Install Display Managers

Overview

Tip

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if you are only using one desktop environment, then why not choose the appropriate display manager to go with it?

Display Managers are used to provide login screens, and therefore serve as protective security barriers to prevent unauthorised access to your system. They are also referred to as Login Managers. As with different desktop environments, different display managers will require different system resources to run, and will provide their own unique styles, interfaces, and features. Commonly shared features - particularly in respect to the selection of display managers listed below - include customisation/theming, automatic login, and the selection of multiple desktop environments.

Note

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Only the display managers that can be easily installed and enabled have been listed. There are several additional display managers available from the Manjaro repositories for more experienced users to consider, including XDM, WDM, and Qingy.

MDM

File:Mdm.png

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MDM - the Mint Display Manager - is designed for use with any desktop environment. It supports theming, automatic login, and the automatic detection and use of multiple desktop environments. Ported over from Mint and adapted by the Manjaro Team, this is the default display manager for the XFCE flavour. It is also highly recommended for newcomers, particularly as it comes with a very easy user-friendly app to configure and change its appearance... and lots of themes to go with it.

MDM can be installed by entering the following command:

sudo pacman -S mdm

File:Mdm2.png

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To enable MDM in Manjaro 0.8.2 or later (or if Plymouth has been removed), enter the command:

sudo systemctl enable mdm.service -f

To enable MDM in Manjaro 0.8.1 or earlier (or if Plymouth has been added), enter the command:

sudo systemctl enable mdm-plymouth.service -f

GDM

File:Gdm.png

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GDM - the Gnome Display Manager - is designed for use with Gnome 3. It supports theming, automatic login, and the automatic detection and use of multiple desktop environments. Specifically for those using Gnome 3, a configuration application is also available to easily customise the login screen and enable automatic login without having to edit any configuration files.

GDM can be installed by entering the following command:

sudo pacman -S gdm

Alternatively, GDM can also be installed along with its own configuration application by entering the following command:

sudo pacman -S gdm3setup

File:Gdmsessions.png

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Warning

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GDM is only suitable for those using - or intending to use - Gnome and/or Cinnamon. This is because the Gnome 3 desktop environment will also be installed as a dependency.

To enable GDM in Manjaro 0.8.2 or later (or if Plymouth has been removed), enter the command:

sudo systemctl enable gdm.service -f

To enable GDM in Manjaro 0.8.1 or earlier (or if Plymouth has been added), enter the command:

sudo systemctl enable gdm-plymouth.service -f

KDM

File:Kdm.png

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KDM - the KDE Display Manager - is designed for use with KDE. It supports theming, automatic login, and the automatic detection and use of multiple desktop environments. If the full KDE desktop environment has been installed, then KDM should already be available to be enabled.

Otherwise, to install KDM, enter the command:

sudo pacman -S kdebase-workspace

Additional themes for KDM can also be obtained by entering the command:

sudo pacman -S archlinux-themes-kdm

File:Kdmsessions.png

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Warning

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KDM is only suitable for those using - or intending to use - KDE, itself. This is because KDM can only be installed as part of the KDE environment, which will otherwise be downloaded with it.

To enable KDM in Manjaro 0.8.2 or later (or if Plymouth has been removed), enter the command:

sudo systemctl enable kdm.service -f

To enable KDM in Manjaro 0.8.1 or earlier (or if Plymouth has been added), enter the command:

sudo systemctl enable kdm-plymouth.service -f

LXDM

LXDM - the Lightweight X-Windows Display Manager - is designed for use with any desktop environment. It supports theming, automatic login, easy selection of multiple languages, and the automatic detection and use of multiple desktop environments.

To install LXDM, enter the command:

sudo pacman -S lxdm

File:Lxdmsessions.png

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To enable LXDM in Manjaro 0.8.2 or later (or if Plymouth has been removed), enter the command:

sudo systemctl enable lxdm.service -f

To enable LXDM in Manjaro 0.8.1 or earlier (or if Plymouth has been added), enter the command:

sudo systemctl enable lxdm-plymouth.service -f

SLiM

File:Slim.png

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SLiM - the Simple Login Manager - is designed for use with any desktop environment. Used by Manjaro Openbox and popular with Arch users, it supports theming, automatic login, and use of multiple desktop environments. Since version 1.6.2, SLiM now supports the automatic detection of desktop environments. It may be necessary for users who have installed Manjaro 0.8.7.1 and earlier to manually edit some configuration files to get it to work.

