I've heard about numerous people on here having good things to say about Cinnamon desktop so I thought I would try it ... I typed this in the terminal "sudo apt install cinnamon-desktop-environment" and found Cinnamon in my System Tools clicked on it and then this happened ...
First one side of my screen went black and the screen shut down then this message appeared ... "A problem has occurred and the system can't recover. Please log out and try again" ...
Well I have tried it again ... in fact 4-5 times with the same result ... I feel like"Mac-the Knife and am doing something rash" ... sorry an ol' Ballard ...
I don't know exactly what you have in system tools that you are doing, but I do know what you are supposed to do. When you install another DE, you are supposed to restart after.
When you reach the login screen, you should see a GEAR icon, that will only show up when you have multiple DE's installed. So, you click on the GEAR icon, and then you select Cinnamon.
Then you enter your login info to login, now you will boot into the Cinnamon desktop.
Wen I click restart the first screen I get is the choice screen Zorin ... Win ... bla bla bla ... no gear ... second screen is my sign in screen ... no gear ... and final screen is desktop no gear there either ...
When I look into tweaks I see that Cinnamon is listed on my start-up apps but not in to be started on Zorin start-up screen ... if that makes sense
I'll be honest, if I install another DE, I would need Aravisians help, cause I don't know what I am doing. I just know how things are supposed to be, so thats why I don't understand why its not going right for you. So lets hail @Aravisian fix this guys machine lol.
What the right way to install another DE? I thought he was doing it right with that terminal command?
Configure LightDM with the Prompts in the terminal.
Login at the LightDM screen (Don't worry, you can pretty it up with LightDM-gtk greeter settings application later)
Select Cinnamon or Cinnamon Safe Graphics at the Login Screen (Not Grub Menu).
OK this is not pretty ... I have no terminal ... desktop is black with some icons along the left hand side ... nothing on the other 3 sides ... luckily I found out how to get back on the web but my viewing box (and I mean box) is only 6x6 and I can't find anyway to enlarge that screen ... can't move any of the boxes (which should be screens) around or n minimize or maximize any screens ...
HELP ... LOL ... also I didn't find any Cinnamon or Cinnamon Safe Graphics at the login screen ... just went from log-in to desktop ...
Cinnamon desktop, at least from the Ubuntu servers... Does Not Come with a Vertical panel.
It sounds like you have No Metacity. That is the Window Manager.
I do not get it. I have installed Cinnamon without any trouble across a dozen machines including all of my wipe and reloads.
No ... can't see anything that looks like a terminal command ... the only way I got on the net is by choosing the Computer looking icon and then say open with something else ... and one of the selections was Vivaldi ...
I can shut my computer down and when I start it back up I can get into a desktop with some icons loaded ... I can choose any one of them but when I do I can't go back to the desktop ... which ever icon I choose is there unless I shut my computer off with the power button ...
I can try looking around for a terminal icon or something ... no problem but it will take a while as if it doesn't work I have to shut down the machine and start again ... will have to work by trial and error ... which I can do ...
If you guys want me to do that please let me know ... but don't sit up waiting for me to reply back ... LOL
I've had a bad day today, and I haven't been myself all day, and my ability to provide support has greatly diminished because my mind can't focus. And yes, I am also tired as heck right now and will need to go to bed. But I am following your thread closely.
Hey my friend go to bed you can read about it tomorrow ... don't torture yourself ... I will survive this and you guys will too ...
I don't thing there is much anyone can do until I find a terminal ... so we just as well shut this down till tomorrow ... it's about 1:00 pm here where I live so I got a little time to look for the terminal ... no need in you guys busting your you know what over this today ...
Go to bed young man and thank you for your help and support ...
Aravisian ... you too take a break from this ... I'll be back tomorrow with what I hope is good news about a terminal .... don't stress yourself ...
No I'm using my laptop dual boot with Zorin Pro ... OK tried what you suggested with CTRL + ALT + F3 ... it asked for my log-in then my password ... password didn't work for some reason the curser never moved just sat there blinking tried it 5-6 times same result ....
But I did find a terminal buried in some folders but when I typed the command it said couldn't find the program ...
No couldn't be caps lock because I logged in with my password after rebooting ... sorry I'm not sure exactly what it said other than it couldn't find something ... I should have written it down but I didn't ... and I have no way to take a screen shot ...