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shugg

Member

Registered: 2025-11-28

Posts: 7  

How to change the Login background in Excalibur ?

Hello !

I've been using Devuan Excalibur since a short time and I appreciate it. However, I would like to change the blue Login background that is too flashy for my eyes (I prefer darker and softer themes), but I don't know how to do it. Does anybody know how change this background ?

Thank you in advance for your help !

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devuan beginner

rbit

Member

Registered: 2018-06-12

Posts: 87  

Re: How to change the Login background in Excalibur ?

If you're talking about the default installation of xfce with slim, the default login background seems to be a combination of /usr/share/slim/themes/desktop-slim-theme/panel.png, /usr/share/slim/themes/desktop-slim-theme/background.png, and the settings "background_style" and "background_color" contained in /usr/share/slim/themes/desktop-slim-theme/slim.theme.  Modifying these files should change the login background.
Or, if you'd like to try out a different theme, edit /etc/slim.conf and change the "current_theme" setting (use directory names under /usr/share/slim/themes/ for a list of theme names)

Last edited by rbit (2025-11-28 17:19:49)

shugg

Member

Registered: 2025-11-28

Posts: 7  

Re: How to change the Login background in Excalibur ?

@rbit : Thanks for the answer but I don't know how to modify the files (Devuan and  Gnu-Linux are new things for me).

And when I try to edit /etc/slim.conf, I can't save because the file is in "read-only mode".

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golinux

Administrator

Registered: 2016-11-25

Posts: 3,602  

Re: How to change the Login background in Excalibur ?

You have to log in as root to make that change.

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shugg

Member

Registered: 2025-11-28

Posts: 7  

Re: How to change the Login background in Excalibur ?

@golinux : Okay thanks, but I don't know which commands to do in the terminal after I'm logged in root

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brocashelm

Member

Registered: 2020-06-29

Posts: 167  

Re: How to change the Login background in Excalibur ?

Are you logged in as root in a graphical session (not recommended) or using something like Sudo in a terminal window (recommended)? For the latter, just refer to Rbit's post on locating specific configuration files and append a command such as Nano or Vim to them.

For example, typing in sudo nano /etc/slim.conf will escalate user privileges by allowing you to directly modify the respective file. Make your changes, and then save with Ctrl+O. If you want to try a different preinstalled theme, you can then use cd /usr/share/slim/themes/ and type ls within that directory to view the available themes to choose from for the configuration file.

shugg

Member

Registered: 2025-11-28

Posts: 7  

Re: How to change the Login background in Excalibur ?

@brocashelm : Thanks a lot ! I did the sudo nano /etc/slim.conf command, changed the theme, saved and it works ! I'm happy

Then if I chose a personal image instead of a preinstalled theme as background, what command should I do ?

I know there's a way to do it with LightDM but I don't want to install it.

Last edited by shugg (2025-11-29 08:14:16)

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devuan beginner

rbit

Member

Registered: 2018-06-12

Posts: 87  

Re: How to change the Login background in Excalibur ?

Then if I chose a personal image instead of a preinstalled theme as background, what command should I do ?

Probably the easiest way to achieve this is to set your current_theme to "original" (in /etc/slim.conf).  Then in a terminal, run

cd /usr/share/slim/themes/original
sudo mv background.jpg background.backup
sudo cp $HOME/newbackground.jpg ./background.jpg

That is, assuming the background image you want to use is called "newbackground.jpg" in your home directory.  Replace that part of the last command with the actual file name and path.

shugg

Member

Registered: 2025-11-28

Posts: 7  

Re: How to change the Login background in Excalibur ?

@rbit : Thank you !

I tried but it didn't work. I had to make a mistake because when I restarted, the screen was black. And I didn't know what to do (I'm a beginner), I had to reinstall Excalibur and it takes me some time. So I'm gonna wait a little while before I make any other changes. Curve-Darkpurpy on login screen works for me right now (It's dark so it's cool for my eyes).

My request is somehow partially resolved. I'll try to come it back later. Thanks to everyone for your help

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devuan beginner

Ron

Member

Registered: 2018-04-22

Posts: 569  

Re: How to change the Login background in Excalibur ?

Why not just copy the image you want over to /usr/share/slim/themes/<theme_name>/? Then just delete the current image (or rename it to something else) and change the name of the new image to background.png/jpg.

Did you also know you can put multiple folders in /usr/share/slim/themes/ and make an edit to /etc/slim.conf so that you can have multiple images it randomly chooses from? That's what I do.

Last edited by Ron (Yesterday 11:17:25)

shugg

Member

Registered: 2025-11-28

Posts: 7  

Re: How to change the Login background in Excalibur ?

@Ron :  Thank you, but I don't know what to enter in the terminal to do what you suggest. I understand so little about GNU/Linux, Debian, etc. that I sometimes almost regret W10 and its ease of use

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devuan beginner

Ron

Member

Registered: 2018-04-22

Posts: 569  

Re: How to change the Login background in Excalibur ?

You don't have to do it from the terminal. I don't. A few things would help to know. What desktop environment did you install with Devuan? Xfce, Mate, something else? Also it would be nice to know what text editor you use.

A few words of encouragement: the more you start to play with "Linux," the more you'll start to understand things. Everybody was a beginner once.

greenjeans

Member

Registered: 2017-04-07

Posts: 1,333  

Website

Re: How to change the Login background in Excalibur ?

Why not just copy the image you want over to /usr/share/slim/themes/<theme_name>/? Then just delete the current image (or rename it to something else) and change the name of the new image to background.png/jpg.

Simplest way right there. But it absolutely helps a LOT if you have a couple of right-click context items, Open as Root and Edit as Root.

I haven't used slim in many years, can you not just specify a specific image in slim.conf?

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golinux

Administrator

Registered: 2016-11-25

Posts: 3,602  

Re: How to change the Login background in Excalibur ?

Nope. Slim is called that for a reason.

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chris2be8

Member

Registered: 2018-08-11

Posts: 357  

Re: How to change the Login background in Excalibur ?

@shugg, the first terminal command to learn is man (short for manual) which tells you how to use terminal commands.
Start with:
man less # less is the program man uses to display the man pages.
man man # Tells you how to use man
man cp # cp is short for copy, can be used to copy files to a new place.
man sudo # For when you need to be root to do something.

Whenever someone recommends a command you are not familiar with read the man page first so you can tell what it will do before you run it. In time you will built up a useful set of commands.