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I've never used Linux before until I installed Ubuntu yesterday. I want to install Gnome3, and I've tried plenty of tutorials over the internet but nothing has worked. Whenever I attempt to do sudo apt-get install ubuntu-gnome-desktop, I get these dependency errors:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
ubuntu-gnome-desktop : Depends: gdm but it is not going to be installed
      Depends: gnome-control-center but it is not going to be installed
      Depends: gnome-icon-theme-full but it is not going to be installed
      Depends: gnome-online-accounts but it is not going to be installed
      Depends: gnome-session but it is not going to be installed
      Depends: gnome-shell but it is not going to be installed
      Depends: gnome-shell-extensions but it is not going to be installed
      Recommends: evolution but it is not going to be installed
      Recommends: mcp-account-manager-goa but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

I've tried searching for some solutions, but nothing is working so I'm asking here. sudo apt-get install -f didn't work either.

Daniel
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2 Answers2

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Open a terminal and type the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell gnome-shell-extensions

Please post any errors, thanks.

Aah, it appears you don't have the universe repository enabled.

Go to software center or synaptic and go to edit > software sources and there should be an option to enable it from there.

After enabling the repository(ies) you will need to run those commands above to get everything up to date before you try and install it.

I have all repos enabled and have double verified that this installs on a newly installed and fully updated Ubuntu Desktop 14.04lts just fine with no dependency issues. I even went ahead and installed ubuntu-gnome-desktop after gnome-shell installed with no issues.

While you are at it, you can install synaptic, if not already installed, to see if there are any broken packages that need to be fixed. Synaptic has a tool to fix broken package if they do exist. Click on "fix broken packages" from one of the dropdown menus and then click "apply". Although, it doesn't appear this is the problem because you don't have the correct dependencies so you should already get that error but if need be.

Also, there may be issues setting your network preferences from gnome-shell (all the newer versions of gnome-shell are lacking in this area anyhow imo)

mchid
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  • The following packages have unmet dependencies: gnome-shell : Depends: gnome-icon-theme-full but it is not going to be installed Depends: gnome-session but it is not going to be installed Depends: gnome-shell-common (= 3.10.4-0ubuntu5.2) but 3.12.2-0ubuntu0~trusty2 is to be installed – Daniel Apr 05 '15 at 23:56
  • Recommends: gnome-control-center but it is not going to be installed Recommends: gdm (>= 3.5.90) but it is not going to be installed gnome-shell-extensions : Depends: gnome-session (>= 3.8) but it is not going to be installed E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages. – Daniel Apr 05 '15 at 23:56
  • @mightyspaj I did some experimentation with a freshly installed system (14.04 Ubuntu Desktop) and have updated the answer. – mchid Apr 06 '15 at 11:12
  • okay so I did all of that, and its still not working. I'm getting the same errors – Daniel Apr 09 '15 at 02:40
  • The following packages have unmet dependencies: gnome-shell : Depends: gnome-settings-daemon (>= 3.4.0) but it is not going to be installed Recommends: gnome-control-center but it is not going to be installed gnome-shell-extensions : Depends: gnome-session (>= 3.8) but it is not going to be installed – Daniel Apr 09 '15 at 02:47
  • @mightyspaj then install gnome-settings-daemon individually and see what it says and do the same for gnome session to figure out what got screwed up where and why. Again, make sure you have enabled ALL repositories and then run sudo apt-get update after you do. – mchid Apr 13 '15 at 18:40
  • Okay well after doing that, I'm pretty sure it worked, however it's done something to my user account and I can't even login. – Daniel Apr 29 '15 at 13:21
  • @mightyspaj you should open another question for that problem and you should get faster help from the community for that issue – mchid Apr 29 '15 at 15:31
  • DOES NOT WORK, NOT USEFUL OR CORRECT – Tejaskumar Tank Jul 13 '17 at 06:37
  • @Tejas Did you try installing each package one by one as the OP did to solve this issue? – mchid Jul 16 '17 at 01:29
  • In normal stuffs its worked, but some where its not worked, than I install MateDesktop, it worked, Just not worked in my case with some desk. – Tejaskumar Tank Jul 16 '17 at 17:22
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Instead of installing through apt-get, you can also download Ubuntu GNOME desktop OS for free from their website : http://ubuntugnome.org/download/

Or, if you just want the Stand alone Gnome desktop without ubuntu, then you can simply go to www.gnome.org and Download GNOME 3.16 the latest version os for free.

Personally, I prefer to download and install this GNOME 3 OS instead of trying to install GNOME 3 as a side environment because, currently, Gnome 3.16 is not available (3.10 or 3.12 is available through apt-get). Download GNOME 3.16 OS now

mchid
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Nived Kannada
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    wait so can't I do this through the command promp? Also note that I'm running this alongside Windows 8, so I will need to support that. – Daniel Apr 05 '15 at 05:50
  • @mightyspaj you can IDK because this is not so, I did it just fine you just have to run all your system updates after a fresh install before you do as there have been some bug fixes since 14.04 was first released that prevented you from doing so as you have found out. – mchid Apr 05 '15 at 06:41
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    @mchid I'm not saying can't do anything in linux. I'm a linux lover. Please don't say that. I just meant that he can easilly install GNOME os instead of installing in as environment in ubuntu. Because I like to be stand alone always – Nived Kannada Apr 05 '15 at 07:25
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    @mchid dear friend, I meant that it is officially unavailable in ubuntu software center. But still you can install it with command lines. Nothing more – Nived Kannada Apr 05 '15 at 08:27
  • @NivedKannada: Why “community wiki”? – David Foerster Apr 06 '15 at 13:24
  • @mightyspaj: It's perfectly possible to install Gnome Desktop Environment without a full system re-installation. See the other answer. – David Foerster Apr 06 '15 at 13:25
  • @DavidFoerster http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/08/the-future-of-community-wiki see "Community Wiki is primarily for Answers" – mchid Apr 08 '15 at 05:49