%general-entities; ]> Create (or append to) a ~/.xinitrc file to start GNOME: echo "exec gnome-session" >> ~/.xinitrc If you have installed, you can start the D-BUS session daemon here as well. Starting the session daemon here has the added bonus that it will exit when you log out of your GNOME session. If you wish to start the daemon here, use the following command instead of the one shown above: echo "exec dbus-launch --exit-with-session gnome-session" >> ~/.xinitrc Check the ~/.xinitrc file and ensure you have no other window managers or other X applications mentioned before GNOME. Ensure all libraries can be found by updating the linker's cache (as root): ldconfig Update the MIME-type application database (as root): update-desktop-database At this point you can bring up GNOME with startx.