If you chose the Minimal Install option during the Rocky Linux 10 installation, your system includes only the essential packages needed to run without any desktop environment, which means no graphical login screen and no GUI applications.
This setup is ideal for servers because it’s lightweight and uses fewer system resources.
However, if you’re using your system as a workstation, a virtual machine, or simply prefer working with a graphical interface, you’ll probably want to install GNOME.
This guide covers two installation methods.
This tutorial was tested on a minimal installation of Rocky Linux 10, but the same installation instructions also work on AlmaLinux 10 and RHEL 10.
Before you begin, make sure you have the following:
To check how much free disk space you have, run:
Example output:
Look at the Avail column.
If you have at least 3 GB of free space, you’re ready to continue.
If your Rocky Linux 10 system has an internet connection, you can use the dnf command to download all the required packages directly from the official Rocky Linux repositories.
Before installing new software, it’s a good idea to update your existing packages, which ensures you’re installing the latest versions and helps avoid dependency issues.
The sudo command runs the update with administrative privileges, while the -y option automatically answers yes to any prompts.
Depending on the number of available updates and your internet speed, this process may take a few minutes.
Rocky Linux groups related packages together, so instead of installing hundreds of individual packages, you can install the complete GNOME desktop with a single command.
This installs everything needed for a full graphical desktop, including:
Tip: If you prefer a smaller desktop installation without the extra server-related tools, install the GNOME group instead:
Note: If you receive a No match for group error, list the available package groups first:
Then use the group name shown on your system.
Installing GNOME doesn’t automatically change the system’s default boot mode, because a minimal Rocky Linux installation starts in multi-user.target, which is command-line mode.
First, check the current default target:
Example output:
Now change it to graphical mode:
You should see output similar to:
This tells systemd to start the graphical desktop automatically every time the system boots.
There’s no need to reboot immediately.
You can start the graphical login screen right away by starting the GDM service:
After a few seconds, the GNOME login screen should appear, so sign in using the same username and password you use to log into the terminal or SSH.
If the graphical login screen doesn’t appear, check the GDM logs for any errors:
On virtual machines, startup problems are often caused by missing graphics drivers or integration tools:
Finally, reboot the system to make sure it starts directly in graphical mode.
After the system restarts, you should see the GNOME login screen automatically.
Once you’ve logged in, open a terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T and verify that GNOME is installed:
Example output:
If you see the installed GNOME version, the installation was successful, and your Rocky Linux 10 system is now ready to use with a full graphical desktop.
If your Rocky Linux 10 system doesn’t have internet access, you can install GNOME directly from the Rocky Linux 10 DVD ISO.
Instead of downloading packages from online repositories, DNF reads them from the mounted ISO.
Important: Use the Rocky Linux 10 DVD ISO, not the Minimal or Boot ISO, because the DVD image contains the BaseOS and AppStream repositories required to install GNOME.
First, make the DVD ISO available on your system.
If you’re using a virtual machine, attach the ISO as a virtual DVD drive from your hypervisor.
If you’re using a physical server, copy the ISO to the machine.
For example:
Replace:
Once the copy finishes, verify that the ISO is present:
Create a directory that will serve as the mount point:
Now mount the ISO:
You may see a message like this:
Next, verify that the mount was successful:
Example output:
Make sure you can see both BaseOS and AppStream directories, because these contain all the packages required for the installation.
If they’re missing, you’ve probably mounted the Minimal or Boot ISO instead of the DVD ISO.
Create a new DNF repository file:
Paste the following configuration:
Save the file and exit the editor.
Now disable the online repositories so DNF won’t try to connect to the internet:
Verify that DNF can see the local repositories:
Example output:
If the repositories don’t appear, double-check:
You can also verify that the package directories exist:
Once the local repositories are working, install GNOME just as you would on an online system:
DNF will install all required packages directly from the mounted DVD ISO without accessing the internet.
Depending on your storage device, the installation usually takes 5 to 10 minutes.
After the installation finishes, configure the system to boot into the graphical interface:
Start the GNOME Display Manager without rebooting:
The GNOME login screen should appear after a few seconds, so sign in using your normal user account.
Finally, reboot the system to confirm that it starts directly in the graphical desktop:
By default, the ISO is mounted only for the current session.
After a reboot, you’ll need to mount it again if you want to install more packages from it.
To mount it automatically during boot, add the following entry to /etc/fstab:
Before rebooting, verify that the entry is correct:
If the command completes without errors, the mount is configured correctly.
Warning: If you move or delete the ISO file after adding it to /etc/fstab, the system may pause during boot while trying to mount it.
If you no longer need the ISO, remove the corresponding /etc/fstab entry before deleting or relocating the file.
If you no longer need the graphical desktop, you can configure Rocky Linux to boot back into command-line mode.
First, change the default boot target to multi-user, stop the graphical login manager, and then reboot the system:
After the reboot, the system will start in text mode and display the login prompt instead of the GNOME login screen.
If you want to switch back to the graphical desktop later, set the default target back to graphical.target and reboot:
Alternatively, if you’re currently logged into the command line and don’t want to reboot, you can start the graphical login screen immediately:
You’ve now learned two ways to install the GNOME desktop on Rocky Linux 10.
If your system has internet access, installing GNOME with DNF is the quickest and easiest option.
If you’re working in an offline or restricted environment, you can use the Rocky Linux 10 DVD ISO as a local repository to install the same desktop without downloading any packages.
Whichever method you choose, you’ll end up with a fully functional GNOME desktop running on a minimal Rocky Linux 10 installation.
