How to determine which window manager (and desktop environment) is running

Question

Is there any way (such as a command or environmental variable) to determine what window manager is the one actively running in the current session?

Answer 1

If you have wmctrl installed, the first line of output from command

wmctrl -m

will show you the name of the window manager. If you don't have wmctrl installed, use the following command to install it:

sudo apt-get install wmctrl

Note, man wmctrl (that is, the man page for wmctrl) says in part:

-m Display information about the window manager ...

On my Ubuntu 11.10 / Linux 3.0.0-14-generic #23-Ubuntu x86_64 / metacity 2.34.1 system, the first line of output from wmctrl -m was: Name: Metacity
while echo $DESKTOP_SESSION showed ubuntu-2d and echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP showed Unity.

On a fresh Ubuntu 15.10 install of Ubuntu desktop software on an old laptop, the first line of output from wmctrl -m was: Name: Compiz
while the DESKTOP_SESSION and XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP values were ubuntu and Unity

Answer 2

On Linux systems I tested environment variables XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP and GDMSESSION and got the following results.

You can use this line to get the output:

printf 'Desktop: %s\nSession: %s\n' "$XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP" "$GDMSESSION"

Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04 (Ubuntu on GNOME)

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=ubuntu:GNOME
• GDMSESSION=ubuntu

Ubuntu 18.04 (Ubuntu on Wayland)

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=ubuntu:GNOME
• GDMSESSION=ubuntu-wayland

---

Ubuntu 16.04

Unity (7)

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity
• GDMSESSION=ubuntu

---

Ubuntu 14.04

Unity running with Mir

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity
• GDMSESSION=ubuntu

Note MIR_SERVER_NAME is also set

• MIR_SERVER_NAME=session-$NUMBER

Unity running without Mir

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity
• GDMSESSION=ubuntu

XFCE

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=XFCE
• GDMSESSION=xfce

---

Ubuntu 12.04

KDE

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=
• GDMSESSION=kde-plasma

Unity 3D

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity
• GDMSESSION=ubuntu

Unity 2D

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity
• GDMSESSION=ubuntu-2d

Gnome

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
• GDMSESSION=gnome-shell

Gnome Classic

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
• GDMSESSION=gnome-classic

Gnome Classic (no effects)

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
• GDMSESSION=gnome-fallback

---

Other Ubuntu based distributions

Mint 13 (Cinnamon)

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
• GDMSESSION=cinnamon

Mint 16 (KDE edition)

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=KDE
• GDMSESSION=default

Mint 17 (Cinnamon)

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=X-Cinnamon
• GDMSESSION=default

Lubuntu 12.04

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=LXDE
• GDMSESSION=Lubuntu

Wasta 14.04 / 18.04

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=X-Cinnamon
• GDMSESSION=cinnamon

Wasta 14.04 using Gnome desktop.

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
• GDMSESSION=gnome

Ubuntu Mate 18.04

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=MATE
• GDMSESSION=mate

Xubuntu 18.04

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=XFCE
• GDMSESSION=xubuntu

Kali Linux kali-rolling 2020.2

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
• GDMSESSION=lightdm-xsession

Answer 3

In the terminal type env to see all environment variables. Some of them are:

XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP - Tells you what desktop environment you are using

GDMSESSION - Tells you what option you selected from the lightdm greeter to login.

To use them, go to the terminal and type:

echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

(Will output for example 'unity' if you are using Unity)

or

echo $GDMSESSION  

(Will output for example 'ubuntu' if you selected ubuntu in the login or 'ubuntu-2d' if you selected that one in the login.)

You have others if you look closer at the output of env like DESKTOP_SESSION and COMPIZ_CONFIG_PROFILE

Since what you are looking for is the name of what Window Manager is in use, the only way I see how to get this is by looking in the process list. To do this there is a command called pgrep ( Wikipedia ). I did the following to get the name since the parameter -l adds the process ID:

pgrep -l compiz |cut -d " " -f2 since the process is running by the same user there is no need to prefix the sudo part. You can then use this to create a script that does an action based on the Window Manager.

To look for other types, just change the word compiz to another like mutter, kwin, etc..

Answer 4

I found pstree to be a big help.

Installation

sudo apt-get install pstree

output

This is what I got.

 ├─lightdm─┬─Xorg───2*[{Xorg}]
 │         ├─lightdm─┬─gnome-session─┬─bluetooth-apple───2*[{bluetooth-apple}]
 │         │         │               ├─compiz─┬─sh───gtk-window-deco───2*[{gtk-window-deco}]
 │         │         │               │        └─5*[{compiz}]
 │         │         │               ├─deja-dup-monito───2*[{deja-dup-monito}]
 │         │         │               ├─gnome-fallback-───2*[{gnome-fallback-}]
 │         │         │               ├─gnome-screensav───2*[{gnome-screensav}]
 │         │         │               ├─gnome-settings-───2*[{gnome-settings-}]
 │         │         │               ├─nautilus───2*[{nautilus}]
 │         │         │               ├─nm-applet───2*[{nm-applet}]
 │         │         │               ├─polkit-gnome-au───2*[{polkit-gnome-au}]
 │         │         │               ├─ssh-agent
 │         │         │               ├─telepathy-indic───2*[{telepathy-indic}]
 │         │         │               ├─update-notifier───2*[{update-notifier}]
 │         │         │               ├─vino-server───2*[{vino-server}]
 │         │         │               ├─zeitgeist-datah───{zeitgeist-datah}
 │         │         │               └─3*[{gnome-session}]
 │         │         └─{lightdm}
 │         └─2*[{lightdm}]

Answer 5

xprop -id $(xprop -root -notype | awk '$1=="_NET_SUPPORTING_WM_CHECK:"{print $5}') -notype -f _NET_WM_NAME 8t 

Answer 6

Just two cents.

