Member Avatar for camelNotation

Hello . i'm posting on behalf of my friend who can't access the net . He's installed linux redhat 9.0 in graphical mode and choosed minimum installation . He's formatted the drives and his hd is 30gb . He was asked to choose a password while installing . After the installation process completed , he had to give his username as " root " and his choosen password to get in . The problem is , he can't see anything in graphical mode . All he sees after logging in as the root user is something like " rootuser@localhost root " and nothing else . please provide directions on how to get to the mouse-dependent desktop environment and how not to log in as root and the benifit of doing so .

  • 4 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 210 Views
  • 16 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by DMR

Dani AI

Generated

Brief summary and focused next steps that build on the posts by , , and .

The console prompt indicates no desktop session is running. Start by confirming whether the X server and a desktop package set (GNOME or KDE) were actually installed; many small/minimal installs leave only the base system. If the desktop components are missing, add them from the Red Hat CDs or via the package manager rather than reinstalling the whole OS.

Practical checks and actions (safe to perform from the console):

  • Confirm which desktop/X packages are present by querying the RPM database and look for GNOME/KDE/X11 packages.
  • If packages are missing, install the desktop package group from the install media or using the system update tool, then reboot into the graphical boot target.
  • If a graphical session fails to start after the packages are present, inspect the X log and the system message log for driver/mode errors, and check the per-user X session error file in the user’s home directory. A common workaround for driver problems is to switch to a basic generic video driver (lower resolution) and re-run the X configuration step.

User account and security notes (expands on earlier advice):
Run daily work from a normal user account and keep root only for administration. Example user-creation commands (run as root) can create the account and set its password, and then optionally add it to an admin group so it can perform privileged tasks with sudo. Use visudo to safely grant sudo rights rather than editing the sudoers file directly.

Troubleshooting hints to report if help is still needed: list installed desktop/X packages, paste the relevant X log excerpts and a brief hardware list (video card + monitor). That information will make diagnosing driver or configuration problems faster and avoid unnecessary reinstalls.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for kc0arf

Hello,

He kept his setup option to login to the text mode. He is at a command shell, the basic Unix operating system.

Have him type in "startx", and he should be on his way to load up the xwindows environment.

Also, once he is done configuring the environment, he should make a normal user account, and put the root account in his back pocket. It is not good business to use the root account for everyday tasks.

Christian

Member Avatar for DMR

As kc0arf said, the system is booting into the command shell (basically the equivalent of booting into DOS in a Windows environment).

If the "startx" command does work, you can set the system to automatically go directly into the GUI at bootup by opening the /etc/inittab file in any text editor and (for Red Hat) changing the following line:

id:3:initdefault:

to:

id:5:initdefault


If typing the "startx" command doesn't get him into the GUI (and the line in /etc/inittab already reads "id:5:initdefault"), there's a problem with the video/X server configuration. If this is the case, you can run Red Hat's X configuration utility from the command line by entering the following command:

redhat-config-xfree86

From there you should be able to verify and/or alter different facets of your GUI setup. If you can't resolve the problem and have any further questions, please post the full hardware specifications of the box, as well as the full contents of the /etc/X11/XF86Config file.

Member Avatar for big_k105

Hello . i'm posting on behalf of my friend who can't access the net . He's installed linux redhat 9.0 in graphical mode and choosed minimum installation . He's formatted the drives and his hd is 30gb . He was asked to choose a password while installing . After the installation process completed , he had to give his username as " root " and his choosen password to get in . The problem is , he can't see anything in graphical mode . All he sees after logging in as the root user is something like " rootuser@localhost root " and nothing else . please provide directions on how to get to the mouse-dependent desktop environment and how not to log in as root and the benifit of doing so .

well you said he choose minimal install. and with a minimal isntall that doesnt include gui. it only leaves the basic stuff. so have him reinstall but this time dont choose minimal :)

atleast im pretty sure that minimal doesnt include gui. i cant remember as it has been quite some time. so if the startx doesnt work my guess is it is not install :)

Member Avatar for DMR

well you said he choose minimal install. and with a minimal isntall that doesnt include gui. it only leaves the basic stuff. so have him reinstall but this time dont choose minimal

Woops, missed that- you're right; a minimal install doesn't include the GUI packages.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.