Ubuntu Linux stop / disable GNOME GUI ~ X.org
Q. I don’t need GUI as I’m developing CLI based applications. By default Ubuntu Loads Gnome GUI. How do I disable X.org / Gnome under Linux so that I get text only login?
A. You can use GUI tools or command line tools to disable GDM (Gnome Display Manager) service (/etc/init.d/gdm).
Disable GDM using GUI tools
The Services Administration Tool allows you to specify which services will be started during the system boot process. You can type the command:
services-admin &
Or just click on System > Administration > Services
Now you will be prompted for the administrator password, this is necessary because the changes done with this tool will affect the whole system. After entering the administrator password, the following window is displayed:
Make sure you remove GDM (Gnome login manager) by disabling the the checkbox and close the window.
Enable GDM using Command Line (CLI) tools
Ubuntu comes with rcconf and update-rc.d command. rcconf allows you to control which services are started when the system boots up or reboots. It displays a menu of all the services which could be started at boot. The ones that are configured to do so are marked and you can toggle individual services on and off.
Install rcconf
Use apt-get command:
sudo apt-get install rcconf
Now start rcconf:
sudo rcconf
Again you will be prompted for the administrator password, this is necessary because the changes done with this tool will affect the whole system. After entering the administrator password, the following text based window is displayed on screen:
Next enable GDM service by pressing space bar (check the checkbox) > Click OK to save the changes.
update-rc.d command
This is 3rd and old method. You can enable or disable any service using update-rc.d command.
Task: Disable X.org GUI
Just enter command:
sudo update-rc.d -f gdm remove
Task: Enable X.org GUI
Just enter command:
sudo update-rc.d -f gdm defaults
You can always start GUI from a shell prompt by typing startx command:
startx &
Please note that you can use above tools to enable or disable any services under Debian / Ubuntu Linux.
See also:
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Tags: boot_process, command_line_tools, disable_gdm, disable_gnome_gui, display_manager, gui_tools, rcconf_command, services_administration, startx_command, ubuntu, update-rc.d_command
March 31st, 2008 at 11:11 pm
This command should not be used by users to disable gdm:
sudo update-rc.d -f gdm remove
While it may seem to work, that’s just a side effect. This is a packager’s tool, not an administration tool.
A better approach (recommended to me by slangasek, the Ubuntu release manager) is:
mv /etc/rc2.d/S30gdm /etc/rc2.d/disabled-S30gdm
mv /etc/rc2.d/K30gdm /etc/rc2.d/disabled-K30gdm