John Johnston, 27, admitted taking the vehicle without consent and driving while over the legal alcohol limit.
He was spotted by a CCTV operator committing the offence and stopped by police in Buccleuch Street.
At Dumfries Sheriff Court he was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and given the driving ban.
Johnston, who had moved from Belfast to Dumfries, committed the offence in September this year.
He had been staying in homeless accommodation in the town and took the roller from Brooms Road.
He then drove it across town in a bid to get home from a night out drinking with a friend.
"I was just trying to find my way home," he told the court at an earlier appearance.
A man who tried to get home on a 2.5 tonne road roller after a night out drinking in Dumfries has received a 15-month driving ban.