Change linux windows manager

Linux Commando

Initially a Linux command-line interface blog, it has evolved to cover increasingly more GUI app topics. Instead of just giving you information like some man page, I illustrate their usage in real-life scenarios.

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Sunday, July 20, 2014

How to change window manager for GNOME

If I ask a Linux user what desktop environment he is running, most likely he can tell me the correct answer — GNOME, KDE, Xfce, LXDE, etc. But if I ask him what window manager he is running, I won’t be too surprised if he can’t answer me. In fact, not long ago, I did not know that myself.

The Window Manager dictates how various visual elements — windows, panes, icons, etc — look, and how users may interact with these elements. There are many window manager choices: Metacity, Mutter, Compiz, Openbox, etc.

The key is that you are not locked in to any window manager. If you don’t like your current window manager, change it. This post explains how to change the window manager, specifically for the GNOME desktop environment.

Before we change it, let’s find out which window manager is currently running. To do that, you need to install and run a tool named wmctrl.

The above output tells us that Metacity is the current window manager.

The procedure to change the window manager is:

1. Choose a new window manager, say Mutter.
2. Install the new window manager.
3. Change window manager.

If you just want to try out the window manager, then execute the following command in your desktop environment:

The window manager is switched on-the-fly. However, Mutter does not persist after logging out. When you login to X, the window manager is reverted back to Metacity.

To make Mutter your new default, create the file

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How to change window manager

How to change window manager

#1 Post by Bernd Eggink » Wed Feb 20, 2019 6:55 am

Is it possible to change the window manager in a simple and reversible way? I mean, without damaging the system?

Re: How to change window manager

#2 Post by Jerry3904 » Wed Feb 20, 2019 8:07 am

Re: How to change window manager

#3 Post by baldyeti » Wed Feb 20, 2019 10:04 am

Re: How to change window manager

#4 Post by Stevo » Wed Feb 20, 2019 7:48 pm

Do you mean a real window manager such as compiz, kwin, and xfwm4, or what XFCE calls a window manager, which are just window decorations—titlebars and borders?

No matter what, yes, you can change either in XFCE without breaking anything; just check out the threads for using kwin or compiz in MX.

You can also add desktop environments such as KDE, Mate, Cinnamon, Budgie, etc, if that’s what you mean.

Re: How to change window manager

#5 Post by figueroa » Thu Feb 21, 2019 12:55 am

Disclaimer — I’m not an MX developer. What do you mean by window manager? XFCE, LXDE, Mate, etc, are usually referred to as Desktop Environments (DE). In common parlance, the DE sits on top of the window manger. The default window manager for XFCE is XFWM, for LXDE it’s Openbox, and so on.

If you mean, can you add a DE, such as LXDE, KDE, Mate or something similar, the answer is usually yes. May users have multiple DEs installed for the sake of enjoying more than one thing. Once a DE is installed, you can select your DE from the LightDM (display manager) login screen. Most display managers offer this choice. My understanding is that the additional DEs available in MX Package Installer have been tweaked and tested to not screw up your system.

My personal recommendation is that MX is sufficiently XFCE-centric that you may find less functionality under alternative DEs.

Re: How to change window manager

#6 Post by Bernd Eggink » Thu Feb 21, 2019 6:15 am

Thanks. I wasn’t aware of the «change DE» menu. I have been using the combination IceWM+ROX on Crux for a couple of years, and wondered if it would work on top of MX too. OK, I tried it, and it worked, but you’re right, Xfce is much more comfortable.
The only thing I’m missing a bit is the ability to switch between different desktops, which in IceWM can be done by simply re-assigning a symbolic link and redrawing the screen. Or is there a way to do this in Xfce as well?

Re: How to change window manager

#7 Post by anticapitalista » Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:18 am

anticapitalista
Reg. linux user #395339.

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit — lean and mean.
https://antixlinux.com

Re: How to change window manager

#8 Post by Richard » Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:25 am

Thinkpad T430; MX-21.0rc1; k 5.10.0-9-amd64 x86_64; Xfce-4.16.0;
. 8 GB RAM; Intel Core i5-3380M; Intel Graphics,Audio,Video; Storage: 2684 GiB

Dell Latitude E7450; MX-19.4; k 4.19.0-17-amd64; Xfce-4.14.2;
. ditto; Storage: 556 GiB

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Technical Essentials

Java, ADF, Android, Identity Management, Data Science, Machine Learning, Fusion Middleware, Linux, Counter Strike 1.6, BSD, Windows, Programming, Search Engines

Jun 7, 2009

Changing window manager in ubuntu

The problem that you might face when you install ubuntu is it’s default window manager GNOME is quite heavy on resources and tends to be buggy (for my pc configuration at least) so to cope up with resource crunch you can shift to a light window manager like fluxbox, XFCE etc as they tend to provide better performance than GNOME or KDE but are a little un-user friendly.

To change the window manager follow these steps:-

1) Install MENU :- The precondition for changing to any new window manager is to install the program MENU that manages the application menus so that you can launch the applications without the need of Gnome or KDE launchers.

To install MENU

• Open terminal i.e Application->Accesories->Terminal or press ALT+F2 and choose run in terminal
• Then type the following command in the terminal :-

sudo apt-get install menu
you will be asked for your password, enter it and the package menu will be installed.

2) Install the window manager :- The next step is to install the window manager itself. I would be explaining about how to install the FLUXBOX window manager.

The fluxbox window manager provides tab options, styles menu from which you can change the theme and wallpapers, configuration menu for configuring window display (including transparency,icons etc), wsm (text browser) and by default comes with 4 workspaces that you can toggle between, more workspace windows can be added. The thing that i like about it is that it’s very fast.

