How do I navigate from the login screen to the desktop?

Harrison,

Once you login the system will load and then you will be presented with the desktop.

Ok, then that is where the problem lies. Once I login the system never loads the desktop for me. After login I remain on the same screen at: harrison@ubuntu:~$

How do I get to the desktop?

Ok,

When you get the login screen, down the bottom, if you select 'Ubuntu Classic' as the desktop, does that open correctly?

Perhaps your graphics card can't handle unity? Try the classic desktop and let me know if you can open that first.

Thanks
Paul

Thanks for the help Paul. After I login I remain on the same DOS type of screen. I have no icons. All that I have is the prompt I mentioned above.
I have a fairly decent computer setup. I think it should be able to handle the graphics. Please advise.
Thanks,
Harrison

How did you download the ubuntu image?

The only thing I can think of is that you may have a bum install disk. I would advise to download the iso image again, MD5sum check it (to make sure it's ok) and then burn it to a new DVD and try that.

Maybe someone else may have more of a better idea...but that would be my first try.

Hope that helps.
Paul

at the command prompt >> harrison@ubuntu:~$
I typed MD5sum
 and the response was

MD5sum: command not found.

When I installed Ubuntu I followed the procedures on the Ubuntu website and creating a disc and then intalled the program off of the disc.

I have absolutely NO graphics of any kind.

I have downloaded no images

Harrison:

Can you type in this command? It should let us know what type of video card you have, and thus be able to troubleshoot your problem a bit better.

sudo lshw -C display

Ok...download the image again from www.ubuntu.com/download, then follow the instructions here
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM

Then try to install it again.

which version did you install? 10.04 or 11.04?

version 11.04

Paul, I am not sure how to run that from the prompt that I am at right now. I checked it out on my other computer but the commands it suggested did not work

cd download_directory

response was: -bash: cd: donwload_direcotry: No such file or directory

You said that you have no graphics, does that mean that you have none whatsoever, not even the login screen, or do they disappear only when you log in? If all you get as soon as the system is booted is a command line prompt, then there seems to be something wrong with your installation. In that case, I would try installing Ubuntu again. A re-download is most likely not necessary. Try using the CD/DVD you used last time, and in the unlikely event that it still doesn't work, just follow the same instructions you did last time from the beginning.
You are not supposed to have to learn advanced commands to use Ubuntu, so there's clearly something wrong. If you file it as a bug here at launchpad, you might get some info on what is wrong, along with advice to get it fixed. That will also let the programmers have a look at it, and perhaps fix it if it turns out to be a bug.

An "image" is a technical term not referring to a picture, but to a digital version of a disk; an image of the disk.

Good luck, and keep us informed!

Harrison,

you will need to download the image on another computer, and then follow the instructions I posted prior (message #9).

Then put the disk in the DVD drive and reboot the machine and do a complete new install.

Paul

Yes, I get absolutely NO graphics or images at all. When I installed Ubuntu and got a DOS type of prompt I was like "what the heck" So I will reinstall it as you suggest.

One other question, when I did the inital install I lost my windows Vista. Does anyone know how I can recover it? I was trying to have both operating systems side by side. I have ordered the recovery disc from HP.

Hey everyone Thank U so much.

This has been frustrating to say the least and then with losing windows as well, darn. And if the computer wasn't enough my central air conditioning died and I had to buy a brand new central air unit on Thursday. Being in south Georgia air is not optional. And to top that my girlfriend's dog died this morning. Wow.

So once again Thanks so much.

Harrison, you are not alone. I am having the same problem. I do have the Unix Prompt just can't get to the Desktop. Really Frustrating.
Using 10.4
Eric

When presented with a Terminal upon login, type the command below to get onto your Desktop environment:

startx

I'm just curious why you're not automatically loaded onto your DE upon successful login.

HTH.

Ian,
Thanks, I reinstalled Ubuntu and it still does not automatically open up the desktop.
I took your advice and typed in startx and I received a message saying that it was not installed. The message suggested I type
sudo install xinit to install which I did.
After the install I again typed in startx and it open to a black screen with a large white box in the top left corner of my monitor. The white box is empty and when I hit the enter key harrison@office:~$ appears but I am unable to type anything. Any suggestions???

Usually, when you are presented with a nongraphical login screen after installing Ubuntu, it means that Ubuntu is having a problem using your video card to display a graphical user interface. However, when that is the case, you should be able to run startx and get detailed error information. In this case, it seems that no graphical user interface was ever installed. This would happen if you installed from the Minimal CD (sometimes called boot.iso), or if you selected "Install a minimal system" on the nongraphical boot menu of the install CD (you would probably know if you did this), or if you installed Ubuntu Serrver rather than the desktop version of Ubuntu.

Assuming the installed Ubuntu system has a working Internet connection, you should be able to get a graphical user interface (not just the minimal one you installed, but a fully-fledged GUI) by running

sudo apt-get update

and then (assuming that didn't report any errors):

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

However, if you installed Ubuntu Server, rather than the desktop version of Ubuntu, then your kernel (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_(computing) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel) is optimized for server rather than desktop use, and in addition, depending on the options you selected during installation, you may have servers (daemons) running in the background providing network services (for example, a web server), which could lead to security problems if you don't configure and maintain them properly.

To check and see whether you have the desktop or server version of Ubuntu installed, run:

uname -a

Then report the results here, and also post the full and exact name of the Ubuntu .iso image you downloaded. We can tell you what version of Ubuntu you installed.

Alternatively, you could simply re-download Ubuntu, using this page and the instructions it contains -- http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download -- then install again, and during installation, remove your current Ubuntu system. (If you installed Ubuntu as your only operating system, without any other operating system, such as Microsoft lWindows, installed at the same time, then during reinstallation you can tell the installer to install Ubuntu instead of, rather than alongside, your other OSes.)

Thanks Eliah,
I just checked the installation disc that I made at the Ubuntu website and I did in fact install Ubuntu Server. My only choices were:

Ubuntu Server
Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud
Check disc for defects
Boot from first hard disk
Rescue a broken system

There was no desktop option. I will attempt to access a desktop download from the link that you provided. Thank you.
I will let you know if it works.

Ok, I have loaded Ubuntu desktop onto a dvd. I tried to install it, but for some reason at the start up Ubuntu desktop is not booting from the dvd drive.
When I initially installed Ubuntu (the server version) it eliminated windows for me so I am unable to run the dvd from my windows platform. How do I run the Ubuntu desktop dvd from Ubuntu server? Remember I have no desktop so everything has to be a typed command.
Thanks, your help is truly appreciated.

You might as well check the MD5 sum of the downloaded ISO file before burning it to a media (CD/DVD/USB).

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM

I suggest you download it through torrent:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/11.04/ubuntu-11.04-desktop-i386.iso

HTH.

Ok, I downloaded Ubuntu 64-bit desktop through utorrents and installed in on my computer. I restarted my computer and am at a point where the screen displays:

BusyBox v1.17.1 (Ubuntu 1:1.17.1-10ubuntu1) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help" for a list of buil-in commands.

(initramfs)

I am unable to type anything at all onto the screen. My wireless keyboard lights up as I type so I know it is connected properly. I thought Ubuntu made the correct keyboard selection when I did the installation. It chose ro: stnd

Please advise

Firstly, reinstall Grub2 from CD: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Reinstalling%20from%20LiveCD

If you still can not start up Ubuntu desktop from the dvd drive, try in the start up screen choose the option "Safe graphics" (I think it is in the F4 key, but could be changed)...