install gnome-shell on ubuntu 16.04

The easiest way is to install ubuntu-gnome-desktop This will give you the same system as if you were to install Ubuntu Gnome. You could also just download the Ubuntu Gnome ISO but it will be a much smaller download to just install the desktop.

Doing it this way, will pull in the needed dependencies for Ubuntu and avoid any issues.

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One caveat: When you install Gnome, it will make the Unity top bar black and the icons will be different but it should work if you would need it.

I would advise that you only install Gnome if you don't want to use Unity because of the above mentioned caveat.

+1 for Umayanga Sandeepa!

Also if you need to change the login manager later on you can do that with

dpkg-reconfigure gdm3

or

dpkg-reconfigure lightdm

respectively.

Try this:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-gnome-desktop

Then choose gdm3 or lightdm Recommend to reboot.

Worked for me.