Install Desktop

Display Server

🖥️ Xorg is the display server we will use

pacman -S xorg-server xorg-xinit xorg-xrandr xorg-xfontsel xorg-xlsfonts xorg-xkill xorg-xinput xorg-xwininfo

Desktop Environment

🗔 You need to select a desktop environment

• For beginners coming from Windows I recommend KDE Plasma or Cinnmaon.
• For a very resource friendy desktop I recommend Xfce or LXQt
• The instructions for KDE Plasma are tested by me because I use it. Others should work but you may need some extra packages for productive use (pull requests are welcome)

KDE Plasma

pacman -S plasma kdialog packagekit-qt6 kcalc icoutils libappimage konsole dolphin kdegraphics-thumbnailers svgpart ffmpegthumbs kdenetwork-filesharing gwenview kimageformats ark kate okular kcron kdf filelight print-manager

If you want to use KDE Connect (Pairing with Android phone)

pacman -S kdeconnect sshfs

See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/KDE

Xfce

pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies

See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xfce

GNOME

pacman -S gnome gnome-extra

See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GNOME

LXDE

pacman -S lxde lxdm-gtk3

See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/LXDE

LXQt

pacman -S lxqt breeze-icons pcmanfm-qt qterminal lxqt-sudo polkit-qt5

See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/LXQt

Cinnamon

pacman -S cinnamon cinnamon-translations nemo-fileroller nemo-image-converter nemo-preview xed xreader gnome-terminal metacity gnome-shell

See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Cinnamon

Budgie

pacman -S budgie-desktop network-manager-applet gnome

See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Budgie

Mate

pacman -S mate mate-extra gdm

See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MATE

Deepin

pacman -S deepin deepin-extra
nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
# append this line to use the deepin specific greeter
greeter-session=lightdm-deepin-greeter

See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Deepin

Display/Desktop Manager

🖥️ A display manager is basically your login screen where you enter your user details and select your Desktop Environment

LXDM (Included with LXDE)

pacman -S lxdm-gtk3
systemctl enable lxdm

See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/LXDM

SDDM (Included with KDE Plasma)

pacman -S sddm
systemctl enable sddm

See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/SDDM

GDM (Included with GNOME/Budgie/MATE)

pacman -S gdm
systemctl enable gdm

See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GDM

LightDM

pacman -S lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter
systemctl enable lightdm

See also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/LightDM