Minimal Ubuntu Install

This page describes how to install the Regolith Desktop into Ubuntu Server. This approach produces a minimal setup as many of the standard GNOME desktop packages present in a desktop install will be avoided.

Steps

Install Ubuntu Server

Follow online instructions for installing a fresh copy of Ubuntu Server, in a release that Regolith supports. See the Compatibility Matrix.

Add Regolith’s package key and apt repository

Once Ubuntu Server has been installed, log into a terminal session. Register the Regolith public key and add the repository URL for your release, as described in the first two steps of the Install page. The same directions are available as text files:

Ubuntu 25.10 (Questing): install-release-ubuntu-25.10-amd64.txt
Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky): install-release-ubuntu-25.04-amd64.txt
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble): install-release-ubuntu-24.04-amd64.txt
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy): install-release-ubuntu-22.04-amd64.txt

Example:

wget https://regolith-desktop.com/install-release-ubuntu-24.04-amd64.txt
cat install-release-ubuntu-24.04-amd64.txt

Manually execute each step in the text file, or source the file if you’re feeling adventurous. Once complete, the Regolith Desktop package repositories are installed into the new system.

Install the Regolith Ubuntu System

There is a special package that is used in the ISO that can also be used in a minimal install such as this: regolith-system-ubuntu. This package includes extra branding not used in typical desktop installs which may share multiple desktop environments. Run the following command to install Regolith Desktop and all of it’s dependencies:

sudo apt install regolith-system-ubuntu

This installs the X11 session (regolith-session-flashback) and the lightdm login manager. Some recommended packages also bring in gdm3 and GNOME Shell, so apt asks which display manager to use by default: choose lightdm. If you don’t want gdm3 and GNOME Shell, you can remove them afterwards with sudo apt remove gdm3 gnome-shell.

To also install the Wayland session, run:

sudo apt install regolith-session-sway

Reboot

Once the system boots back up, the lightdm login manager will allow you to log into your new Regolith environment.