Attempting to get to the “System Settings” “control panel” of Ubuntu desktop on my Server 24.04 LTS installation, I discovered clicking on the “System Settings…” option from the “desktop” bottom (typically top-right corner) did absolutely squat.

After rooting around online, I finally realised that I had been over-zealous in “cleaning out”/uninstalling unneeded apps and libraries – or so I thought was “unneeded”.

Turns out that the audio libraries, even on an “audio-less” server, are still required!

A quick apt reinstall ubuntu-desktop-minimal fixed things right up!