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I'm trying out the new Ubuntu 16.04 Desktop and it turns out most things I didn't like about previous releases are now fixed and I'm considering using it for a personal server.

However I don't feel like redownloading a whole ISO to get the Server edition so how do I install a server/minimal edition of Ubuntu (without the GUI) from a Desktop ISO? I'm comfortable with the command line so I don't mind if your answers are about doing a manual install via the terminal.

Searching didn't reveal much and all the results are talking about the opposite (putting a GUI on Ubuntu Server), and while I know I can uninstall the GUI later on I would prefer to not install it altogether.

Thanks.

André Borie
  • 346

2 Answers2

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The Desktop installer is designed to rely for the most part on packages put on the ISO for the desktop edition including the GUI. It is not designed to install the GUI-less Server edition.

You have two real options here:

  1. Install the Desktop edition, then install server after wards and strip out the GUI packages.
  2. Download and install with the Server ISO. This will provide server packages on the ISO and the ability to select additional server packages to install and configure.

You don't really have other options here - unless you want a hybrid of Desktop/Server.

Thomas Ward
  • 78,878
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The Server download is anyway much, much lighter than the desktop ISO, but here:

I don't know if there is a way to selectively install packages on the Desktop installer, but you can do this on an installed Desktop system:

sudo apt-get purge ubuntu-desktop
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-server