How To Replace Unity with Gnome Shell via Ubuntu Software Center?

Question

IMHO, Unity is just as productive and functional as Gnome Shell, and since for me, Gnome Shell looks a lot more stylish, I would like to replace Unity in Ubuntu 11.10 with Gnome Shell.

EDIT: Without a further thought, I opened the Ubuntu Software Center > searched "Gnome Shell" and installed it. And since I use auto-login, Ubuntu logs-me-into Unity.

To prevent that...

• I want to uninstall Unity completely. How do I do that?

• After doing the above, Gnome Shell loads by default right?

Solution

Log out.

Then, in the lightdm greeter click on the gear symbol and click on "Gnome". This will load the gnome-shell desktop.

To set gnome-shell as default, open a terminal and type

sudo /usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-set-defaults -s gnome-shell

Comments

[nilsonneto]

if you are using autologin and you want to autologin to gnome-shell then use this question to guide you: askubuntu.com/questions/62833/…

[Admin]

@fossfreedom Instead of doing that, I would love to uninstall Unity completely. Any idea how I can do that?

[nilsonneto]

yep - covered by this question and answer: askubuntu.com/questions/6302/how-can-you-remove-unity

[Jorge Castro]

possible duplicate of How do I install and use the latest version of GNOME?

[Admin]

I know that. The thing is, I want Gnome set as default. How do I do that?

[martin]

edited post and added info.

[Admin]

One last thing. Can you plz tell me how to uninstall Unity completely? (I edited my question to reflect the same) Thanks a lot by the way.

[jrg]

@BadLearner Removing Unity completely is a horrible idea - the site is covered in stories as to why this is a bad idea. If you'd join me in the chatroom (link), I'd be happy to explain why in further detail.

[martin]

follow these instructions. I wouldn't recommend it though. Unity doesn't take much space on your disk, and unity has it's good points like the global-menu and the dash.

[Admin]

@severin last Q: How do I set Unity as default if I have to? Use this? sudo /usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-set-defaults -s unity-shell ??