Big Mistake - I uninstalled my KDE Interface! Help!

[mechanism]

Yes. I screwed this up big time. I'm writing this post from a Windows machine so by that you know that I am desperate...

Okay. Here is what happened. I was trying to install gtkpod-aac but Adept kept indicating that there was a "break (install)" and seemed to indicate that there were a few libraries that needed to be updated but Adept could not do it. So, I uninstalled those libraries with the hope that I could download the latest versions.

I do not recall the names of the libraries but I did uninstall about 5 of them. I rebooted the machine and now I have no GUI. I get a "DOS" looking login / password prompt. The sad thing is that I can't remember my Login Name because Kubuntu always filled that in for me.

So, my questions are:

(1) Can I reset my login name from this "command line"?
(2) How do I reinstall KDE?

Thanks
M

[kubicle]

Re: Big Mistake - I uninstalled my KDE Interface! Help!

Get into the recovery mode:

Reboot and press ESC when prompted to enter the GRUB menu (choose Recovery mode)...after some boot-up messages you should be logged in as root (if you've set a root password you need to type it)

You can get your username several ways, here's a few:

you can use

last

command to view a list of latest logins, check if you can pick out your username.

If you can't, use

cat /etc/passwd

to see a list of all users, usernames are the first fields in the file. If you wish to play it fancy, use:

grep 1000:1000 /etc/passwd | cut -d ':' -f1

to get just the username which you gave during installation.

If you need to reset your password (if you don't remember it), use

passwd <username>

(replace <username> with the actual username)...now you should be able to login in normal mode, just provide your username and password at login.

Then use

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

to install all that's included in the default installation (provided your network connection works or the installed packages are still in the cache)...report back if you have problems or more questions

[mechanism]

Re: Big Mistake - I uninstalled my KDE Interface! Help!

Wonderful! Thanks for the advice. I will give it a try tonight!

M

[mechanism]

Re: Big Mistake - I uninstalled my KDE Interface! Help!

This is an update...

I tried all the above suggested steps and none of them worked. I was able to get my login name but using it to login did not work. Neither did using "root". Basically, I hosed the whole thing up. I reinstalled everything last night so I'm up and running again.

However, I do have one suggestion for the Kubuntu team...prevent Adept from uninstalling the GUI along with all the programs at the touch of a button without multiple prompts, warning, prompts, warnings, and more warnings that explain the dire consequences. As it stands now, once the uninstall begins it can not be stopped.

Again, thanks for the help.

M

[kubicle]

Re: Big Mistake - I uninstalled my KDE Interface! Help!

I tried all the above suggested steps and none of them worked. I was able to get my login name but using it to login did not work. Neither did using "root". Basically, I hosed the whole thing up. I reinstalled everything last night so I'm up and running again.

If you couldn't login (even in text mode), it seems to suggest damage to your system way beyond just removing the GUI. Did you get any error messages on failed log in attempts?
(I hope it wasn't just the fact that the password prompt doesn't echo anything on the screen)

There are still things you could have tried to recover the system, but sometimes reinstallation just might be the way of the least effort.

prevent Adept from uninstalling the GUI along with all the programs at the touch of a button without multiple prompts, warning, prompts, warnings, and more warnings that explain the dire consequences.

This is one feature I'd like to see in Adept, prompting for changes especially if things are going to be removed.

[mechanism]

Re: Big Mistake - I uninstalled my KDE Interface! Help!

Yes. I did receive some error messages during login. They did not mean anything to me because I am a Linux Noob so I decided to reinstall and save the effort. Lesson learned.

M