How to completely remove Xubuntu and install Ubuntu (including boot screen etc.)

Question

I had Xubuntu 14.04 beta 1 installed. Now I have installed ubuntu-desktop package but I see that there are still Xubuntu application icons, login screen, theme, boot screen etc.

How to completely remove them and configure the default Ubuntu things?

Will sudo apt-get remove xubuntu-desktop and sudo apt-get autoremove do?

Solution 1

It will be a long command, but here it is:

sudo apt-get remove abiword abiword-common abiword-plugin-grammar abiword-plugin-mathview alacarte bison blueman brltty-x11 catfish espeak exo-utils flex fonts-droid fonts-lyx gigolo gmusicbrowser gnome-system-tools gnome-time-admin gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gthumb gthumb-data gtk2-engines-pixbuf indicator-application-gtk2 indicator-sound-gtk2 leafpad libabiword-2.9 libbison-dev libdigest-crc-perl libexo-1-0 libexo-common libexo-helpers libfl-dev libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common libgdome2-0 libgdome2-cpp-smart0c2a libglade2-0 libgnomevfs2-0 libgnomevfs2-common libgnomevfs2-extra libgsf-1-114 libgsf-1-common libgstreamer-perl libgtk2-notify-perl libgtk2-trayicon-perl libgtkmathview0c2a libgtkspell0 libido-0.1-0 libindicate-gtk3 libintl-perl libjpeg-progs libjpeg-turbo-progs libkeybinder0 liblink-grammar4 libloudmouth1-0 libnet-dbus-perl liboobs-1-5 libotr2 libots0 librarian0 libsexy2 libtagc0 libthunarx-2-0 libtidy-0.99-0 libtie-ixhash-perl libtumbler-1-0 libunique-1.0-0 libvte-common libvte9 libwv-1.2-4 libxfce4ui-1-0 libxfce4ui-utils libxfce4util-bin libxfce4util-common libxfce4util6 libxfcegui4-4 libxfconf-0-2 libxml-parser-perl libxml-twig-perl libxml-xpath-perl lightdm-gtk-greeter link-grammar-dictionaries-en m4 orage parole pastebinit pavucontrol pidgin pidgin-data pidgin-libnotify pidgin-microblog pidgin-otr plymouth-theme-xubuntu-logo plymouth-theme-xubuntu-text python-configobj rarian-compat ristretto screensaver-default-images scrollkeeper shimmer-themes system-tools-backends tcl8.5 thunar thunar-archive-plugin thunar-data thunar-media-tags-plugin thunar-volman ttf-droid tumbler tumbler-common xbrlapi xchat xchat-common xfburn xfce-keyboard-shortcuts xfce4-appfinder xfce4-cpugraph-plugin xfce4-dict xfce4-indicator-plugin xfce4-mailwatch-plugin xfce4-netload-plugin xfce4-notes xfce4-notes-plugin xfce4-notifyd xfce4-panel xfce4-places-plugin xfce4-power-manager xfce4-power-manager-data xfce4-quicklauncher-plugin xfce4-screenshooter xfce4-session xfce4-settings xfce4-systemload-plugin xfce4-taskmanager xfce4-terminal xfce4-verve-plugin xfce4-volumed xfce4-weather-plugin xfce4-xkb-plugin xfconf xfdesktop4 xfdesktop4-data xfwm4 xscreensaver xscreensaver-data xscreensaver-gl xubuntu-artwork xubuntu-default-settings xubuntu-desktop xubuntu-docs xubuntu-icon-theme xubuntu-wallpapers && sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

For Ubuntu 15.04:

