How to Check Which Desktop Environment You’re Using on Linux – Guide

Linux distributions like Arch Linux present a minimal desktop environment that is easy to use. This makes the operating system interactive and provides a more user-friendly experience.

If you’re a Linux beginner, you may not be familiar with desktop environments. Which one is currently installed on your system? Here’s how to find out. ..

What is a desktop environment?

A desktop environment is a collection of programs that make the operating system more user-friendly. It’s a front-end to the base operating system, if you prefer. ..

Most Linux desktop environments consist of a window manager and various applications that support other elements of the environment. For example, KDE, or the K Desktop Environment uses the KWin window manager and comes with additional applications such as Konsole and Ark, which are responsible for helping users to access the command line and manage files. ..

A window manager is a program that controls the placement and appearance of windows on a computer screen. A window system is the set of software and hardware that allows windows to be displayed on a monitor. The desktop environment is the collection of programs, files, and icons that appear on the desktop when a user logs in to their computer. Widgets are small programs or applications that can be added to the desktop to provide additional functionality. ..

  1. GNOME
  2. KDE
  3. Xfce
  4. Unity
  5. macOS Sierra ..

Check your current desktop environment on Linux

Desktop environments are free, but it can be hard to decide which one to use. Not knowing which one you’re using makes the decision even harder. ..

There are several ways to check which DE is installed on your Linux distribution, both in the command line and in graphical form. Some distributions, such as Ubuntu, offer a graphical interface for checking the DE installed on your system. Other distributions, such as Fedora, offer a command line interface for checking the DE installed on your system. Regardless of the distribution you use, there are several ways to check which DE is installed on your system:

  • In the graphical interface: Click System Settings > Appearance and Behavior > Desktop Environment (DE).
  • In the command line interface: type dpkg -l | grep de and press Enter. ..

Using Environment Variables

In Linux, environment variables store system-related data required by processes and applications to function properly. You can see the value of some specific environment variables that store information about your system’s desktop environment.

grep -v ‘^.*$’ /etc/passwd This command will grep through the contents of the /etc/passwd file, looking for any matches that match the given string.

The output will display the name of your desktop environment, if it is installed.

You can view the binary *-session file normally found in the /usr/bin directory to get similar results. ..

The ls command lists all of the files and directories in the current directory. The * wildcard matches any file or directory. The session command starts a new terminal session. ..

The displayed entries give you an idea of the system’s desktop environment. As you can see, the xfce4-session file denotes that the system is using Xfce.

Using Neofetch

Neofetch is a tool that displays system-related information in a presentable format. It is not part of the standard Linux packages, so you will have to manually install it on your system.

neofetch

In addition to the desktop environment, Xfce 4.16 includes a number of features that can be used to explore and customize the operating system and its components. One of these features is Neofetch, which displays information about the system’s running applications and kernel versions.

Using the GUI

desktop environment

GNOME desktop users can quickly check system details by opening the About section in Settings.

If you’re still having trouble finding the right desktop environment for your Linux distribution, you can simply Google which one comes pre-installed on most distributions. Because in most cases, the default desktop environment will be installed, unless you change it manually. ..

Final note

If you’re looking for a desktop environment on Linux, we’ve put together a guide that will help you choose the right one. In this article, we’ll take a look at three popular desktop environments – GNOME, KDE, and Unity – and explain how they work.