To install fluxbox execute the following command:-

sudo apt-get install fluxbox

3) Changing the window manager :- Now all you have to do is logout from ubuntu and then from the options on the login screen choose select session, choose Fluxbox and choose the window manager for current session only so that you can try it out before choosing to make it default.

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How to Remove Linux and Install Windows on Your Computer

For a Microsoft Windows XP version of this article, see 314458.

Summary

This article describes how you can remove the Linux operating system from your computer, and install a Windows operating system. This article also assumes that Linux is already installed on the hard disk using Linux native and Linux swap partitions, which are incompatible with the Windows operating system, and that there is no free space left on the drive.

Windows and Linux can coexist on the same computer. For additional information, refer to your Linux documentation.

More Information

To install Windows on a system that has Linux installed when you want to remove Linux, you must manually delete the partitions used by the Linux operating system. The Windows-compatible partition can be created automatically during the installation of the Windows operating system.

IMPORTANT: Before you follow the steps in this article, verify that you have a bootable disk or bootable CD-ROM for the Linux operating system, because this process completely removes the Linux operating system installed on your computer. If you intend to restore the Linux operating system at a later date, verify that you also have a good backup of all the information stored on your computer. Also, you must have a full release version of the Windows operating system you want to install.

Linux file systems use a «superblock» at the beginning of a disk partition to identify the basic size, shape, and condition of the file system.

The Linux operating system is generally installed on partition type 83 (Linux native) or 82 (Linux swap). The Linux boot manager (LILO) can be configured to start from:

The hard disk Master Boot Record (MBR).

The root folder of the Linux partition.

The Fdisk tool included with Linux can be used to delete the partitions. (There are other utilities that work just as well, such as Fdisk from MS-DOS 5.0 and later, or you can delete the partitions during the installation process.) To remove Linux from your computer and install Windows:

Remove native, swap, and boot partitions used by Linux:

Start your computer with the Linux setup floppy disk, type fdisk at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.

NOTE: For help using the Fdisk tool, type m at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.

Type p at the command prompt, and then press ENTER to display partition information. The first item listed is hard disk 1, partition 1 information, and the second item listed is hard disk 1, partition 2 information.

Type d at the command prompt, and then press ENTER. You are then prompted for the partition number you want to delete. Type 1, and then press ENTER to delete partition number 1. Repeat this step until all the partitions have been deleted.

Type w, and then press ENTER to write this information to the partition table. Some error messages may be generated as information is written to the partition table, but they should not be significant at this point because the next step is to restart the computer and then install the new operating system.

Type q at the command prompt, and then press ENTER to quit the Fdisk tool.

Insert either a bootable floppy disk or a bootable CD-ROM for the Windows operating system on your computer, and then press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to restart your computer.

Install Windows. Follow the installation instructions for the Windows operating system you want to install on your computer. The installation process assists you with creating the appropriate partitions on your computer.

Examples of Linux Partition Tables

Single SCSI drive

Multiple SCSI drives

Single IDE drive

Multiple IDE drives

Also, Linux recognizes more than forty different partition types, such as:

FAT 16 > 32 M Primary (Type 06)

FAT 16 Extended (Type 05)

FAT 32 w/o LBA Primary (Type 0b)

FAT 32 w/LBA Primary (Type 0c)

FAT 16 w/LBA (Type 0e)

FAT 16 w/LBA Extended (Type 0f)

Note that there are other ways to remove the Linux operating system and install Windows than the one mentioned above. The preceding method is used in this article because the Linux operating system is already functioning and there is no more room on the hard disk. There are methods of changing partition sizes with software. Microsoft does not support Windows installed on partitions manipulated in this manner.

Another method of removing an operating system from the hard disk and installing a different operating system is to use an MS-DOS version 5.0 or later boot disk, a Windows 95 Startup disk, or a Windows 98 Startup disk that contains the Fdisk utility. Run the Fdisk utility. If you have multiple drives, there are 5 choices; use option 5 to select the hard disk that has the partition to be deleted. After that, or if you have only one hard disk, choose option 3 («Delete partition or logical DOS drive»), and then choose option 4 («Delete non-DOS partition»). You should then see the non-DOS partitions you want to delete. Typically, the Linux operating system has two non-DOS partitions, but there may be more. After you delete one partition, use the same steps to delete any other appropriate non-DOS partitions.

After the partitions are deleted, you can create partitions and install the operating system you want. You can only create one primary partition and an extended partition with multiple logical drives by using Fdisk from MS-DOS version 5.0 and later, Windows 95, and Windows 98. The maximum FAT16 primary partition size is 2 gigabytes (GB). The largest FAT16 logical drive size is 2 GB. For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

105074 MS-DOS 6.2 Partitioning Questions and Answers
If you are installing Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000, the Linux partitions can be removed and new partitions created and formatted with the appropriate file system type during the installation process. Windows allows you to create more than one primary partition. The largest partition that Windows NT 4.0 allows you to create during installation is 4 GB because of the limitations of the FAT16 file system during installation. Also, the 4-GB partitions use 64-KB cluster sizes. MS-DOS 6.x and Windows 95 or Windows 98 do not recognize 64-KB cluster file systems, so this file system is usually converted to NTFS during installation. Windows 2000, unlike Windows NT 4.0, recognizes the FAT32 file system. During the installation of Windows 2000, you can create a very large FAT32 drive. The FAT32 drive can be converted to NTFS after the installation has completed if appropriate.

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