A display manager often referred as login manager is a graphical user interface you see when the boot process completes. It is responsible for loading the login window and then the desktop environment once you enter the credentials.
In a X Windows System, a display manager presents the graphical login manager which starts a X server session once the username / password are entered.
Being a Linux user, you never run out of alternatives; same is the case with Display Manager. There are many display managers which you can install and switch between, just to give yourself a new login screen.
Question is, why would you like to switch your default display manager, and the answer is simple.
- You need a new login interface.
- You have to choose a display manager by yourself to set up for some distributions like Arch Linux.
- Your primary OS replaced the default display manager and you want the earlier one back - Ubuntu has switched to GDM3 from lightdm from Ubuntu 18.04.
- You want a lightweight display manager.
- You love to be a minimalist, and want a console based display manager.
In this article, we will see some of the popular display managers and the steps to install and switch between them.
GDM3 : GNOME Display Manager
GNOME Display Manager 3 (GDM3) is the default diplsay manager for GNOME desktops and a successor to gdm.
Features
- In consistent to the look and feel o GTK/GNOME themed application.
- Options to select various desktop environments and windows managers.
- Virtual keyboard support.
- Regional settings and keyboard layouts can be set on per-login basis.
Install GDM3
sudo apt-get install gdm3
Remove GDM3
sudo apt-get remove gdm3
Customizing GDM3
You can perform some basic customizations to GDM3 like changing the logo icon, display background and GTK theme.
- Edit the below file as root/etc/gdm3/greeter.dconf-defaults
- Modify / Uncomment the desired settings, save and exit.
- Run the below command to reconfigure it,sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm3
- Reboot and you will see the changes.
X Display Manager - XDM
XDM is the default display manager for X Windows System. It's perhaps the oldest display manager introduced in 1988 and is very minimalist, both in feature and interface.
Features
- It can manager X servers running on local machine or a remote X servers using XDMCP.
- It is highly configurable and most of the behaviour can be controlled by resource files and shell scripts.
- It provides a simple and straight forward graphical login prompt.
Install XDM
sudo apt-get install xdm
Remove XDM
sudo apt-get remove xdm
LightDM
LightDM is a display manager from Canonical which was the default for Unity desktop environments. Being a lightweight, it is configurable and various themes are available.
Features
- Cross desktop and allows multiple GUIs
- Supports for all display-managers use cases
- Simpler code base than GDM3, doesn't load GNOME libraries to work.
- Standards compliance (PAM, logind etc).
Install LightDM
sudo apt-get install lightdm
Remove LightDM
sudp apt-get remove lightdm
SDDM : Simple Desktop Display Manager
SDDM became the default display manager from KDE5 replacing kdm and comes by default with systems that run KDE like Kubuntu.
Features
- It is fast, simple and beautiful, with smooth, animated user interfaces.
- Supports themes.
- Designers have premade components like textbox, combox for theme creation.
Install SDDM
sudo apt-get install sddm
Remove SDDM
sudo apt-get remove sddm
How to replace your default Display Manager
I hope you already have installed a different display manager than the default one your system comes with. Lets see how you can replace it.
Debian / Ubuntu based :
sudo dpkg-reconfigure <display-manager-name>
You can repeat this process to switch between different display managers. Changes will take effect only after a reboot.
Troubleshooting : In case something goes wrong in trying any of the above display manager in Linux, use CTRL + ALT + F1 to switch to console mode and then run the above command with the display manager that was working fine earlier!
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