sudo apt-get remove abiword abiword-common abiword-plugin-grammar abiword-plugin-mathview alacarte bison blueman brltty-x11 catfish espeak exo-utils flex fonts-droid fonts-lyx gigolo gmusicbrowser gnome-system-tools gnome-time-admin gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gthumb gthumb-data gtk2-engines-pixbuf indicator-application-gtk2 indicator-sound-gtk2 leafpad  libbison-dev libdigest-crc-perl libexo-1-0 libexo-common libexo-helpers libfl-dev libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common libgdome2-0 libgdome2-cpp-smart0c2a libglade2-0 libgnomevfs2-0 libgnomevfs2-common libgnomevfs2-extra libgsf-1-114 libgsf-1-common libgstreamer-perl libgtk2-notify-perl libgtk2-trayicon-perl libgtkmathview0c2a libgtkspell0 libido-0.1-0 libindicate-gtk3 libintl-perl libjpeg-progs libjpeg-turbo-progs libkeybinder0 liblink-grammar4 libloudmouth1-0 libnet-dbus-perl liboobs-1-5 libots0 librarian0 libsexy2 libtagc0 libthunarx-2-0 libtidy-0.99-0 libtie-ixhash-perl libtumbler-1-0 libunique-1.0-0 libvte-common libvte9 libwv-1.2-4 libxfce4ui-1-0 libxfce4ui-utils libxfce4util-bin libxfce4util-common libxfcegui4-4 libxfconf-0-2 libxml-parser-perl libxml-twig-perl libxml-xpath-perl lightdm-gtk-greeter link-grammar-dictionaries-en m4 orage parole pastebinit pavucontrol pidgin pidgin-data pidgin-libnotify pidgin-microblog pidgin-otr plymouth-theme-xubuntu-logo plymouth-theme-xubuntu-text python-configobj rarian-compat ristretto screensaver-default-images scrollkeeper shimmer-themes system-tools-backends tcl8.5 thunar thunar-archive-plugin thunar-data thunar-media-tags-plugin thunar-volman ttf-droid tumbler tumbler-common xbrlapi xchat xchat-common xfburn xfce-keyboard-shortcuts xfce4-appfinder xfce4-cpugraph-plugin xfce4-dict xfce4-indicator-plugin xfce4-mailwatch-plugin xfce4-netload-plugin xfce4-notes xfce4-notes-plugin xfce4-notifyd xfce4-panel xfce4-places-plugin xfce4-power-manager xfce4-power-manager-data xfce4-quicklauncher-plugin xfce4-screenshooter xfce4-session xfce4-settings xfce4-systemload-plugin xfce4-taskmanager xfce4-terminal xfce4-verve-plugin xfce4-volumed xfce4-weather-plugin xfce4-xkb-plugin xfconf xfdesktop4 xfdesktop4-data xfwm4 xscreensaver xscreensaver-data xscreensaver-gl xubuntu-artwork xubuntu-default-settings xubuntu-desktop xubuntu-docs xubuntu-icon-theme xubuntu-wallpapers && sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

General instruction: For a different version of Ubuntu or any Ubuntu based distribution, run this command and if the package manager fails to locate any of the packages, remove them from the command and run the command again.

Solution 2

Best way to do this is to open up /var/log/apt/history.log (or history.log.[n].gz) and find the command you ran to install xubuntu-desktop. There's a list of packages there that were specifically installed due to this command. You can run sudo apt-get remove with the packages here, and then sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop to restore your system to the earlier state.

Solution 3

Here's a suggestion to make the solution suggested by Fabian a little easier:

On a chrome or firefox console put the full text of the packges

var u = 'HERE'.match(/[\w-.]+(?=:)/g)

then

u.join(' ')

presto, you've got the packages to put in your "apt-get remove" command.

Solution 4

I was able to remove the xubuntu desktop with:

$ sudo apt-get remove xubuntu-desktop
$ sudo apt-get autoremove

To restore the default Ubuntu loading screen:

$ sudo apt-get remove plymouth-theme-xubuntu*

To restore the default Ubuntu greeter (login screen):

$ sudo vi /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

and set the contents of this file (it might not exist already) to:

[SeatDefaults]
greeter-session=unity-greeter

Solution 5

Try using tasksel. You should be able to change your config.

sudo apt-get install tasksel
sudo tasksel

Uncheck Xubuntu desktop and check Ubuntu desktop.

View more solutions

Comments

[DK Bose]

Some general concepts are given here: complete-concrete-concise.com/ubuntu-2/ubuntu-12-04/… So, removing xubuntu-desktop is only removing a metapackage (list of packages) and not the packages themselves.

[Archisman Panigrahi]

Where did you get the command (All the packages)?

[DK Bose]

This command is version-dependent. Please note that the command has not updated for since 12.10: ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=416802&p=12695426. OP has asked about 14.04.

[Archisman Panigrahi]

How to uncheck it?

[Archisman Panigrahi]

I have edited it and now it is working perfectly.

[Tuukka Mustonen]

@ArchismanPanigrahi Just to ensure: you did update it for Xubuntu 14.04 and not some other version?

[Archisman Panigrahi]

@TuukkaMustonen I have updated it for 14.04. Don't know if other versions would work.

[somoso]

You press space to check/uncheck an option. Checked items are marked with an asterisk in the square [ ] box

[Lars]

Perfect solution, as it does not get out of date. A little tedious but works flawlessly. (If you write a script to extract the package names, you also have a little puzzle to solve ;) )

[rubo77]

How did you update the command? What are the steps to find out what you have to change? I would like to adapt the one for uninstalling Kubuntu from psychocats.net/ubuntu/pureubuntu for Ubuntu 14.10 now.

[Archisman Panigrahi]

@rubo77 I just removed the few packages which were shown to be not found.

[Archisman Panigrahi]

Could you explain this?

[Hamman Samuel]

Following these instructions led to my computer booting to low-graphics as something in the commands seem to have corrupted my AMD/ATI graphics drivers. These instructions got my system & graphics drivers back to normal: help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/AMD

[m. öztürk]

@HammanSamuel what version you use?

[Hamman Samuel]

I was using Xubuntu Vivid Vervet 15.04