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I tried to install lubuntu onto a xubuntu installation via the command line, using a sudo, as per an instruction I found somewhere on these forums by googling.

All went well for a while and then ended with failure because apparently I wasn't 'root'.

It asked the question 'are you root?' I wasn't there to answer at the time. It seems to have timed out and finished the install process with a fail.

How to get this to install?

user577111
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  • The command failed because you weren't root would normally mean that it did nothing. Have you tried repeating that command? The default terminal in Ubuntu keeps a history of all the commands that you ran in the terminal (by default). The command history 20 will display the last 20 commands that you ran in the terminal. – karel Jul 15 '14 at 08:37
  • It ran screenloads of text before this termination. Sorry I didn't keep a record. The last couple of lines began with an E, I noticed and I figured that meant 'error'. The command I used had a second part that asked for the removal of the current xubuntu I think. Perhaps there was only a failure in some part of that task. Can't get to that machine tonight. I will check the command record and I will retry the command - and I'll try doing an install off a USB or somesuch if I have no better options by then... Thanks for your reply. – user577111 Jul 15 '14 at 08:45
  • The command to remove a package from the Ubuntu Software Center often has the string apt-get remove in it followed by the name of the package to be removed or by a list of package names, each name in the list separated by a blank space. – karel Jul 15 '14 at 09:01
  • I did get someone to access that machine for me. The last command was apt-get install lubuntu-desktop && apt-get remove xubuntu-desktop. And I'm told it looks like it did do it. I couldn't tell them how to check what brand of linux was on the machine because I don't know but browsing around they found that in the main menu there's a 'lubuntu software' item. I think that wouldn't be there unless it was lubuntu installation? So it was successful? And those failure messages perhaps pertain to only part of the install and not a vital part? – user577111 Jul 15 '14 at 11:05

2 Answers2

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The correct form of the last command that you ran in the terminal ( apt-get install lubuntu-desktop && apt-get remove xubuntu-desktop ) is as follows:

sudo apt-get remove xubuntu-desktop && sudo apt-get install lubuntu-desktop

The first part of the command removes xubuntu-desktop and the second part of the command installs lubuntu-desktop if the first part of the command, removing xubuntu-desktop, was successful. Another way to do the same thing is to give yourself root privileges using sudo su and then use the following command instead: 

apt-get remove xubuntu-desktop && apt-get install lubuntu-desktop

Your main memu is showing you that you have the Lubuntu desktop installed.

It's not possible to know if the error message that you got was important without seeing the error message, however if you got a vital error message because of the wrong order of the two commands, then you could fix it by running this command: 

sudo apt-get install lubuntu-desktop

...which checks if lubuntu-desktop is completely installed and completes the installation of lubuntu-desktop if it is not completely installed, otherwise it does nothing and returns the following message: 

lubuntu-desktop is already the newest version.  
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
karel
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Try using root login in terminal using,

sudo su
Then enter your user password when prompted,
nothing should show thats OK

Then run your command without sudo.

Hope this helps.

Dogshead
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  • I'm about to start my learning about all this. See my above comment, it looks like maybe lubuntu is installed after all. But I'll do some experimenting with such as 'sudo su'. Currently I'm so ignorant I don't know what 'my' user password is as against the password I always use - which is the only password I'm aware of on the installation... – user577111 Jul 15 '14 at 11:10
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    when you use "sudo" for anything and it asks for a password, it's the password you used to log into the user account you are using. – Dogshead Jul 15 '14 at 22:42