How do I switch from the default display manager (Lightdm) to the older display manager (GDM)?
How do I switch from the default display manager (Lightdm) to the older display manager (GDM)?
Switching from LightDM to the "older" GDM is very easy, and need not even involve opening a terminal.
Note:
- If you need/want to do this from a terminal (e.g. recovery console), please scroll below the screenshots for a how-to.
- Also, the "new" GDM is not covered here because it is not officially available for 12.04 and the unofficial packages do not work for most users.
Open the Software Center, type "gdm" in the search box, and click on Install as shown below, or click on this button: gdm
After you enter your password, you will get the configuration screen shown below. Change lightdm to gdm and click on Forward:
Restart your computer, and you should now have the "old" GDM login screen; note that you can still select from any available session, including Ubuntu (3D), Ubuntu 2D, Gnome, Gnome Classic, etc.
Open a terminal with Ctrl+Alt+T if you are on the desktop and not in the recovery console.
Type sudo apt-get install gdm
, and then your password when prompted or run sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm
then sudo service lightdm stop, in case gdm is already installed.
A "Package Configuration" dialog will be displayed; click OK to proceed to the below screen. Use the arrow-keys to select gdm
instead of lightdm
, press Tab to move to OK, and press Enter.
Reboot the computer (you can do this with sudo reboot
if in the recovery console).