gnome3 isn't installing on Ubuntu due to unmet dependencies

Question

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.

Solution

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)

Comments

[24601]

possible duplicate of Can't install GNOME due to an unmet dependency on gnome-core

[dspacejs]

Sorry if it is, I'm new here so I don't really know what I'm doing

[dspacejs]

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.

[mchid]

@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.

[Nived Kannada]

@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]

@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

[dspacejs]

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

[dspacejs]

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.

[mchid]

@mightyspaj I did some experimentation with a freshly installed system (14.04 Ubuntu Desktop) and have updated the answer.

[David Foerster]

@NivedKannada: Why “community wiki”?

[David Foerster]

@mightyspaj: It's perfectly possible to install Gnome Desktop Environment without a full system re-installation. See the other answer.

[mchid]

@DavidFoerster blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/08/the-future-of-community-wiki see "Community Wiki is primarily for Answers"

[dspacejs]

okay so I did all of that, and its still not working. I'm getting the same errors

[dspacejs]

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

[mchid]

@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.

[dspacejs]

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.

[mchid]

@mightyspaj you should open another question for that problem and you should get faster help from the community for that issue

[Tejaskumar Tank]

DOES NOT WORK, NOT USEFUL OR CORRECT

[mchid]

@Tejas Did you try installing each package one by one as the OP did to solve this issue?

[Tejaskumar Tank]

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.