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+date = 2022-10-30
+title = "How to Disable or Change the Display Manager on Void Linux"
+description = "Learn how to change the default dm on Void Linux or disable it completely."
++++
+
+## Display Manager Services
+
+In order to change the [display 
+manager](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_manager) on Void Linux - or any 
+other Linux distro - you need to identify the currently enabled display manager.
+
+### Disabling the Current Display Manager
+
+Void Linux only has one ISO available for download with a pre-built display 
+manager at the time of this post: the XFCE ISO. If you've installed this 
+version, the pre-assigned display manager is `lxdm`. If you installed another 
+display manager, replace `lxdm` in the following command with the display 
+manager you have installed.
+
+To disable `lxdm`, simply remove the service symlink:
+
+```sh
+sudo rm /var/service/lxdm
+```
+
+### Enabling a New Display Manager
+
+If you want to enable a new display manager, you can do so after `lxdm` is 
+disabled. Make sure to replace `<new_display_manager>` with your new DM, such as 
+`gdm`, `xdm`, etc.
+
+
+```sh
+sudo ln -s /etc/sv/<new_display_manager> /var/service
+```
+
+## Set Up  `.xinitrc`
+
+Depending on your setup, you may need to create a few X files, such as 
+`~/.xinitrc`. For my personal set-up, I created this file to launch the i3wm as 
+my desktop.
+
+```sh
+nano ~/.xinitrc
+```
+
+```sh
+#!/bin/sh
+
+exec i3
+```
+
+If you run a desktop other than i3, simply replace `i3` with the shell command 
+that launches that desktop.
+
+## Set Up Your Shell Profile
+
+Finally, in order to automatically launch an X session upon login, you will need 
+to edit the `.bash_profile` (bash) or `.zprofile` (zsh) files for your 
+shell:
+
+```sh
+nano ~/.zprofile
+```
+
+Add the following snippet to the end of the shell profile file. This will 
+execute the `startx` command upon login.
+
+```sh
+if [ -z "${DISPLAY}" ] && [ "${XDG_VTNR}" -eq 1 ]; then
+	exec startx
+fi
+```
+
+Alternatively, you can ignore this step and simply choose to manually execute 
+`startx` upon login. This can be useful if you have issues with your desktop or 
+like to manually launch different desktops by choice.