Missing GUI for RHEL Server 7.4 (Maipo)

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I downloaded and installed RHEL Server 7.4 (Maipo). It said it installed fine. I rebooted. I got a shell / command line login. I was expecting it to come up with a GUI. What did I do wrong?

I realize it's a "Server" and might not have a GUI, but my work associate has a VM that self identifies as RHEL Server 7.4 (Maipo), and it DOES have a GUI. I'm inquiring with him in parallel to posting this question.

I downloaded "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 Binary DVD" from https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/69/ver=/rhel---7/7.4/x86_64/product-software , actual link https://access.cdn.redhat.com//content/origin/files/sha256/43/431a58c8c0351803a608ffa56948c5a7861876f78ccbe784724dd8c987ff7000/rhel-server-7.4-x86_64-dvd.iso?auth=1529022286_4d01db7264fe9622f6365f5d72696305

Thanks very much for your help.

HF
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TT Active Contributor 305 points
15 June 2018 6:23 AM

It is a choice you can make when you install, called "Server with a GUI", but it is most common to not install a GUI on servers since it is just a waste of resources on a machine that typically will serve clients over the net, so it is not the default.

It is easy to install after setup. There are several possibilities, but probably sufficient (assuming that it is registered and you have a valid subscription) to just run:

yum groupinstall "Server with GUI"

and set it to default to boot up with the GUI started:

systemctl set-default graphical.target

For info, see e.g.: How to install a graphical user interface (GUI) for Red Hat Enterprise Linux

HF Community Member 85 points
15 June 2018 12:16 PM

Thanks Terje. Note I do have a subscription. Need to do software development so wanted GUI.

Overnight I did realize my likely error then confirm with a Google search. I simply re-installed this morning and now all seems fine. I'll keep the yum "groupinstall" in mind.

Oh, about the yum "groupinstall", I independently found "yum list", but that's not very friendly. I'd like to have all the same things installed as my work associate, who might not remember what he chose in install. Is there a way to find out easily what he provided?

I did Google and find:

You can use the option yum grouplist command to list available package groups. The option groupinstall is used to install a group of packages. However, the yum grouplist command can't list all the groups that are provided when installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux from the installation CDs.Apr 27, 2015

How to install a group of packages with yum on Red Hat Enterprise ...
https://access.redhat.com/solutions/15815

However, I found something else, but it didn't work on his VM:

yum grouplist | sed '/^Installed Groups:/,$!d;/^Available Groups:/,$d;/^Installed Groups:/d;s/^[[:space:]]*//'
from https://gist.github.com/steakknife/ed397f893a9c861b902f
Christian Labisch's picture Guru 9710 points
15 June 2018 12:28 PM

Hi Helmut,

To list all available groups - please add the hidden option : sudo yum group list hidden
To format single commands, put a ` in front of the command and another at the command end.
To format command outputs, put 3 "tildes" (~~~) in front of the text and another 3 at the end.

Example :

3 tildes
text
3 tildes

text

Regards,
Christian

TT Active Contributor 305 points
15 June 2018 12:56 PM

You wrote:

I'd like to have all the same things installed as my work associate, who might not remember what he chose in install. Is there a way to find out easily what he provided?

After a manual install, there is a file called anaconda-ks.cfg left in the /root directory that tells what was chosen during the install. This is intended to be used to automatically set up a new server the same way.

More in the installation guide at 26.2. HOW DO YOU PERFORM A KICKSTART INSTALLATION?

HF Community Member 85 points
15 June 2018 12:42 PM

Thanks Christian.

(((The formatting help mentioned tilde's but, wierdly, was formatted in all its examples that it wasn't obvious what it did. You can see from my original post I've edited to test.)))

I tried on mine... yum groupsudo yum group list --hidden gave me no such option: --hidden. RHEL Server 7.4. Note I'm not interested in all, but those installed.

Christian Labisch's picture Guru 9710 points
15 June 2018 12:49 PM

Hi Helmut,

Sorry, my fault - the option has to be added without "--" : sudo yum group list hidden ... already corrected ! :)

Regards,
Christian

Christian Labisch's picture Guru 9710 points
15 June 2018 12:58 PM

Hi Helmut, I forgot to mention that sudo yum group list shows what is available and what is installed - example :

$ sudo yum group list  

Loaded plugins: product-id, search-disabled-repos, subscription-manager
Available Environment Groups:
   Minimal Install
   Infrastructure Server
   File and Print Server
   Cinnamon Desktop
   MATE Desktop
   Basic Web Server
   Virtualization Host
   Server with GUI
Installed Groups:
   Development tools
Available Groups:
   Backup Client
   Base
   Compatibility Libraries
   Console internet tools
   E-mail server
   Educational Software
   Electronic Lab
   Fedora Packager
   Fonts
   General Purpose Desktop
   Graphical Administration Tools
   Graphics Creation Tools
   Hardware monitoring utilities
   Haskell
   Input Methods
   Internet Applications
   KDE Desktop
   Legacy UNIX Compatibility
   Milkymist
   Network Infrastructure Server
   Networking Tools
   Office Suite and Productivity
   Performance Tools
   Scientific support
   Security Tools
   Smart card support
   System Management
   System administration tools
   Technical Writing
   TurboGears application framework
   Web Server
   Web Servlet Engine
   Xfce
Done

Regards,
Christian

HF Community Member 85 points
15 June 2018 3:25 PM

Terje, the anaconda-ks.cfg compares well between my real machine and my associate's VM. I see we chose almost exactly the same things, and I know what we chose different during install.

Christian, sudo yum group list tells me available groups but doesn't list any installed groups. The anaconda-ks.cfg file includes "@development" and I would have thought the yum output would include "Development tools" under "Installed Groups:". However, there is no "Installed Groups:" header or detail. I do see the "Available Environment Groups:" and "Available Groups:" headers.

Christian, you might reply once more, or maybe not. Terje's answer has gotten me what I need. Thanks to both of you.

Christian Labisch's picture Guru 9710 points
15 June 2018 3:44 PM

You're welcome, Helmut ! :) We've had this discussion about installed groups not showing as installed here before.
The explanation most probably is that groups being installed during initial system installation are not shown, but
groups being installed after the system installation via yum are shown as installed groups by sudo yum group list.

Regards,
Christian

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