In this article, we look at installing different desktop environments on Centos 7 minimal installation. This is for the GUI lovers who love exploring the look and feel of GUI environments. We have installed GNOME, KDE, Cinnamon, Mate and Xfce desktop environments.
Installing GNOME Desktop environment
GNOME is the most popular environment in the latest distributions of Linux. It's the default environment in CentOS 7 GUI, Fedora 21 and later and Ubuntu 17.10.
To install GNOME Desktop run the following commands.
# yum -y groups install "GNOME Desktop
After the installation run the command below to start the GNOME environment
startx
The GNOME environment will start thereafter. After a reboot, The GNOME setup will prompt you to set up the following parameters.
- System Language
- Keyboard type
- System Language
- Online Accounts
- System Language
Finally, click on Start using CentOs 7. The default GNOME Desktop is the GNOME Classic. If you prefer to use the GNOME shell, type the following command before the startx command.
echo "exec gnome-session" >> ~/.xinitrc
startx
Alternatively, after a reboot, you can select your preferred environment at the login screen.
Installing KDE Desktop environment
To install the KDE desktop environment, run the following commands.
# yum -y groups install "KDE Plasma Workspaces"
After the installation completes, run the commands below
# echo "exec startkde" >> ~/.xinitrc
startx
Installing Cinnamon Desktop environment
For installation of a Cinnamon environment, install EPEL repo
yum -y install epel-release
then type the following commands
# yum --enablerepo=epel -y install cinnamon*
When the installation concludes, type,
# echo "exec /usr/bin/cinnamon-session" >> ~/.xinitrc
# startx
Installing MATE Desktop environment
To install MATE, type the following
# yum --enablerepo=epel -y groups install "MATE Desktop"
Run the commands below after the installation finishes
# echo "exec /usr/bin/mate-session" >> ~/.xinitrc
startx
Installing Xfce Desktop environment
Install the xfce environment by running the command below
# yum --enablerepo=epel -y groups install "Xfce"
After installation, input the commands below
echo "exec /usr/bin/xfce4-session" >> ~/.xinitrc
startx
Installing i3 Windows manager environment
i3 is a tiling windows manager which is versatile and supports tiling, stacking and tabbing layouts. It's low on resource consumption, highly customizable and does not require high-end hardware. Let's see how to install i3 on centos 7
Installation
yum --enablerepo=extras install epel-release
Then run
yum install i3
Graphics setting up for Systemd
Systemd can be used to change run levels to achieve a graphical interface. To check the target you are in, run the command below.
systemctl get-default
Sample Output
multi-user.target
Changing to graphical
To change to a graphical output type the command below
systemctl set-default graphical.target
If constantly working in the minimal environment get's too boring, you can explore the wide variety of desktop environments that CentOS 7 has to offer. You'll have pleasant varieties to choose from and experiment with. Feel free to share your experience with different environments, and opinions with us.
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