Knowledgebase

Some customers ask for a GUI on their Ubuntu Server, usually with Unity installed for a connection via TeamViewer. Although I personally don’t appreciate such methods, these usually mean that the customer has no idea on handling a Linux Server. Well it’s their problem and we should deliver their needs.

After installing a fresh Ubuntu Server (preferebly with OpenSSH installed), apply the commands below to get a running Unity on the server.

sudo apt-get uprade
sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends ubuntu-desktop
sudo apt-get install unity-lens-applications indicator-applet-appmenu indicator-applet-session indicator-applet-complete indicator-application indicator-session indicator-power indicator-sound

It’s a good idea to reboot the server after installing these.
This will install Unity, but it will not install the whole desktop package, which means you won’t get OpenOffice, Firefox etc. It is a good idea to also install Firefox since this type of customer will probably need it.

The packages starting with “indicator” are for the indicators at the very top right of the Unity session. Also the unity-lens-applications allows you to search through the dash, if you don’t install this, you won’t be able to call apps from the dash (which means it is completely useless)