How To Install GNOME GUI on Rocky Linux 8 / CentOS 8 / RHEL 8

By Raj Last updated Jun 26, 2021

If you have chosen the installation type as a minimal server during the time of the installation of Rocky Linux 8 / CentOS 8 / RHEL 8, you would only get a command-line mode.

To get a graphical mode, you would need to install GNOME desktop packages on Rocky Linux 8 / CentOS 8 / Redhat Enterprise Linux 8.

READ: Step by Step Guide To Install Rocky Linux 8 with Screenshots

READ: Step by Step Guide To Install CentOS 8 with Screenshots

READ: Step by Step Guide To Install RHEL 8 with Screenshots

This guide will help you to install GNOME GUI on Rocky Linux 8 / CentOS 8 / RHEL 8 on top of the minimal server installation.

The steps mentioned in this article will only work if you have enabled RHEL 8 subscription or configured the local yum repository on your RHEL 8 system. On Rocky Linux 8 or CentOS 8, required packages will be downloaded from public repositories.

First, list down the available package groups for Rocky Linux 8 / CentOS 8 / RHEL 8.

dnf group list

Output:

Available Environment Groups:
   Server with GUI
   Server
   Workstation
   Virtualization Host
   Custom Operating System
Installed Environment Groups:
   Minimal Install
Available Groups:
   Container Management
   .NET Core Development
   RPM Development Tools
   Development Tools
   Graphical Administration Tools
   Headless Management
   Legacy UNIX Compatibility
   Network Servers
   Scientific Support
   Security Tools
   Smart Card Support
   System Tools

The GNOME desktop packages are part of the “Server with GUI” package group.

Install Gnome GUI using the DNF command.

dnf groupinstall "Server with GUI" -y

Output:

.	.	.
.	.	.
 Common NetworkManager submodules
 Printing Client
 Server product core
 Standard
Transaction Summary
========================================================================================================================================================================
Install  990 Packages
Total download size: 872 M
Installed size: 2.5 G
Downloading Packages:
(1/990): PackageKit-command-not-found-1.1.12-6.el8.x86_64.rpm                                                                           5.8 kB/s |  26 kB     00:04
(2/990): PackageKit-glib-1.1.12-6.el8.x86_64.rpm                                                                                        139 kB/s | 139 kB     00:00
(3/990): PackageKit-1.1.12-6.el8.x86_64.rpm                                                                                             106 kB/s | 598 kB     00:05
  
.	.	.
.	.	.  
  yelp-2:3.28.1-3.el8.x86_64
  yelp-libs-2:3.28.1-3.el8.x86_64
  yelp-tools-3.28.0-3.el8.noarch
  yelp-xsl-3.28.0-2.el8.noarch
  zenity-3.28.1-1.el8.x86_64
  zip-3.0-23.el8.x86_64
Complete!

Run the following command to enable the GUI as default run-level so that the system will boot into graphical mode.

systemctl set-default graphical

Output:

Removed /etc/systemd/system/default.target.
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/default.target → /usr/lib/systemd/system/graphical.target.

Reboot the system to boot into the graphical mode.

reboot

Post server reboot, login with your user account.

Rocky Linux 8 Login Screen:

CentOS 8 login screen:

RHEL 8 login screen:

Rocky Linux 8 desktop will look like below:

CentOS 8 desktop will look like below:

RHEL 8 desktop will look like below:

CentOS 8 System Information:

RHEL 8 System Information:

That’s All. You have successfully installed GNOME GUI on CentOS 8 / RHEL 8.