How to change desktop from Gnome to Xfce

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Hi, I have recently installed antergos-17.1-x86_64.iso on my DELL Inspiron 5559 laptop

I chose the Gnome desktop but would like to change this to Xfce and wondered how best to do this. I have a few questions…

1. Using Add/Remove Software would be the easiest way for me as I am still learning antergos but not sure which packages I should select for installation.

2. Would using the terminal be a better way? Again not sure of packages or correct syntax to use.

3. Is there any processes I need to stop after installing Xfce or do I just reboot and choose Xfce when at the login screen.

Any advice guidance would be appreciated.

better if you choose terminal so you can call package groups:

sudo pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies

now you can logout from gnome and login to xfce.

to uninstall gnome:

sudo pacman -Runs gnome

should work on standard installation.
But may someone have a better way?

systemd daemons and services are the same as far as i know.

@hughparker1 Hi! you don’t need to uninstall gnome desktop, and i’m not sure how many packages Antergos uses but belongs to gnome, so removing gnome could remove some Antergos packages.
I guess the fastest way to install is through terminal, just typing sudo pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies

@joekamprad lol, you’re fast, didn’t see you responded…

Better two brains
True that may uninstalling gnome will uninstall also some packages xfce will need…
But you can simple reinstall via the same command to instal xfce in the first… but better before reboot

@joekamprad and he’ll need to look which packages were uninstalled, that’s boring hehehe

@fernandomaroto maybe boring, but he will get some knowledge about how it all is nitting together

@joekamprad said in How to change desktop from Gnome to Xfce:

better if you choose terminal so you can call package groups:

sudo pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies

now you can logout from gnome and login to xfce.

to uninstall gnome:

sudo pacman -Runs gnome

should work on standard installation.

But may someone afe a better way?

systemd daemons and services are the same as far as i know.

Thanks @joekamprad for quick reply. i entered your suggested command in terminal but there was a message displayed…

[[email protected] ~]$ sudo pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies
[sudo] password for hugh: 
:: There are 16 members in group xfce4:
:: Repository extra
   1) exo  2) garcon  3) gtk-xfce-engine  4) thunar  5) thunar-volman  6) tumbler  7) xfce4-appfinder  8) xfce4-panel
   9) xfce4-power-manager  10) xfce4-session  11) xfce4-settings  12) xfce4-terminal  13) xfconf  14) xfdesktop  15) xfwm4
   16) xfwm4-themes
Enter a selection (default=all):

Just wondered what selection I should use, if I need only specific packages, do I enter each number with a space between ?
Or if I need all packages do I just enter the word all
thanks also @fernandomaroto for your feedback

@hughparker1 i suggest to just hit “Enter” to install everything, the message will prompt twice for xfce4 and xfce4-goodies.

@fernandomaroto said in How to change desktop from Gnome to Xfce:

@hughparker1 i suggest to just hit “Enter” to install everything, the message will prompt twice for xfce4 and xfce4-goodies.

Thanks for quick reply, I just hit “Enter” and installed everything, the message prompted for both xfce4 and xfce4-goodies as you said.

I rebooted and can now select Xfce desktop and login, I only needed to change the icon theme to numix-square-light, added the Whisker Menu, and it’s looking very nice. Perfect actually. I might just leave gnome as it doesn’t seem to have any effect on the system.

Thanks for all the help it is much appreciated.

Yes only a lot of unused apps will appear all the time, it will be more comfortable to uninstall Gnome Stuff, if you do not need to run Gnome.

@joekamprad said in How to change desktop from Gnome to Xfce:

Yes only a lot of unused apps will appear all the time, it will be more comfortable to uninstall Gnome Stuff, if you do not need to run Gnome.

I decided to try to uninstall gnome and then re-install xfce then reboot but when I login, I can still see gnome desktop option and when I select Xfce, although I can see Thunar, Mousepad etc, i can still see the unused apps in menu like gedit, file manager etc. So it doesn’t look like it did anything. Here is the output from the terminal, I am not sure what to look for …

