Other Desktop Environments

Whonix ®

Download

Windows Linux Mac VirtualBox KVM Qubes Intel / AMD64 ARM64 PPC64 USB ISO Raspberry Pi More options Source Code

About

Overview Features Whonix vs VPNs Why Open Source? Project Activities Contributors Mission & Vision

Docs

Documentation FAQ Troubleshooting

Community

Forums Forum Best Practices Contribute

Support

Self Support First Policy Search Engines, Docs and AI Support (Limited) Reporting Bugs Contact (Restricted)

Tools Upload file Special pages Recent changes Print Version Page meta What links here Related changes Page information

Page Read Edit History Move Protection Unwatch Watch Delete Purge

User Preferences Watchlist Contributions Logout Create account Login

Donate

• Anonymize Other Operating Systems
• Other Desktop Environments

How to use Other Desktop Environments other than Xfce with Whonix. Current situation. Risks. Future. (GNOME, KDE, LXDE, MATE, ...)

Current Situation

The Downloadable Whonix versions are available with either:

• Xfce desktop environment; OR
• CLI text terminal only (no desktop environment).

However, other desktop environments like GNOME, KDE, LXDE and so on can be manually installed.

Risks

When installing your own desktop environment such as GNOME, you're on your own. If you are going that path, start with Whonix CLI, the text terminal only version of Whonix, which comes without a desktop environment installed by default, and install a desktop environment of your choice there. This is much better than starting with Whonix Xfce and then uninstalling Xfce to install another desktop environment.

Other desktop environments install other background services. The Whonix project hasn't researched the security/privacy implications of having these installed. For example, GNOME automatically installs GeoClue. (systemcheck warns if that very package is installed, but still... Other desktop environments also ship a different selection of default applications that have not necessarily been checked for security/privacy. Installing your own desktop environment may result in installing software packages not well hardened or chosen based on security wise.

Live mode related: This is only applicable to users of live mode. There is no live mode indicator systray for other desktop environments. Live vs Persistent Mode as well as issue notifications would be missed.

Future

Since Whonix is an Open Source / Freedom Software project, Whonix developers are hoping that other developers join the project and maintain other desktop environments. That someone could be you?

See Also

• Whonix Debian Packages, which ones are safe to remove?

Footnotes

Whonix The most watertight privacy operating system in the world.

Dark mode

Follow us on social media

Supported by Power Up Privacy

Whonix is proudly supported until 2025 by Power Up Privacy, a privacy advocacy group that seeks to supercharge privacy projects with resources so they can complete their mission of making our world a better place. (Strictly subject to our sponsorship policy.)

At Whonix we value freedom and trust, supporting Open Source and Freedom Software

By using this website, you acknowledge you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these agreements: Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, E-Sign Consent, DMCA, Imprint 2012- 2025 ENCRYPTED SUPPORT LLC

Your support makes
all the difference!

We believe security software like Whonix needs to remain open source and independent. Would you help sustain and grow the project? Learn more about our 13 year success story and maybe DONATE!