How To Install Gnome GUI on CentOS 7

Linux admin spends most of his time on working in terminal, there are some who like to work on GUI instead of terminal. By default, CentOS 7 installed as minimal vps, user intervention is required to change the installation type. This guide will help you to How To Install Gnome GUI on CentOS 7 on the top of the minimal server installation.

How To Install Gnome GUI on CentOS 7

Install Gnome GUI by issuing the following command

CentOS 7:

yum groupinstall "GNOME Desktop" "Graphical Administration Tools"

RHEL 7:

yum groupinstall "Server with GUI"

Enable GUI on system start up. In CentOS 7,  systemd uses ‘targets’ instead of runlevels;/etc/inittab file is no more used to change run levels. Issue the following command to enable the GUI on system start.

ln -sf /lib/systemd/system/runlevel5.target /etc/systemd/system/default.target

Reboot the system

After you reboot the system , the system will enter into the Gnome GUI interface automatically.

Installing additional applications

After logging in to the GNOME Desktop, you can now go to System > Administration > Add/Remove Software to manage application in CentOS. By using this wizard, you can install various applications similar to yum but through a GUI. Applications installed using this method will appear in the Application menu list. Congratulation’s! You have successfully installed Gnome.