Enable/Disable Ubuntu Desktop environment on ubuntu-12.04.1-server-i386

Question

I have installed ubuntu-12.04.1-server-i386 and on top of that i have installed Ubuntu desktop environment so that i can maintain server easily.

Hear I totally understand that installing Desktop environment will affect my server efficiency but its quit easy to maintain server with GUI so I am wondering that is there any workaround to enable or disable Ubuntu Desktop Environment whenever we need it like we do in Windows for services ? I searched and reffed many sites but did not found anything related to this.

Thanks in advance and sorry for my poor English.

enter image description here

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

6

This is a specific instance of a generic question, "how do I prevent an upstart service from running at boot".

You can use an override:

sudo echo "manual" >> /etc/init/lightdm.override

To start lightdm on command:

sudo start lightdm

To restore your system so that lightdm is always started on boot:

sudo rm /etc/init/lightdm.override

For more information, the upstart cookbook is your friend:

http://upstart.ubuntu.com/cookbook/

SRC : Here

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

Community

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answered Jan 10 '14 at 06:46

Rushik Parikh

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And how do I shut down the GUI again? – Håkon K. Olafsen May 06 '14 at 08:17
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sudo service lightdm stop – Rushik Parikh May 07 '14 at 11:44
Doesn't sudo refer to echo? Your first sudo echo "manual" >> ... has no permission to write to /etc/init/. – Gauthier Jun 15 '15 at 09:46
I had that problem as well. >> is not run as root. sudo -i first is a good work around. – Robert Jacobs Oct 13 '15 at 20:57
It's back to gdm so you should create /etc/init/gdm.override with the contents as above, these days (2016) – Warren P Apr 07 '16 at 20:41
A better one-liner is sudo tee /etc/init/lightdm.override <<< manual. This has the adequate privileges to write the file. – Justin Force Aug 28 '17 at 04:50

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 08 '14 at 10:35

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Try to disable GUI, just press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open Terminal. When it opens, run the command(s) below:

sudo update-rc.d -f gdm remove

When you restart your computer, you’ll get text-mode login. To run GUI again:

startx

To enable GUI again:

sudo update-rc.d -f gdm defaults

^Source:HTG

answered Jan 08 '14 at 10:35

Mitch

107,631

I execute command "sudo update-rc.d -f gdm remove" nothing happens! then i tried "sudo service lightdm stop" but it stops at checking battery stste and "sudo service gdm stop" is unrecognized service – Rushik Parikh Jan 09 '14 at 09:22
I installed 12.04 server yesterday, and followed the steps, and it worked. Did exactly as the source said. Let me know. – Mitch Jan 09 '14 at 09:51
i have have added image in the question. I guess the command is not executing properly – Rushik Parikh Jan 09 '14 at 10:48
"sudo echo "manual" >> /etc/init/lightdm.override" worked for me – Rushik Parikh Jan 09 '14 at 11:10
I tried that, and it didn't work for me. see image – Mitch Jan 09 '14 at 11:27
may be because lightdm is not installed in your system – Rushik Parikh Jan 09 '14 at 11:48
It seems you have to use the /etc/init.d/something.override technique these days – Warren P Apr 07 '16 at 20:42

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 03 '16 at 10:28

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Another way to avoid the permissions issue, is to use 'tee'. Like so:

echo "manual" | sudo tee /etc/init/lightdm.override

edited May 03 '16 at 10:28

Videonauth

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answered May 03 '16 at 07:07

Ketil

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Enable/Disable Ubuntu Desktop environment on ubuntu-12.04.1-server-i386

3 Answers3