[[email protected] ~]$ sudo pacman -Runs gnome
[sudo] password for hugh: 
checking dependencies...
warning: removing gvfs from target list
warning: removing evince from target list
warning: removing tracker from target list
warning: removing gnome-session from target list
warning: removing gnome-settings-daemon from target list
warning: removing gnome-themes-standard from target list
warning: removing nautilus from target list
warning: removing grilo-plugins from target list
warning: removing gnome-shell from target list
warning: removing gnome-shell-extensions from target list
warning: removing adwaita-icon-theme from target list
warning: removing gnome-keyring from target list
warning: removing libgxps from target list
warning: removing libspectre from target list
warning: removing poppler-glib from target list
warning: removing djvulibre from target list
warning: removing t1lib from target list
warning: removing gtk3-print-backends from target list
warning: removing caribou from target list
warning: removing mutter from target list
warning: removing telepathy-logger from target list
warning: removing telepathy-mission-control from target list
warning: removing lua from target list
warning: removing libmediaart from target list
warning: removing gom from target list
warning: removing libcdio-paranoia from target list
warning: removing udisks2 from target list
warning: removing nautilus-sendto from target list
warning: removing gnome-autoar from target list
warning: removing libnautilus-extension from target list
warning: removing libgsf from target list
warning: removing enca from target list
warning: removing libiptcdata from target list
warning: removing libcue from target list
warning: removing libosinfo from target list
warning: removing libgrss from target list
warning: removing recode from target list
warning: removing colord from target list
warning: removing osinfo-db from target list
warning: removing libatasmart from target list
warning: removing libgusb from target list
:: gnome-flashback optionally requires gnome-backgrounds: Default background
:: gnome-flashback optionally requires gnome-control-center: System settings
:: gnome-shell optionally requires gnome-control-center: System settings
:: gvfs optionally requires gvfs-mtp: MTP device support
:: udisks2 optionally requires parted: partition management

Packages (24) cheese-3.22.1-2  clutter-gst-3.0.22-1  colord-gtk-0.1.26+5+ga9d9c91-1
              gnome-color-manager-3.22.2-1  libgnomekbd-3.22.0.1-1  libmtp-1.1.12-1  libpwquality-1.3.0-2
              parted-3.2-5  shared-color-targets-0.1.7-1  xdg-user-dirs-0.15-4  baobab-3.22.1-1
              eog-3.20.5-1  gnome-backgrounds-3.22.1-1  gnome-calculator-3.22.3-1
              gnome-contacts-3.22.1+4+gb235b6d-1  gnome-control-center-3.22.1-1  gnome-disk-utility-3.22.1-1
              gnome-font-viewer-3.22.0+1+gd3cf893-1  gnome-screenshot-3.22.0+1+g7568f0e-1
              gnome-system-monitor-3.22.2-1  gnome-terminal-3.22.1-1  gvfs-mtp-1.30.3-1
              totem-3.22.0+5+ge0bf46e-1  xdg-user-dirs-gtk-0.10+9+g5b7efc6-1

Total Removed Size:  98.92 MiB

:: Do you want to remove these packages? [Y/n] y
:: Running pre-transaction hooks...
(1/1) Removing old entries from the info directory file...
:: Processing package changes...
( 1/24) removing xdg-user-dirs-gtk                                [####################################] 100%
Removed /etc/systemd/user/default.target.wants/xdg-user-dirs-update.service.
( 2/24) removing xdg-user-dirs                                    [####################################] 100%
( 3/24) removing totem                                            [####################################] 100%
( 4/24) removing gvfs-mtp                                         [####################################] 100%
( 5/24) removing libmtp                                           [####################################] 100%
( 6/24) removing gnome-terminal                                   [####################################] 100%
( 7/24) removing gnome-system-monitor                             [####################################] 100%
( 8/24) removing gnome-screenshot                                 [####################################] 100%
( 9/24) removing gnome-font-viewer                                [####################################] 100%
(10/24) removing gnome-disk-utility                               [####################################] 100%
(11/24) removing parted                                           [####################################] 100%
(12/24) removing gnome-control-center                             [####################################] 100%
(13/24) removing libpwquality                                     [####################################] 100%
(14/24) removing libgnomekbd                                      [####################################] 100%
(15/24) removing gnome-color-manager                              [####################################] 100%
(16/24) removing shared-color-targets                             [####################################] 100%
(17/24) removing colord-gtk                                       [####################################] 100%
(18/24) removing gnome-contacts                                   [####################################] 100%
(19/24) removing cheese                                           [####################################] 100%
(20/24) removing clutter-gst                                      [####################################] 100%
(21/24) removing gnome-calculator                                 [####################################] 100%
(22/24) removing gnome-backgrounds                                [####################################] 100%
(23/24) removing eog                                              [####################################] 100%
(24/24) removing baobab                                           [####################################] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/6) Compiling GSettings XML schema files...
(2/6) Updating icon theme caches...
(3/6) Reloading GVFS config...
(4/6) Updating udev hardware database...
(5/6) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(6/6) Updating the desktop file MIME type cache...
[[email protected] ~]$

