How to perform the switch from the “Wayland” display server to Xorg (X11) on Linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Foremost, before we move into the main part, we need to identify which display server is currently used.

In order to identify the selected display server, you may open Terminal:

a. On the keyboard press CTRL + ALT + T or

b. In the applications menu, type “Terminal” in the search box to open Terminal.

• In Terminal run the following command: echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE. This will print the selected display server.

In our example above Wayland display server is running. The change of the display server, for example to Xorg (X11), can be completed in two ways.

Please NOTE that two options were given due to the missing “gear” icon on the Login screen for some Ubuntu Users, therefore the second option was provided to help Users to perform the switch using the Terminal. 

Option #1 – Changing display server via Login Screen.

Step 1. Log out from the system. Press CTRL + ALT + DELETE button and press Log Out.

Step 2. On the Login, screen click on your Username. When Username is selected, find the “gear” icon lower right corner. Click on the “gear” icon and select “Ubuntu on Xorg”. Type your password and hit Enter to login.

Step 3. Open Terminal and run echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE  command to confirm that X11 display server is running.

Option #2 – Changing display server via Terminal

Step 1. While the User logged in to the system, open your Terminal and run:

sudo nano /etc/gdm3/custom.conf. Enter your admin password.

Step 2. Find the line with “WaylanEnable=false” and uncomment the line.

Step 3. Press CTRL + X on the keyboard, press “Y” and hit Enter to save the changes.

Step 4. Next, we need these changes to take effect therefore we must restart the gdm3 service. While in the Terminal run the following command:

sudo systemctl restart gdm3. Enter your admin password and hit Enter.

!!! Please NOTE, that once you type the password and hit Enter, your active session will be RESTARTED. Please ensure you saved all your work and progress before executing the above command.

Step 5. When the restart is complete, login to the system, open your Terminal and run the command: echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE to confirm that we are running X11 display server.

Thank You,

PSI Support.