How to install GNOME Desktop in Centos 6.x.x minimal installation

This blog provides the steps to add the GNOME Desktop to a CentOS minimal installation where the OS was installed without the X Window System/GUI.

CentOS 6.7

Install Desktop Packages

[root@linuxcnf ~] # yum groupinstall "Desktop" "Desktop Platform" "X Window System" "Fonts"

You can also install the following optional GUI packages using below commands.

[root@linuxcnf ~] # yum groupinstall "Graphical Administration Tools" [root@linuxcnf ~] # yum groupinstall "Internet Browser" [root@linuxcnf ~] # yum groupinstall "General Purpose Desktop" [root@linuxcnf ~] # yum groupinstall "Office Suite and Productivity" [root@linuxcnf ~] # yum groupinstall "Graphics Creation Tools"

If you want to add the K Desktop Environment (KDE) use the below command.

[root@linuxcnf ~] # yum groupinstall kde-desktop

Enable GNOME

We need to change the initialization process for the machine to boot up in GUI mode because the server was previously running on CLI mode.

Open /etc/inittab and change following line:

[root@linuxcnf ~]# vi /etc/inittab   id:3:initdefault:

To:

id:5:initdefault:

After making the change, reboot the machine or use the below command to start GNOME Desktop.

[root@linuxcnf ~] # startx

Or, To reboot the machine.

[root@linuxcnf ~] # init 6