[[email protected] ~]$ sudo pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies
:: There are 16 members in group xfce4:
:: Repository extra
   1) exo  2) garcon  3) gtk-xfce-engine  4) thunar  5) thunar-volman  6) tumbler  7) xfce4-appfinder
   8) xfce4-panel  9) xfce4-power-manager  10) xfce4-session  11) xfce4-settings  12) xfce4-terminal
   13) xfconf  14) xfdesktop  15) xfwm4  16) xfwm4-themes

Enter a selection (default=all): 
warning: exo-0.10.7-2 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: garcon-0.4.0-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: gtk-xfce-engine-2.10.1-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: thunar-1.6.11-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: thunar-volman-0.8.1-2 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: tumbler-0.1.31-2 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-appfinder-4.12.0-4 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-panel-4.12.1-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-power-manager-1.6.0.41.g9daecb5-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-session-4.12.1-6 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-settings-4.12.1-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-terminal-0.8.4-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfconf-4.12.1-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfdesktop-4.12.3-3 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfwm4-4.12.3-2 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfwm4-themes-4.10.0-2 is up to date -- reinstalling
:: There are 36 members in group xfce4-goodies:
:: Repository extra
   1) mousepad  2) orage  3) thunar-archive-plugin  4) thunar-media-tags-plugin  5) xfburn  6) xfce4-artwork
   7) xfce4-battery-plugin  8) xfce4-clipman-plugin  9) xfce4-cpufreq-plugin  10) xfce4-cpugraph-plugin
   11) xfce4-datetime-plugin  12) xfce4-dict  13) xfce4-diskperf-plugin  14) xfce4-eyes-plugin
   15) xfce4-fsguard-plugin  16) xfce4-genmon-plugin  17) xfce4-mailwatch-plugin  18) xfce4-mount-plugin
   19) xfce4-mpc-plugin  20) xfce4-netload-plugin  21) xfce4-notes-plugin  22) xfce4-notifyd
   23) xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin  24) xfce4-screenshooter  25) xfce4-sensors-plugin
   26) xfce4-smartbookmark-plugin  27) xfce4-systemload-plugin  28) xfce4-taskmanager
   29) xfce4-time-out-plugin  30) xfce4-timer-plugin  31) xfce4-verve-plugin  32) xfce4-wavelan-plugin
   33) xfce4-weather-plugin  34) xfce4-xkb-plugin
:: Repository community
   35) ristretto  36) xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin

