Changing the default window manager - 1.0< startx and .xinitrc >
If you use the startx command for starting up the X Window System, you'll need to edit a file called .xinitrc
that is located in your home directory. If the file already is there,
just open it with your favorite text editor. If you don't have such a
file in your home directory, create a new file with that name. Note the
dot in the file name - it shows you that the file is a hidden file and
doesn't show when you do a normal directory listing.
If you already have a .xinitrc
file in your home directory, it may be a huge scary-looking text file
with a lot of text that makes just as much sense as a file produced
with a random number generator and encrypted after writing. If you want
to make a backup of this file, rename it to something like .xinitrc.backup or whatever you wish:
mv .xinitrc .xinitrc.backup
Now you can use your text editor for creating a new, blank .xinitrc
file. Although the file may be a complicated multi-line geeky script,
it can be very simple, too. In its simplest it just contains a single
line with the name of your new window manager. So, add a line like this
to your file:
exec windowmanager
where windowmanager
is the command that starts the window manager you want to be your
default. For example, to make Window Maker your default window manager,
you'd have a line like this:
exec wmaker
The commands for starting some popular window managers and desktop environments are:
- KDE =
startkde
- Gnome =
gnome-session
- Blackbox =
blackbox
- FVWM =
fvwm (or, for FVWM2 it's fvwm2, surprise)
- Window Maker =
wmaker
- IceWM =
icewm
After editing the .xinitrc file, save your changes. The next time you do a startx, the new window manager will be your default.
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