%general-entities; ]> $LastChangedBy$ $Date$ Back up your existing ~/.xinitrc file and create a new .xinitrc file to start KDE: echo "exec startkde" > ~/.xinitrc ~/.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 KDE 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 startkde" >> ~/.xinitrc Check the ~/.xinitrc file and ensure you have no other window managers or other X applications mentioned before KDE. If you installed the package, ensure the XDG_DATA_DIRS and XDG_CONFIG_DIRS environment variables are configured properly as explained in that package and update the MIME-type application database (as root): update-desktop-database Ensure all libraries can be found with (as root): ldconfig At this point you can bring up KDE with: startx