Enter a selection (default=all): 
warning: mousepad-0.4.0-2 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: orage-4.12.1-3 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: thunar-archive-plugin-0.3.1-6 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: thunar-media-tags-plugin-0.2.1-2 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfburn-0.5.4-3 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-artwork-0.1.1a_git20110420-4 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-battery-plugin-1.1.0-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-clipman-plugin-1.4.1-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-cpufreq-plugin-1.1.3-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-cpugraph-plugin-1.0.5-4 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-datetime-plugin-0.7.0-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-dict-0.7.2-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-diskperf-plugin-2.6.1-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-eyes-plugin-4.4.5-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-fsguard-plugin-1.1.0-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-genmon-plugin-4.0.0-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-mailwatch-plugin-1.2.0-7 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-mount-plugin-1.1.2-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-mpc-plugin-0.5.0-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-netload-plugin-1.3.1-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-notes-plugin-1.8.1-2 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-notifyd-0.3.5-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin-0.2.4+8+g50c9279-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-screenshooter-1.8.2-3 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-sensors-plugin-1.2.6-3 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-smartbookmark-plugin-0.5.0-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-systemload-plugin-1.2.1-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-taskmanager-1.2.0-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-time-out-plugin-1.0.2-2 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-timer-plugin-1.6.0-4 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-verve-plugin-1.1.0-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-wavelan-plugin-0.6.0-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-weather-plugin-0.8.9-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-xkb-plugin-0.7.1-2 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: ristretto-0.8.2-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
warning: xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin-1.7.0-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (52) exo-0.10.7-2  garcon-0.4.0-1  gtk-xfce-engine-2.10.1-1  mousepad-0.4.0-2  orage-4.12.1-3
              ristretto-0.8.2-1  thunar-1.6.11-1  thunar-archive-plugin-0.3.1-6
              thunar-media-tags-plugin-0.2.1-2  thunar-volman-0.8.1-2  tumbler-0.1.31-2  xfburn-0.5.4-3
              xfce4-appfinder-4.12.0-4  xfce4-artwork-0.1.1a_git20110420-4  xfce4-battery-plugin-1.1.0-1
              xfce4-clipman-plugin-1.4.1-1  xfce4-cpufreq-plugin-1.1.3-1  xfce4-cpugraph-plugin-1.0.5-4
              xfce4-datetime-plugin-0.7.0-1  xfce4-dict-0.7.2-1  xfce4-diskperf-plugin-2.6.1-1
              xfce4-eyes-plugin-4.4.5-1  xfce4-fsguard-plugin-1.1.0-1  xfce4-genmon-plugin-4.0.0-1
              xfce4-mailwatch-plugin-1.2.0-7  xfce4-mount-plugin-1.1.2-1  xfce4-mpc-plugin-0.5.0-1
              xfce4-netload-plugin-1.3.1-1  xfce4-notes-plugin-1.8.1-2  xfce4-notifyd-0.3.5-1
              xfce4-panel-4.12.1-1  xfce4-power-manager-1.6.0.41.g9daecb5-1
              xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin-0.2.4+8+g50c9279-1  xfce4-screenshooter-1.8.2-3
              xfce4-sensors-plugin-1.2.6-3  xfce4-session-4.12.1-6  xfce4-settings-4.12.1-1
              xfce4-smartbookmark-plugin-0.5.0-1  xfce4-systemload-plugin-1.2.1-1  xfce4-taskmanager-1.2.0-1
              xfce4-terminal-0.8.4-1  xfce4-time-out-plugin-1.0.2-2  xfce4-timer-plugin-1.6.0-4
              xfce4-verve-plugin-1.1.0-1  xfce4-wavelan-plugin-0.6.0-1  xfce4-weather-plugin-0.8.9-1
              xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin-1.7.0-1  xfce4-xkb-plugin-0.7.1-2  xfconf-4.12.1-1
              xfdesktop-4.12.3-3  xfwm4-4.12.3-2  xfwm4-themes-4.10.0-2