$ sudo apt install neofetch
$ neofetch

Answer 7

#! /bin/bash


windowManagerName () {
    local window=$(
        xprop -root -notype
    )

    local identifier=$(
        echo "${window}" |
        awk '$1=="_NET_SUPPORTING_WM_CHECK:"{print $5}'
    )

    local attributes=$(
        xprop -id "${identifier}" -notype -f _NET_WM_NAME 8t
    )

    local name=$(
        echo "${attributes}" |
        grep "_NET_WM_NAME = " |
        cut --delimiter=' ' --fields=3 |
        cut --delimiter='"' --fields=2
    )

    echo "${name}"
}


windowManagerName

Or in one line:

id=$(xprop -root -notype | awk '$1=="_NET_SUPPORTING_WM_CHECK:"{print $5}'); xprop -id "${id}" -notype -f _NET_WM_NAME 8t | grep "_NET_WM_NAME = " | cut --delimiter=' ' --fields=3 | cut --delimiter='"' --fields=2

Answer 8

I've been testing also with KDE and my conclusion is:

a) Graphical way, with HardInfo: the answer is normally in "Operating System" > "Desktop Environment", but if not you can look to "Environment variables". HardInfo is ready with all the tested distros, except the one with KDE, but it can be easily and quickly installed (only 2 packages in Linux Mint 13).

b) Command line, with this command: ps -A | egrep -i "gnome|kde|mate|cinnamon|lx|xfce|jwm" -wo | sort -u. The item that appears in more lines should be the answer (if there is a draw the item with "session" should be the solution). And it works through SSH.

Answer 9

This question is 9 years old, but still topical. On my Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS, I get :
wmctrl -m: GNOME Shell
inxi -Sxx: Desktop = Gnome 3.36.4; wm = gnome-shell; dm = GDM3 3.36.3
gnome-shell -- version: 3.36.4
env:GDM_SESSION : ubuntu ; DESKTOP_SESSION: ubuntu ; XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP: ubuntu:GNOME
BUT
xprop... (from ruario): _NET_WM_NAME : GNOME Shell ; _GNOME_WM_KEYBINDINGS : Mutter, GNOME Shell ; _MUTTER_VERSION : 3.36.7
and neofetch: de = GNONE ; wm = Mutter
I deduce from this (but not very sure): GNOME is the desktop manager and GNOME Shell the window manager (Mutter must be a trace of my previous LTS versions 16.04 et 18.04).

Answer 10

None of the above actually worked for me, I just wanted to know whether I had Gnome running as my current desktop session.

This is what worked, open a terminal

lsb_release -a

(to check which flavor or version I had installed on my UBUNTU​ machine)

ls /usr/bin/*session

(launches which desktop session/desktop environment currently in use)

gnome-shell --version 

(to find out which version of gnome is installed)

Answer 11

You can use tool called inxi. It can be obtained from Ubuntu Repositories by:

sudo apt install inxi

or from github : https://github.com/smxi/inxi

Just run the command as follows:

inxi -Sx
System:    Host: blackhole Kernel: 5.1.15-050115-lowlatency x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0
           Desktop: i3 4.16.1-178-g31c0f1b8 Distro: Ubuntu 19.04 (Disco Dingo)

Note the Desktop: i3 part. In my case the window manager I use is i3.

Option -S displays system info and x adds info about window manager.

Answer 12

Desktop Environment lxqt (e.g. Lubuntu >= 18.10)

One way is open ~/.config/lxqt/session.conf and find

[General]
__userfile__=true
window_manager=openbox // <==

Answer 13

One solution that works through SSH :

$ cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager | xargs basename
lightdm

Answer 14

Script

The following script resulted as the best answer to a similar question I posted over at unix.se. It also works great with Unity and LXDE.

if [ "$XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP" = '' ]
then
  desktop=$(echo "$XDG_DATA_DIRS" | sed 's/.*\(xfce\|kde\|gnome\).*/\1/')
else
  desktop=$XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP
fi

desktop=${desktop,,}  # convert to lower case
echo "$desktop"

Answer 15

This is sort of possible with dbus and the Accounts Service (both by default in Ubuntu).

$ qdbus --system org.freedesktop.Accounts \                                                                
> /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 \                                                                                     
> org.freedesktop.Accounts.User.XSession                                                                                   
ubuntu

Worth noting that I've tested this with logging in through lightdm (that is the graphical login screen) , it did detect a classic desktop like blackbox , and obviously detects Unity. I suspect this is a value of what user selects on the login screen as session, that's why it's a bit easier to use that checking for processes