How to install a graphical user interface (GUI) for Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Solution Verified - Updated

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
  • GNOME Desktop Environment
  • K Desktop Environment(KDE)
  • X Window System

Issue

  • After installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the system does not boot to a GUI mode.
  • X Windows System was not selected during the install, how can it be added post-install?
  • Getting error message: Unable to import modules. Maybe you're not running under X?
  • Unable to boot to GUI mode
  • startx command is not working.
  • How to install K Desktop Environment ( KDE) post install on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6/7?
  • How to install the GNOME Desktop Environment from text mode on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5/6/7?
  • Which packages need to be installed on RHEL for starting the X11 server?
  • Need help to get "X Windows" system started on RHEL.
  • Which rpm packages are required for graphical display?

Resolution

  • Make sure the required packages for GUI are installed on the system
    • Minimum required components to get working the GUI screen on start-up are as below:

      X server (Xorg)
      Desktop environment (Gnome or KDE)
      Display manager (gdm or kdm)

There are 2 possible paths to resolve the issue:

Resolution A: Install the desktop related package groups after system install (Recommended)

Requires internet connection and valid registration & entitlement

The following package groups need to be installed to boot a RHEL system into a graphical desktop environment with a recommended feature set:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

Recommended

# yum group install GNOME Fonts

or 

# yum groupinstall "Server with GUI"

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 & 9

Recommended

# yum group install GNOME base-x Fonts

or 

# yum groupinstall "Server with GUI"

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

Recommended

# yum groupinstall gnome-desktop x11 fonts

For RHEL 7 Server you can target the "Server with GUI" group instead

# yum groupinstall "Server with GUI"

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Recommended

# yum groupinstall Desktop "General Purpose Desktop" "Desktop Platform" "X Window System"  "Internet Browser" "Graphical Administration Tools" Fonts

Minimal

# yum groupinstall Desktop "X Window System" Fonts

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Recommended

# yum groupinstall gnome-desktop  base-x  graphical-internet  admin-tools

Minimal

# yum groupinstall gnome-desktop  base-x

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4

Recommended

# up2date "@X Window System" "@GNOME Desktop Environment" "@Graphical Internet"

Minimal

# up2date "@X Window System" "@GNOME Desktop Environment"

Note: Each package group should be enclosed with double-quotes

Set the system to boot directly into the GUI in RHEL7, RHEL8 & RHEL9:

  • After installing the appropriate packages, change the default systemd boot target to graphical.target. If you run into any errors, try updating the system first with 'yum update'.
# systemctl set-default graphical.target
  • To immediately switch to the GUI login, start the graphical.target:
# systemctl isolate graphical.target

Set the system to boot directly into the GUI in RHEL 4, 5, and 6:

  • After installing the appropriate packages, modify the default runlevel as defined in the /etc/inittab file. Run the following command to do so. This will change the system's default runlevel from runlevel 3 to runlevel 5, which will boot the system to the GUI login screen by default.
# sed -i 's,^id:.:initdefault:,id:5:initdefault:,' /etc/inittab
  • Finally, switch the system to runlevel 5 by running the command init 5
  • If you wish to start the GUI in single-user mode, run the command startx from runlevel 3

Resolution B: Select "Desktop" mode as the default installation mode in Anaconda. After installation, the system will boot into a graphical Desktop:

Additional Notes:

Root Cause

  • Graphical interface not properly installed
  • No graphical interface installed
  • Default runlevel set incorrectly

Diagnostic Steps

  • Check to see what groups of packages are available from RHN (your system must already be registered with RHN in order to see the available and installed groups).

    • RHEL4

      # up2date --show-groups

    • RHEL5 and RHEL6

      # yum grouplist

  • The Following is some example output from up2date (RHEL4) and yum (RHEL 5 & 6)

    # up2date --show-groups
Administration Tools
Arabic Support
Assamese Support
Authoring and Publishing
Base
Bengali Support
Brazilian Portuguese Support
British Support
Bulgarian Support
Catalan Support
Chinese Support

    # yum grouplist
        Loaded plugins: product-id, rhnplugin, security
        This system is receiving updates from RHN Classic or RHN Satellite.
        Setting up Group Process
        Installed Groups:
           Additional Development
           Base
           Console internet tools
           Debugging Tools
           Desktop Platform
           Directory Client
           E-mail server
        Available Groups:
           Backup Client
           Backup Server
           CIFS file server
           Client management tools
           Compatibility libraries
           Desktop
           Desktop Debugging and Performance Tools
           Desktop Platform Development
           Development tools
           Dial-up Networking Support
           Directory Server
           Eclipse
           Emacs

For graphical interface purposes, focus on "X Window System" and either "GNOME Desktop Environment" (just called "Desktop" in RHEL 6) or "KDE (K Desktop Environment)".

  • Check your default runlevel:

    # grep ^id: /etc/inittab 
id:3:initdefault:

id:3:initdefault: = single user, no GUI at boot.(GUI can be started using the 'startx' command if a GUI is installed)
id:5:initdefault: = multi-user, GUI Support (GUI should already be started and running at boot)

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