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I recently installed Arch Linux and have it mostly set up. With many other Linux distributions, there is a tool that is used to configure the look and feel of the login screen. I would like to change the wallpaper used, the date/time format from something like "Sat 6:27 PM" to "26 Feb 11 18:27", and the refresh rate of the monitor (it's fine when I'm logged in, but not at the login screen).

Where can I find these configuration options or (preferably) a GNOME application to allow for me to make these configuration changes?

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4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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The ArchWiki is a very good source of information. This is where I found the following:

To configure the GDM theme use this command:

sudo -u gdm dbus-launch gnome-appearance-properties

For more configuration options, use this command:

sudo -u gdm dbus-launch gconf-editor

And modify the following hierarchies:

/apps/gdm/simple-greeter
/desktop/gnome/interface
/desktop/gnome/background

You may end up with an Xauth error. If that happens, try gksudo instead of sudo. If the error persists, you can do this:

xauth list $DISPLAY

This gives you the xauth cookie being used by your user. Copy the output, then run the following, replacing "" with the output of the previous command.

sudo su -u gdm
xauth add <cookie>
dbus-launch gnome-appearance-properties

This logs you in as the gdm user, adds the cookie, permitting gdm to use your display, and launches gnome-appearance-properties.

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  • 1
    When I try to run "sudo -u gdm dbus-launch gconf-editor", I get "No protocol specified" and "Couldn't exec gconf-editor: No such file or directory". I'll re-read that page and poke around, though.
    – Thomas Owens
    Feb 27, 2011 at 2:10
  • @thomas-owens I added some steps to try.
    – Shawn J. Goff
    Feb 27, 2011 at 2:56
  • So I did this and launched gnome-appearance-properties, which is just the Appearance Preferences from System > Preferences > Appearance. There's no way to adjust anything about the login screen on that application. I'm now looking at gconf-editor, which I had to install separately. Nothing jumps out at me, but there are a ton of options, so I'll have to read some docs and poke around a little.
    – Thomas Owens
    Feb 27, 2011 at 5:17
  • I should have added that the login screen is the background image for the gdm user. Previous versions of GDM supported themes, but it no longer does.
    – Shawn J. Goff
    Feb 27, 2011 at 15:38
  • I get sudo: unkown user: gdm from doing what @ShawnJ.Goff suggests
    – Hatefiend
    Jan 8, 2018 at 12:39
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The only way I've found to do it was to modify/replace the file:

/usr/share/backgrounds/linuxmint/default_background.jpg

The file is 1920x1200 and I've only tried replacing it with another jpg of the same resolution.

You may want to make a backup of the original default_background.jpg just in case.

After replacing it you can test how the image will look by locking your computer.

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  • much appreciated!
    – raucousloki
    Oct 30, 2011 at 1:56
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The only one that worked for me on Arch Linux:

sudo -u gdm dbus-launch gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.screensaver picture-uri 'file:///usr/share/backgrounds/gnome/picture.jpg'

Then, you can verify it worked:

sudo -u gdm gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.screensaver picture-uri

Or verify using dconf:

sudo -u gdm dconf read /org/gnome/desktop/screensaver/picture-uri
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At least on my systems the default login provides a menu option to change the configuration from the login screen.

But the monitor refresh is not controlled by GDM, that is an X server configuration, edited in the xorg.conf file.

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