To install SLiM, enter the command:

sudo pacman -S slim

Additional themes for SLiM can also be obtained by entering the command:

sudo pacman -S slim-themes

Warning

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Unless you have installed Manjaro release 0.8.8 or later, DO NOT just reboot your system after installing and enabling SLiM! If you do, you will get no further than the login screen. You must first edit the /etc/slim.conf file and the ~/.xinitrc file to get it working before rebooting. Guidance on how to Configure SliM has been provided.

To enable SLiM in Manjaro 0.8.2 or later (or if Plymouth has been removed), enter the command:

sudo systemctl enable slim.service -f

SDDM

File:Sddmv2.png

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Warning

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When enabling auto-login with SDDM, you will not be able to change the settings of your Network Manager. This is because SDDM has not yet been configured by the developers to provide the requisite permissions to do so.

SDDM is a relatively new and lightweight QML-based Display Manager for use with any desktop environment. It supports theming, automatic login, and the automatic detection and use of multiple desktop environments.

To install SDDM, enter the command:

sudo pacman -S sddm

File:Sddmsessions.png

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To enable SDDM in Manjaro 0.8.2 or later (or if Plymouth has been removed), enter the command:

sudo systemctl enable sddm.service -f

LightDM

Note

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LightDM need some configuring to make it Correct but with the right Steps it Works

LigtDM is a light displaymanager without depencies of gnome. With the right greeter it works but need some manual intervention to do it, here some steps.

sudo pacman -S lightdm lightdm-another-gtk-greeter lightdm-another-gtk-greeter-themes accountsservice

First configure the Greeter in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf:

sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

[SeatDefaults]
# This sets the lightDM-another-greeter:
greeter-session=lightdm-another-gtk-greeter
# Depends on Desktop it Sets to your standard desktop:
user-session=xfce

LightDM.conf is configured. Now we have to configure the greeter. This a few lines you have to search mostly there you see "#" before it.

  sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm-another-gtk-greeter.conf

  [appearance]
  # Greeter theme. Themes are located in “themes” directory (“/usr/share/lightdm-$"):
  greeter-theme=gtk-greeter-160
  # Background color (#RRGGBB) or image:
  background=/usr/share/backgrounds/xfce/alone.jpg
  # User styles file:
  #css-file=
  # Logo: “file_path” or “#icon_name”
  #logo=
  # Gtk theme to use (in this case "greenbird" theme is used):
  gtk-theme=greenbird
  # Icons theme to use:
  icon-theme=kotenza
  #Not so important font setting:
  font-name=comfortaa

when all is done you can setup user icons.

  sudo systemctl enable accounts-daemon
  
  look in /var/lib/AccountsService/users/ for your name  if not so then you have to make it.you have to an text file with your username.
  with this info on board.

  [User]
  Language=nl_BE.utf8
  XSession=xfce
  Icon=/var/lib/AccountsService/icons/<username>.png

you have configured the the icon stuf.

make sure you install xorg-server-xephyr then u can do lightdm --test-mode to test how it works you get a black window with a patience you see if it working or not. are all certain of it.

Disable the running display manager forst with

  sudo systemctl disable mdm   # for example

then

  sudo systemctl enable lightdm

if you take another greeter it would work te same basicly for more infor you can read this further. -> [1]

Entrance

Entrance is a configurable DM designed for the Enlightenment desktop environment which allows selection of multiple themes, icons, and the enabling of virtual keyboards. The default installation offers a wallpaper with randomly displayed icons for each user account, although a fixed icon can be specified and custom icons compiled and added. When multiple Entrance themes are installed it is possible to have a default theme displayed on startup and individual themes that appear for each user as they begin login.

Entrance is available in the Arch User Repository (AUR) and may be installed with yaourt using the following command:

yaourt -S entrance-git

Troubleshooting

Display Manager Crashes (SystemD)

After Arch and other Arch-based derivatives introduced a new internal process called SystemD relatively recently, many display managers would crash upon attempting to log out and back in multiple times. While this should have been resolved at the time of writing, more experienced users encountering this problem can manually configure their display manager by editing the /etc/pam.d/[display manager] configuration file.

For example, where using SDDM, users would edit /etc/pam.d/sddm. For SLiM (already patched), it would be /etc/pam.d/slim, and so on. Once open, just add the following line at the end of the configuration file to solve the issue:

session 	required 	pam_systemd.so

Display Manager service cannot be disabled

If an old Display Manager service cannot be disabled with the command

sudo systemctl enable XXXX.service -f

(replace XXXX with the name of the Display Manager you want to disable), please try to disable all Display Managers on your System by deleting the following file:

sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service

Attention: After deleting this file, ALL Display Managers have been disabled and your system boots to a text-based interface [2]. You need to install and enable a Display Manager in order to be able to log in with a graphical user interface.

See Also

• Installation Guide for the NET Edition