When you install #Ubuntu server, it doesn't install #GUI by default but if for some reason, you need to have #Desktop environment in your server, you can easily do it. And in this video, I am going to show you in four easy steps how to prepare for installation, how to install display manager which controls the desktop environment and finally install the desktop of our choice. We will be installing default display manager for Ubuntu which is gdm3 and default desktop for Ubuntu which is Gnome desktop. Starting Ubuntu 12.04, both server and desktop versions use same kernel and that means you can use same package or application in both desktop and server edition.

You can start with desktop environment, get familiar with Ubuntu and then when you are ready, you can uninstall GUI and other applications (if you want to or have to) and make it server edition by installing packages that you need for the server. This was a smart move from Ubuntu to popularize the flavor among new Linux users and it's working very well. In fact, I have also started using Ubuntu desktop primarily on my laptop (to record videos) which has a dual boot with Windows.