How can I get rid of the Ubuntu Dock?

Question

The big dock on the left. In other versions you could escape Unity Launcher by going to GNOME, what now? GNOME tweaks is not showing it as an extension, even though it looks a lot like Dash to Dock.

I see autohide options in settings, but no way to completely remove it and use the GNOME default.

Edit: I'm not looking for vanilla GNOME, but simply to hide the dock.

Solution 1

Run the following:

cd /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/
sudo mv [email protected]{,.bak}

Press ALT + F2 and type r in the input.

---

In case if you need to undo:

cd /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/
sudo mv [email protected]{.bak,}

Solution 2

Since Ubuntu Dock is a system extension (package name: gnome-shell-extension-ubuntu-dock), it is not possible to simply disable it using GNOME Tweaks or from the GNOME Shell Extensions website.

Removing this package by running

sudo apt remove gnome-shell-extension-ubuntu-dock

should get rid of the dock, but it is not recommended as it will also remove the ubuntu-desktop meta-package which may break stuff later (see this: Is it safe to remove ubuntu-desktop package?).

Arguably a cleaner solution is to use vanilla GNOME (GNOME shell sans modifications made by Ubuntu). In vanilla GNOME, Ubuntu Dock disabled by default.

You may install vanilla GNOME by running

sudo apt install vanilla-gnome-desktop

Once it is installed, reboot (or re-login). Once you get to the GDM login screen you should find a cogwheel (⚙️) next to the sign in button. If you click on the cogwheel you should find options titled "GNOME" and "GNOME on Wayland" along with Ubuntu and Ubuntu on Wayland. Select any of the GNOME options instead of Ubuntu options.

Solution 3

For Ubuntu 20.04

The dock is listed as a built in extension. You can simply go to the built in app "Extensions" and then disable the dock.

Solution 4

It can be also disabled without hacking system files, or removing packages and breaking dependencies.

Using old gnome-shell-extension-tool:

gnome-shell-extension-tool -e [email protected]

Or, via new gnome-extensions:

gnome-extensions disable [email protected]

In the end, these commands should store configuration in dconf, where dconf dump / outputs something like:

...

[org/gnome/shell]
disabled-extensions=['desktop-icons@csoriano', '[email protected]']
enabled-extensions=['[email protected]']

...

Solution 5

NOTE: If you want to remove it completely delete the /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected] (make backup in case of emergency). Then restart.

If you want to tweak more use dconf-editor:

You can tweak the dock from dconf-editor. Install it by sudo apt install dconf-tools.

Open dconf-editor and goto org->gnome->shell->extension->dash-to-dock. You can do some tweaks like hiding dock, turn off extending dock etc.

View more solutions

Comments

[pomsky]

"hiding dock" is not possible, is it?

[Lakindu Akash]

@pomsky yes it is not possible via dconf-editor. But if it is needed to remove completely , delete /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected] folder and restart.

[pomsky]

Not a permanent solution, since the package is a part of ubuntu-desktop metpackage, it will get reinstalled every now and then.

[Bo Johnson]

This is a nice way to go if you don't want to remove any software, i.e. you want to go back and use the vanilla dock some time in the future.

[Manuel Uberti]

Is the folder re-created when the ubuntu-dock package gets upgraded via apt?

[Tistayu]

How to bring it back?

[Den Kasyanov]

On Ubuntu 20.04 running gnome-extensions disable [email protected] worked for me. Thanks! And I guess since it is the system extension, it is the easiest way to disable it without breaking something.

[pomsky]

You most probably meant gnome-shell-extension-tool -d [email protected] instead. But even gnome-shell-extension-tool -d [email protected] doesn't hide the dock on my standard Ubuntu 18.04 installation. It just toggles the enabled/disabled status for the extension (as seen in GNOME Tweaks, just as in the screenshot in the question), but has no effect on the actual visibility of the dock itself.

[Heisenberg]

How to bring the dock back?

[Filbuntu]

In 20.04 gnome-extensions disable [email protected] does the trick, no the version with -d in the comment above.