Ubuntu – How to start unity after boot into command line with “text”-option

command lineunity

I want my system to boot terminal only, but be able to launch Unity once logged in. I've edited /etc/default/grub from : 

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

to 

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash text"

and my system launches to the terminal fine, but when I try to launch unity I get:

WARNING: no DISPLAY variable set, setting it to : 0
compiz (core) – Fatal: Couldn't open display : 0

Everything goes back to normal when I restore the original GRUB configuration, so it looks to me like nothing is actually broken.

I'm running in a VM, and have now tested this with a clean install of Ubuntu, as well as with the Amahi installation I am trying to test. The same error occurs with the clean install.

So how can I actually start unity after a system start that doens't start it directly?

Best Answer

The startx command load only the default desktop environment without Unity or other user interface. The startx unity command can do this job, but I do not recommend it. You can test it and you'll see why.

To load with success the X display manager along with Unity from TTY, use next command:

sudo service lightdm start
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