How to Configure XFCE Desktop on Rocky Linux

Each Desktop is a graphical user interface, with its own shape and icon, such as how icons, windows, and menus are displayed, and other graphical features. The Linux vps operating system has several desktop environments. Due to the modular nature of desktop environments in Linux, you can choose any of these desktops. This article will teach you How to Configure XFCE Desktop on Rocky Linux.

What is XFCE Desktop?

XFCE is a free, open-source and lightweight desktop environment for Linux operating systems. The XFCE Desktop was developed in 1996 as the development of the Unix Common Desktop Environment (CDE) using the XForms Graphic Toolbox. It is designed to run well with minimal system resources. XFCE takes up only a tiny fraction of CPU and memory usage compared to its Gnome and KDE counterparts. It should note that XFCE is highly customizable, stable, and offers a myriad of built-in extensions to extend functionality.

XFCE Features

The components of the XFCE Desktop Environment include:

– The File Manager is called Thunar.

– The Panel is located at the top of the window.

– Windows Manager is a specialized Xfwm that utilizes its own Composer Manager.

– The Display Manager is called XFCE LightDM.

– The System Tray is a set of icons on the right side of the panel.

– The Favorites bar is a single icon on the left side of the panel that displays favorites, recent apps, and the application menu.

How to Configure XFCE Desktop on Rocky Linux

First, you should update your Linux system with the following command:

sudo dnf update

Before installing the XFCE desktop environment, you need to first install the EPEL repository. EPEL repository is a repository that offers high-quality software packages. You can enter the following command to install EPEL:

sudo dnf install epel-release

You can see the package groups available for installation on your system with the following command:

sudo dnf --enablerepo=epel group

In this step, you should enable the Power tools repository. Administrators can use standard Linux vps server package management tools to deploy and maintain tools on Linux systems with this Power tools repository. To do this run the following command:

sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled powertools

You can check whether power tools are enabling with the following command:

sudo dnf repolist

Now it’s time to install XFCE packages by entering the following command on your Rocky Linux:

sudo dnf group list

Next, you can check the XFCE Desktop Environment version for installation by running the following command:

sudo xfce4-panel --version

In this step, you should install the XFCE packages by executing the following command:

sudo dnf groupinstall "Xfce" "base-x"

How to Set Default Target System

First, you need to set the default Desktop Environment to Graphical by entering the following command. This will enable your system to default to graphical on the next login:

sudo systemctl set-default graphical

Now list the units by running the following command. By doing this you can verify if the default target is set to graphical:

systemctl list-units

If you want minimal server installation, you should enter the following command to start Desktop environment:

echo "exec /usr/bin/xfce4-session" >> ~/.xinitrc
startx

Then you need to reboot your system by executing the following command:

sudo systemctl reboot

In this step, you should click on settings in the login screen and select Xfce Session:

Finally, you should see Xfce Desktop Environment.

Conclusion

XFCE Desktop Environment is one of several desktop environments installed on the Linux system to improve the user experience. This article taught you how to configure XFCE Desktop on Rocky Linux. I hope this article was useful for you.