How can I deactivate the gnome desktop of my ubuntu server?

I'm running a home server on my old laptop (atom cpu).

I installed ubuntu 12.04 server edition, but I also installed ubuntu-desktop. So, when I turn it on, ubuntu desktop is shown.

I sometimes use GUI, but I want to turn the ubuntu-desktop (gnome-desktop) off when I don't use it.

I think I can save resources by turning off the GUI. It's necessary since my laptop's performance is not very good and it often becomes very hot.

I guess I can run ubuntu-desktop on my terminal with "startx" command. But, I don't know how to turn the X window off for a moment.

Anybody have an idea?

Thanks in advance.

--- Following is written after I chose the answer.

$ sudo stop lightdm
lightdm stop/waiting

with this command, I can turn off the x window. But, I can't get tty1 on my laptop.

I put that command from outside with ssh connection.

And, I can turn the x window on outside.

X: user not authorized to run the X server, aborting.
xinit: server error

But, I can get it back with start lightdm command.

$ sudo start lightdm
lightdm start/running, process 5673

I'm not sure this is good or not.

And I don't know I can save my resources when I stop lightdm.

1

4 Answers

To control the X environment, use sudo service gdm stop and sudo service gdm start once the system has booted up. To make permanent changes, you need to update the runlevel at which ubuntu auto-starts gdm (Gnome Desktop Manager), and set it to not start on boot up. You should be able to run these commands from an SSH shell remotely.

4

I've tried other options with newer version of Ubuntu (Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS) and they didn't work. What did the trick for me was the following command:

systemctl set-default multi-user.target

Reboot and it will show only the console.

You can revert it running:

systemctl set-default graphical.target

And reboot again.

3

I'm currently not at my Ubuntu machine, but am writing "AFAIR":

check the /etc/init directory, where you should find a file named gdm.conf (which is used to handle the gdm service). If that's there (i.e. I remember it correctly), just type the following in a shell:

sudo echo "manual">/etc/init/gdm.override
sudo service gdm stop

Now you've stopped the gdm (Gnome Display Manager) and thus X -- after you told Upstart this service should be handled manually. So it will no longer start automatically; but if you need it, you can simply issue an sudo service gdm start to bring it up again.

1. Disable gdm at boot:

   sudo dpkg-divert --rename --add /etc/init/gdm.conf

2. Authorize users to start X:

   echo "allowed_users=console" | sudo tee -a /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config 

3. Automatically start X after login on tty1:

   In your .profile or .bash_profile, add:

   if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ] && [ $(tty) = /dev/tty1 ]; then startx
   fi

   Logging in other tty will not start gdm or X.

See also this question on serverfault.

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