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+date = 2022-10-30
+title = "How to Disable or Change the Display Manager on Void Linux"
+description = "Learn how to remove or modify the display manager on Void Linux."
++++
+
+## 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.