Cannot install ubuntu Desktop environments

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PackageManagerTroubleshootingProcedure

Please post full Terminal output here:

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-meta/+question/222182

Afterwards, you can try running this command:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

Running the command above WITHOUT sudo will not work.

Please read this:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ExternalGuides

Thanks for your quick response. Now the problem boils down to not having access open up the Software Sources window by (System > Administration > Update Manager. This is Step 1 of the procedures.
Kindly advise further, if possible.

There is a problem with the first bit of the instructions here.

(System > Administration > Update Manager) instructions apply to the Gnome Classic Desktop which is no longer the default and has not been since the introduction of 12.04.

Assuming you have Ubuntu 12.04 or later with the Unity desktop click the top icon in the dash and start typing "update" without the quotes. It will appear in the menu before you have finished typing. The rest of the instructions are correct however.

If you check the link now you should see that it has been corrected

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PackageManagerTroubleshootingProcedure

Thanks for the instructions.
The output from running sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.backup is:
cannot create regular file /etc/apt/sources.list.backu; Read-only file System.
Kindly advise further,please.
Best regards

It seems that your file system is read-only. You have to remount it in read-write mode with the command

sudo mount -o remount,rw /

Then try the commands given in previous answers

sudo mount -o remount,rw /
sudo fuser -vki /var/lib/dpkg/lock;sudo dpkg --configure -a

Will unlock the packages for you

Thanks for the kind help and instructions. I'vsudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.backuleted Step 5 List of Terminal commands to execute. The commands had to be typed out into Recovery Menu root shell prompt. Kindly advise how to forward the output display, as I do not have use of networking nor copy & paste features. In summarythe results were as follows:

sudo grep -R proxy /etc/apt/* ---- No output

echo $http_proxy ----- one blank line

echo $ftp_proxy ----- one blank line

grep proxy /etc/bash.bashrc ---- No output

sudo fuser -vvv /var/lib/dpkg/lock ---- No output

cat /etc/lsb-release ---- LISRIB=Ubuntu
                                              LISTRIB_RELEASE=12.10
                                              LISTRIB_CODENAME= quantal
                                              LISTRIB_DESCRIPTION= "Ubuntu 12.10"

uname -a ----------- LinuxDell3.5.0-24-generic #37 Ubuntu SMP Thu Feb 7 05:32:22 UTC 2013 i686 i686 GNU/Linux

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock ---- No output

sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock ---- No output

sudo cp -arf /var/lib/dpkg /var/lib/dpkg.backup -- ---- No output

sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/status /var/lib/dpkg/status-bad ---- No output

sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status || sudo cp /var/backups/apt.extended_states.0 /var/lib/dpkg/status ---- No output

sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/available /var/lib/dpkg/available-bad ---- No output

sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/available-old /var/lib/dpkg/available ---- No output

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/dpkg/updates/* ---- No output

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists ---- No output

sudo rm /var/cache/apt/*.bin ---- No output

sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists ---- No output

sudo mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists/partial ---- No output

LANG=C;sudo apt-get clean ---- No output

LANG=C;sudo apt-get autoclean ---- Reading Package lists......Done
                                                                        Building dependency tree
                                                                        Readingstate information

LANG=C;sudo apt-get --purge autoremove ---- Reading Package lists......Done
                                                                                            Building dependency tree
                                                                                            Readingstate information
                                                                                           ? upgraded,0 newly installed,0 to remove and 0 upgraded

LANG=C;sudo apt-get update -o APT::Cache-Limit=100000000-----more than a page full of output mainly about Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/......./Release.gpg Could not resolve 'ppa.launchpad.net'

sudo dpkg --configure -a ------- No output

sudo dpkg --clear-avail----------- No output

LANG=C;sudo apt-get -f install-- Reading Package lists......Done
                                                                       Building dependency tree
                                                                       Readingstate information
                                                                      ? upgraded,0 newly installed,0 to remove and 0 upgraded

LANG=C;sudo apt-get --fix-missing install --------- Reading Package lists......Done
                                                                                                       Building dependency tree
                                                                                                       Readingstate information
                                                                                                       ? upgraded,0 newly installed,0 to remove and 0 upgraded

LANG=C;sudo apt-get update -o APT::Cache-Limit=100000000 && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade ---- more than a page full of a list of Failed fetches including http://ppa.launchpadnet/.../Release.gpg Also Failed to fetch cdrom, Failed to fetch http://archive.canonical.com/dist/quantal/Release.gpg. Could not Could not resolve 'ppa.launchpad.net' and Could not resolve 'archive.canonical.com'. Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored , or old ones
                                                                       Reading Package lists......Done
                                                                       Building dependency tree
                                                                       Readingstate information
                                                                      ? upgraded,0 newly installed,0 to remove and 0 upgraded

find /etc/apt -name '*.list' -exec bash -c 'echo -e "\n$1\n"; cat -n "$1"' _ '{}' \; ----- 64 numbered lines of output, some regarding software from respective vendorsas a service to Ubuntu users.

I hope this information is as required. Should the rest of the PackageManagerTroubleshootingProcedure from Step 6 be carried now, please?

Many thanks for the help.

It seems that you did not have a network connection in your recovery console, and consequently most of the commands failed.
For the Package Manager Troubleshooting Procedure, however, a functioning network connection is essential.

From Recovery Menu the network feature was activated. Now there is a boot up, which freezes. the error messages displayed are:

1) swapon failed
2)initctl event failed
3) /etc/default/dmucs needs to be edited to enable dmucs
4) saned disabled: edit /etc/default/saned

This boot up has frozen after Checking battery state, which is reported to be OK.

Kindly advise if possible, please.
Thank you for the kind help.

Thank you for your kind response and help. The modem is directly connected to the ethernet port, which has established a network connection in the recovery console. This is confirmed by the output to ping -c 4 8.8.8.8 where 4packets transmitted and 4 received, 0% packet loss. The commands are still failing as before. Your kind help and further advice would be most appreciated. Thank you very much.

The recent error messages displayed at boot up are:

1) initilt : Event failed
2) Please edit /etc/default/dmucs to enable dmucs
3) saned disabled; edit /etc/default/saned

Kindly advise how to proceed, please.
Thank you for your kind help.

The commands that failed completed later after a few more tries. The packages were updated/repaired. There were the following error messages at boot up:
1) initilt : Event failed
2) Please edit /etc/default/dmucs to enable dmucs

Then the blank desk top wallpaper without any icos or Launcher and no login dialog appeared after normal boot up.

Kindly advise further, if possible

Thanks for the help At present the desk top icon appear but no Launcher nor login box nor the notification bar at the top of the screen I have accessed the terminal from the desk top and connected to the network - confirmed by pinging. However, the commands below do not wor:

1) LANG=C;sudo apt-get update -o APT::Cache-Limit=100000000 -- the output is Failed to fetch many different ppa.launchpad .net.http downloads and "Something wicked happened ( -5 - No address associated with hostname)

2) LANG=C;sudo apt-get update -o APT::Cache-Limit=100000000 && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -- the output is Failed to fetch many different ppa.launchpad .net.http downloads and "Something wicked happened ( -5 - No address associated with hostname)

Thank you once again for your kind help.

I've retrieved the running system for now. Thanks for all your kind help with this.
Mighty good of you to help. Most appreciated