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I have installed standard ubuntu in a VM but it's running too slow. I would like to remove unity and install XFCE4 instead. I would also like to keep the extra applications like Libreoffice and so.

What is the best way to do this?

I've found this old link (for 12.04) and also this site which show different commands so I don't know what to do.

wouter205
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  • The commands given in https://askubuntu.com/questions/574481/how-can-i-install-xfce-and-completely-remove-unity should work fine. The command in the site https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/alternative installs few additional applications ( a text editor and package manager) in addition to installing the xfce desktop environment. However that is optional – Kevin Selva Prasanna Jul 07 '17 at 08:49

2 Answers2

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I've done something similar, but for gnome-shell.

If you want to "convert" to a xubuntu, you should do:

sudo apt install xubuntu-desktop

Log out, change to the xfce-session in lightdm (by clicking on the icon, top icon to the right of your user) and log in.

Remove ubuntu-desktop meta package:

sudo apt purge ubuntu-desktop

If you only want to install xfce and remove unity, but keep the packages provided by ubuntu-desktop:

sudo apt install xfce4

Do the same log out/change session/log in procedure as noted above.

Remove unity:

sudo apt purge --autoremove unity unity8
mgor
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  • with sudo apt install xubuntu-desktop i got unmet dependencies: The following packages have unmet dependencies: xubuntu-desktop : Depends: xorg but it is not going to be installed Depends: xubuntu-core but it is not going to be installed E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

    So I tried sudo apt install xfce4 which is installing at the moment

     – wouter205 Jul 07 '17 at 10:48
  • I've finished installing XFCE4 but I'm unable to boot to GUI: sudo start lightdm resulted in error (don't remember exactly: something with upstart and permission denied). I then installed xubuntu-desktop which did work this time. If i want to remove unity now; which command should I use please? – wouter205 Jul 07 '17 at 12:30
  • It's hard to help if you don't provide the full error message. Use the last command to purge/remove unity packages. – mgor Jul 07 '17 at 12:39
  • I think I'll leave it like that with unity installed. It works which is the most important. Sorry that I don't have the full error, forgot to note it down. Thanks for your help, my problem has been solved! – wouter205 Jul 07 '17 at 19:21
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Shouldn't it work?

sudo apt-get remove unity
sudo apt-get install xfce4
David Foerster
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A S K
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