You also learned how to configure the system to boot into graphical mode by default, switch back to text mode when needed, and troubleshoot common issues during the installation.
If you run into any problems during the installation, such as package errors, GDM failing to start, or display issues inside a virtual machine, leave a comment below with your setup and the exact error message.
I’ll be happy to help you troubleshoot the issue.
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Hello
I am new to Cent OS, so my questions may look very basic, but need help to move forward
Installed Cent OS 7 (32 Bit) on Oracle VM, when installing – used Cent OS Everything iso and selected Server with GUI as Base Environment and all the add-ons (it was a long list)
Version check result –
centos-release-7-3.1611.el7.centos.i686
GNOME version 3.14.0
But where is the GUI Package manager Yumex, it is no seen where to find it or install it
Thank you
Hello Ravi, Your post have crystal clear step by step instruction helped me! Thank you!
great!!!
Hi Ravi, I had no luck with the repo as [centos7] but when I changed it to[centos7dvd] the packages downloaded but I ran into another problem with the public key file.
Here is the final output:
================================================================================
Transaction Summary: Install 288 Packages (+705 Dependent packages)
Total Download size: 721 M
Installed size: 2.1 G
Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
# warning: /mnt/cdrom/Packages/GConf2-3.2.6-8.e17.x86_64.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256
Signature, key ID f4a80eb5: NOKEY
Public Key for GConf2-3.2.6-8.e17.x86_64.rpm is not installed
—————————————————————————————————————-
Total 7.3 MB/s | 721 MB 01:38
Retrieving key from file: ///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-centOS-7
GPG key retrieval failed: [Errno 14] curl#37 – “Couldn’t open file /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-centOS-7”
Do have any suggestions I can try?
@Optimxr,
Please use following command to import GPG key.
Thanks Ravi, I found the problem, I had a lower case “c” for the PGP= statement instead of “CentOS-7”
I made that change and then ran:
and all 993 packages were installed & verified.
I then unmounted the cdrom by typing:
but the message said nothing mounted.
I typed in the GUI target switch as follows:
There were no errors, just went to the root prompt again.
When I rebooted, it went to the normal Centos 7 command line login.
I logged in as root and typed
and it then started the GUI.
I repeated this process once more and now it boots to the GUI.
Happy Days!!! Thanks for all you good instructions and patience.
@Optimxr,
Yeah, that’s great to know, you finally install GUI i.e Gnome Desktop on CentOS 7.
I hope you learned few things today..
When clearing the yum I get this message;
[root@localhost~]# yum clear all
loaded plugins: fastestmirror
No such command: clear.
please use /bin/yum –help
I am not sure what I need to do with –help menu, any suggestions?
@Optimxr,
It should be yum clean all, if you wanted to clear all system repository cache, type:
Thanks Ravi for responding so quickly.
A silly mistake on my part.
It cleans successfully now.
However, when I do the repolist I do not see centos7 in red and I see enabled: 0 .
Could this be due to no network connection( it did not appear when I did the core installation)?
I did every thing right.
it said an successful installation.
also run the last command to boot with GUI.
but it went to usual centos 7 core mode
@Wathsala,
Have you executed the following command without any errors?
What you will getting after reboot? is the server booted into GUI mode or not? or it remains in same server mode? if yes, try init 5 command to switch to GUI mode.
Please I have this error:
after to type: mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
mount /dev/sr0 is write-protected.
mounting read-only
sorry but What is means??
Thanks a lot
@Fherpie,
That means your CD-Rom is mounted as read-only mode, you can’t write to this drive, but you can copy/view the content of cdrom.
Thank you,it is really helpful.
For anyone tring this out, i recommend naming the repo as centos7dvd for the file, the bracket and name.
Should get you around the repodata error on CentOS 7
I have Problem i do everything, but when i do the install i have these message: ” Cannot find a valid base url for repo: base/y/x86_64
@Diego,
Try adding following DNS nameservers entries to /etc/resolv.conf file and try again…
Thank you!!!
Thank you!
I test it on RedHat 7.1 minimal installation, but I receive an error:
Error downloading packages:
gnome-settings-daemon-3.8.6.1-12.el7.x86_64: [Errno 256] No more mirrors to try.
Any idea?
Thank!
@Fra,
It seems to me a repository network issue, try after some time or check your network connectivity..
I find the solution!
The ISO was corrupted.
Thanks again!
Thanks…worked like a charm 🙂
My centos 7 installation automatically mounts the iso at a different mountpoint, but your procedure works like a charm after making this change in the .repo file.
Many thanks.
i’ve try to follow, but still didn’t work on my Centos7
@Topan
Any error you getting during installation? can you share with us
Can I do this process in debian too????
@Yair,
No you cannot these instructions only works on RedHat/CentOS based systems, but you can still install Gnome under Debian using following commands.
It worked like a charm on RHEL 7..
thanks for the post !! Cheers !!
This is totally wrong instruction.
yum –disablerepo=* –enablerepo=rhel7 groupinstall “Server with GUI” will never work.
Please dont give wrong instruction.
@Linux,
The given instructions are practically tested on CentOS 7 and worked 100% percentage, if it’s not worked for you, that means you’re doing wrong…the correct command is:
Thanks for finally talking about > How to Install GUI (Gnome 3) Using
CD/DVD on RHEL/CentOS 7 < Liked it!
Thanks a lot…:)
Thanks for the tutorial, I was wondering if I can do the same on Fedora Server 21.
Thank you, @llongala
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—
**📚 Original Source:**
[Install GNOME on Rocky Linux 10 Using ISO (Offline)](https://www.tecmint.com/install-gnome-desktop-rocky-linux-10/)
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