj rarian-compat ristretto screensaver-default-images scrollkeeper shimmer-themes system-tools-backends tcl8.5 tcl8.5-lib thunar thunar-archive-plugin thunar-data thunar-media-tags-plugin thunar-volman ttf-droid tumbler tumbler-common xbrlapi xchat xchat-common xchat-indicator xfburn xfce-keyboard-shortcuts xfce4-appfinder xfce4-cpugraph-plugin xfce4-dict xfce4-indicator-plugin xfce4-mailwatch-plugin xfce4-netload-plugin xfce4-notes xfce4-notes-plugin xfce4-notifyd xfce4-panel xfce4-places-plugin xfce4-power-manager xfce4-power-manager-data xfce4-quicklauncher-plugin xfce4-screenshooter xfce4-session xfce4-settings xfce4-systemload-plugin xfce4-taskmanager xfce4-terminal xfce4-verve-plugin xfce4-volumed xfce4-weather-plugin xfce4-xkb-plugin xfconf xfdesktop4 xfdesktop4-data xfwm4 xscreensaver xscreensaver-data xscreensaver-gl xubuntu-artwork xubuntu-default-settings xubuntu-desktop xubuntu-docs xubuntu-icon-theme xubuntu-wallpapers

I removed the last command, which is apt-get install ubuntu-desktop , that installs packages like Unity and turn your Xubuntu to Ubuntu. As you can see, there are a lot of packages that is very hard to track and you may need some packages. Since I do not use Xubuntu, I can not say which packages must be kept.

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Using Linux without GUI

A GUI is only a supplemental component of a Linux system, and is not essential. Many System Administrators will elect to keep their servers as command line only, as a GUI is completely unnecessary for running a plethora of different services. Everyday users, however, will usually want a GUI to perform basic functions like web browsing, watching videos, etc.

In this tutorial, we will discuss some of the pros and cons of using Linux without a GUI, and look at scenarios where this type of configuration would be advantageous. You will also learn how to disable the GUI on popular Linux distros like Ubuntu and Debian.

In this tutorial you will learn:

How to install Linux without a GUI
Pros and cons of using Linux without GUI
How to disable the GUI on Ubuntu and Debian Linux

Software Requirements and Linux Command Line Conventions

Category	Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used
System	Any Linux distro
Software	N/A
Other	Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command.
Conventions	# – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command $ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

How to install Linux without a GUI

There are plenty of Linux distros that do not come with a desktop environment installed by default. If you do not want to run a GUI on your system, you can install one of these Linux distros. If you change your mind later, it is simple enough to install a desktop environment of your choice some time in the future.

Keep in mind that most Linux distributions that do not come with a GUI pre-installed are geared towards server use, since the vast majority of desktop users will obviously want a GUI. Some Linux distros without a GUI installed by default are:

To keep your system GUI-free, you may have to select the applicable prompt(s) during installation of the above systems.

Linux without a GUI – pros and cons

The main advantage of running Linux without a GUI is that performance will be better. A desktop envrionment can tie up valuable system resources in order to render the fancy graphics and effects that come with running a GUI.

With today’s advanced hardware, is the performance impact still a relevant concern? In most cases, probably not. However, for lightweight devices like a Raspberry Pi, you will definitely see better performance if you decide to skip installing a GUI.

The real reason why so many Linux systems run without a GUI is because they simply do not need one. Everything in Linux can be managed from the command line. As long as the system is not being used for leisure activities like web browsing and watching videos, there is no need for a GUI. For servers, there usually is not a need for a keyboard, monitor, or other periphals, either. Most system administrators will manage the servers remotely with SSH or a similar protocol.

Advantages of running Linux without a GUI:

Better performance
Less that can go wrong
Can be managed with SSH only, no monitor needed

Disadvantages of running Linux without a GUI:

How to disable GUI

The following command will disable GUI on boot hence upon the reboot the system will boot into multi user target:

$ sudo systemctl set-default multi-user

To enable the GUI to start automatically upon system boot, change the systemd target to graphical:

$ sudo systemctl set-default graphical

Closing Thoughts

In this tutorial, we learned about the pros and of using Linux without a GUI. Servers usually do not need to run a GUI, as they provide a very small range of functions. Although there is a performance impact when running a GUI, this is irrelevant for the majority of today’s systems.

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Starting Ubuntu without the GUI

I want to boot a «Ubuntu 10.04.2 LTS» server, but I want XFCE not to be started, nor X at all, only Shell. How do I tell my server to boot to the shell, not running XFCE at all? I have an SSH connection to the server, but no display connected. Since I migrated from earlier versions I use GRUB 1, where no /etc/default/grub exists. I would like to set the target runlevel somewhere, without changing GRUB at all.

In the meantime I found «sudo service gdm stop» and «sudo service gdm start» which goes to the right direction. But «gdm stop» should be the default. Or I install Ubuntu server. But then I cant change any more. A link was: ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1305659

2 Answers 2

I see three ways to do it:

1. Changing the default runlevel

You can set it at the beginnign of /etc/init/rc-sysinit.conf replace 2 by 3 and reboot. You can enable the graphical interface with telinit 2 .(More about runlevels)

2. Do not launch the graphical interface service on boot

Quick and easy. You can re-enable the graphical interface with service xdm start or revert your changes with update-rc.d -f xdm defaults

3. Remove packages

apt-get remove —purge x11-common && apt-get autoremove

I think it suits best for a computer considered as a server. You can re-enable the graphical interface by reinstalling the packages.