How do I set my window manager in Fedora 20 without using a graphical login prompt?

I'm using Fedora 20 and I've disabled the graphical login so now when I boot I'm presented with a standard console to log into. When I log in and run startx I get Metacity. How can I change this on a per-user basis to be, say, Xfce or the Awesome window manager?

I figured I would have to edit .xinitrc but it's either getting ignored or I've got some syntax problems. I haven't found a lot of documentation on this; it seems like Fedora expects you to keep the GUI. Before I disabled the graphical login, I was able to change the window manager successfully so I know the other window managers do work.

Update: I've determined that either .xinitrc or .xsession is being looked at, and if neither of these files exist, then the default window manager is loaded. I believe I'm encountering some syntax problems. Consider this question solved.

m-rod

Posted 2014-08-29T20:10:32.020

Reputation: 45

Answers

Is there a startxfce command?

On one server I work with, startx would boot some ghetto Window Manager, but startxfce4 would start XFCE.

EDIT: fvwm is the name of the desktop environment that would start with startx

UbuntuForums_Staff_Are_Trolls

Posted 2014-08-29T20:10:32.020

Reputation: 120

Yeah, there is- I was looking at an old Slackware server that I hadn't booted up in years and it was running Xfce. It was "exec"ing startxfce after setting some variables and checking to see if there was indeed a screen to load X Windows on. I think I've just got to devote some time to figuring out the vagaries of the Xfce exec script. – m-rod – 2014-09-03T19:57:53.860