Remove GUI from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.10
Change default target to multi-user (text mode):
[root@localhost ~]# systemctl set-default multi-user.target
Removed /etc/systemd/system/default.target.
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/default.target → /usr/lib/systemd/system/multi-user.target.
[root@localhost ~]# dnf remove gnome-shell gdm gnome-session -y
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Dependencies resolved.
=========================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
=========================================================
Removing:
gdm x86_64 1:40.0-27.el8 @rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms 4.9 M
gnome-session x86_64 3.28.1-21.el8 @rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms 1.5 M
gnome-shell x86_64 3.32.2-59.el8_10 @rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms 7.7 M
Removing dependent packages:
chrome-gnome-shell
x86_64 42.1-1.el8 @rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms 102 k
Complete!
[root@localhost ~]# dnf remove @gnome-desktop @x11 -y
[root@localhost ~]# dnf autoremove -y
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Last metadata expiration check: 0:02:16 ago on Fri 12 Jun 2026 11:32:25 PM EDT.
Dependencies resolved.
Nothing to do.
Complete!
To verify
[root@localhost ~]# systemctl get-default
multi-user.target
N 3
[root@localhost ~]# runlevel
In Simple Centos way
1 systemctl get-default
2 dnf grouplist --installed
3 systemctl set-default multi-user.target
4 dnf remove gnome-shell gdm gnome-session -y
5 dnf remove @gnome-desktop @x11 -y
6 dnf autoremove -y
Reboot
systemctl get-default
[root@localhost ~]# runlevel
N 3