Can I additionally have XFCE installed on my Manjaro GNOME?

I have the newest Manjaro GNOME, can I have XFCE installed alongside GNOME just like I would on some other distros like Debian?
If so how do I do that without breaking my install

Yes you can. Here is how to do it. Wiki is a bit broken on my browser atm though… Table of Contents is hovering. idk if it’s the same for you.

You’ll want to create a new user to use XFCE, so that configs do not conflict.

sudo useradd -mG lp,network,power,sys,wheel <username>
sudo passwd <username>

Do I really have to create a new user?

Do you have to? No, but you’re likely going to run into issues due to conflicting configs.

So like hey Im trying to open a file and it opens with an XFCE app when Im on GNOME?

No, it’s more that the 2 desktop environments will keep overwriting each other’s config files. And eventually, could make your current user not usable (at least in the GUI, tty should still work) until you either somehow fix the config files or make a new user.

1 Like

Okay I get, is there a way tho to simply replace my current GNOME desktop? I would like to keep my stuff by which I mean installed programs and stuff

I don’t know of a simple way to do so

You’ll need to install XFCE from the link above, still make a new user to avoid possible config conflicts of current configs in your ~/.config folder, boot into XFCE with new user, then uninstall every GNOME package

FYI - making a new user does not uninstall packages, you can still use all of your currently installed packages as a new user.

Most configurations I want to save is tied to my user, like vim stuff or more like stuff that’s around it which ofc is messy af like everything of this nature

You can just copy those specific configs from ~/.config (or wherever your program stores the configs/settings) to your new user.

That being said, you could back up your computer, and try to install XFCE over GNOME, boot into XFCE, uninstall all GNOME packages, and remove configs you don’t need. See if that works. If you run into issues, just revert back with your backup.

Alternatively, if you want to try Xfce before actually switching to it, you can first

  • install Manjaro Xfce in a virtual machine
  • try a Manjaro Xfce LiveUSB

Do note that, when switching desktop on an already installed system, the new desktop is initialized with the desktop defaults rather than the distribution defaults.

If you are using GNOME per your post, you can use the layout switcher in Manjaro’s GNOME which will give you a traditional desktop layout that looks like Xfce. You can even customize somewhat. That saves you the trouble of installing a different desktop. Or you can dual boot and add Manjaro Xfce as a different installation. Hope this helps you out. Best regards…:+1: