Join Log in
Score:0
virtexed avatar Ubuntu

Ubuntu 20.04 boots to console instead of Gnome desktop

in flag
virtexed

I have had Ubuntu 20.04 running solidly for 12 months and I recently tried to cleanup some (what I thought were) unwanted services. From Stacer I changed the Console getty service settings (can't recall if I started or stopped or disabled...?) and now I get the following behavior:

On boot, the Gnome graphical login screen appears for about 2 seconds, then the text based tty console appears. I can login to the console but I can't work out how to get back to Gnome.

I have successfully done this: sudo systemctl set-default graphical.target and after reboot, checking: systemctl get-default returns graphical.target

I've looked through /etc/systemd/system and can see that console.getty.service link has a modified timestamp of around when I started messing with things...

I don't know linux well enough to navigate the directories and debug this (is it a systemd thing?)

From a console, entering the following seems to do nothing: sudo systemctl start gdm3.service

I can switch between TTY sessions using ALT + F2 etc which is fine but trying to switch to Gnome using ALT + F7 just results in /dev/nvme0n1p2: clean, x/y files, x/y blocks and it hangs there...

Just tried this: sudo apt-get install --reinstall ubuntu-gnome-desktop but same behavour.

Executing this: sudo systemctl isolate graphical looks promising as it displays the motherboard logo and Ubuntu logo and a spinny wheel....but the wheel just keeps spinning forever and nothing else happens

How do I get back to the Gnome graphical desktop please?

62
0 + 0
vanadium avatar
cn flag
vanadium
The easiest will be a reinstall - you can do so without overwriting data by choosing " Something else" in the installer. Then stay out of the system unless you know what you do (and hence know what to undo). The information you provided certainly will not be complete for us to tell you how to undo what you did.
0
Reply
virtexed avatar
in flag
virtexed
I've installed Gnome 40 by following these instructions [link](https://www.linuxcapable.com/how-to-install-gnome-40-desktop-on-ubuntu-20-04/) and the machine behaves in the same incorrect way - shows the Gnome login screen for a few seconds then opens a tty session. When you say reinstall, do you mean a full on Ubuntu reinstall?
0
Reply
vanadium avatar
cn flag
vanadium
That you installed Gnome 40 is important new information. Currently missing from your question. With reinstall, I mean installation with Ubuntu install medium. In installer, select " Something else" . Assign your partitions manually, and *important* make sure " Format" is unchecked. This updates all system files including programs you installed yourself from the official repositories, and preserves all user data. You wan wait a bit: perhaps someone knows a magic trick to restore what you changed.
0
Reply
ธงชาติไทย
Elon Musk
I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

mangohost

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.