Total Installed Size:  65.87 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:       0.00 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
(52/52) checking keys in keyring                                  [####################################] 100%
(52/52) checking package integrity                                [####################################] 100%
(52/52) loading package files                                     [####################################] 100%
(52/52) checking for file conflicts                               [####################################] 100%
(52/52) checking available disk space                             [####################################] 100%
:: Processing package changes...
( 1/52) reinstalling xfconf                                       [####################################] 100%
( 2/52) reinstalling exo                                          [####################################] 100%
( 3/52) reinstalling garcon                                       [####################################] 100%
( 4/52) reinstalling gtk-xfce-engine                              [####################################] 100%
( 5/52) reinstalling thunar                                       [####################################] 100%
( 6/52) reinstalling thunar-volman                                [####################################] 100%
( 7/52) reinstalling tumbler                                      [####################################] 100%
( 8/52) reinstalling xfce4-appfinder                              [####################################] 100%
( 9/52) reinstalling xfce4-panel                                  [####################################] 100%
(10/52) reinstalling xfce4-power-manager                          [####################################] 100%
(11/52) reinstalling xfce4-session                                [####################################] 100%
(12/52) reinstalling xfce4-settings                               [####################################] 100%
(13/52) reinstalling xfce4-terminal                               [####################################] 100%
(14/52) reinstalling xfdesktop                                    [####################################] 100%
(15/52) reinstalling xfwm4                                        [####################################] 100%
(16/52) reinstalling xfwm4-themes                                 [####################################] 100%
(17/52) reinstalling mousepad                                     [####################################] 100%
(18/52) reinstalling orage                                        [####################################] 100%
(19/52) reinstalling thunar-archive-plugin                        [####################################] 100%
(20/52) reinstalling thunar-media-tags-plugin                     [####################################] 100%
(21/52) reinstalling xfburn                                       [####################################] 100%
(22/52) reinstalling xfce4-artwork                                [####################################] 100%
(23/52) reinstalling xfce4-battery-plugin                         [####################################] 100%
(24/52) reinstalling xfce4-clipman-plugin                         [####################################] 100%
(25/52) reinstalling xfce4-cpufreq-plugin                         [####################################] 100%
(26/52) reinstalling xfce4-cpugraph-plugin                        [####################################] 100%
(27/52) reinstalling xfce4-datetime-plugin                        [####################################] 100%
(28/52) reinstalling xfce4-dict                                   [####################################] 100%
(29/52) reinstalling xfce4-diskperf-plugin                        [####################################] 100%
(30/52) reinstalling xfce4-eyes-plugin                            [####################################] 100%
(31/52) reinstalling xfce4-fsguard-plugin                         [####################################] 100%
(32/52) reinstalling xfce4-genmon-plugin                          [####################################] 100%
(33/52) reinstalling xfce4-mailwatch-plugin                       [####################################] 100%
(34/52) reinstalling xfce4-mount-plugin                           [####################################] 100%
(35/52) reinstalling xfce4-mpc-plugin                             [####################################] 100%
(36/52) reinstalling xfce4-netload-plugin                         [####################################] 100%
(37/52) reinstalling xfce4-notes-plugin                           [####################################] 100%
(38/52) reinstalling xfce4-notifyd                                [####################################] 100%
(39/52) reinstalling xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin                      [####################################] 100%
(40/52) reinstalling xfce4-screenshooter                          [####################################] 100%
(41/52) reinstalling xfce4-sensors-plugin                         [####################################] 100%
(42/52) reinstalling xfce4-smartbookmark-plugin                   [####################################] 100%
(43/52) reinstalling xfce4-systemload-plugin                      [####################################] 100%
(44/52) reinstalling xfce4-taskmanager                            [####################################] 100%
(45/52) reinstalling xfce4-time-out-plugin                        [####################################] 100%
(46/52) reinstalling xfce4-timer-plugin                           [####################################] 100%
(47/52) reinstalling xfce4-verve-plugin                           [####################################] 100%
(48/52) reinstalling xfce4-wavelan-plugin                         [####################################] 100%
(49/52) reinstalling xfce4-weather-plugin                         [####################################] 100%
(50/52) reinstalling xfce4-xkb-plugin                             [####################################] 100%
(51/52) reinstalling ristretto                                    [####################################] 100%
(52/52) reinstalling xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin                     [####################################] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/4) Compiling GSettings XML schema files...
(2/4) Updating icon theme caches...
(3/4) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(4/4) Updating the desktop file MIME type cache...
[[email protected] ~]$

Does the output show why i can still see the gnome packages?

the package group “gnome” is from origin ArhLinux, while Antergos installs a different packagelist for the gnome-Desktop.

You should do a:

sudo pacman -Runs gnome-extra

or you do it with the help of pamac go to “groups” and check “gnome” “gnome-extra” “gnome-shell-extensions” from left menue it will listen all packages from this group… uninstall all packages from this groups…

@fernandomaroto said in How to change desktop from Gnome to Xfce:

i’m not sure how many packages Antergos uses but belongs to gnome, so removing gnome could remove some Antergos packages.

@joekamprad said in How to change desktop from Gnome to Xfce:

True that may uninstalling gnome will uninstall also some packages xfce will need…
But you can simple reinstall via the same command to instal xfce in the first… but better before reboot

@joekamprad said in How to change desktop from Gnome to Xfce:

the package group “gnome” is from origin ArhLinux, while Antergos installs a different packagelist for the gnome-Desktop.

You should do a:

sudo pacman -Runs gnome-extra

or you do it with the help of pamac go to “groups” and check “gnome” “gnome-extra” “gnome-shell-extensions” from left menue it will listen all packages from this group… uninstall all packages from this groups…

Thanks @joekamprad for getting back to me with your suggestion above.

Because both @fernandomaroto and yourself warned me that “removing gnome could remove some Antergos packages” I decided to check the three groups you mentioned “gnome” “gnome-extra” “gnome-shell-extensions”

I compared the packages listed in each group with my other laptop on which I installed standard “antergos-17.1 Xfce”

and have listed which ones that are used by the Xfce install so I won’t uninstall those, here is the list in case someone else want to do the same…

Group						used
gnome						Xfce?
			adwaita-icon-theme	YES	
			evince			YES
			gnome-keyring 		YES
			gnome-session		NO
			gnome-settings-daemon	NO
			gnome-shell		NO
			gnome-shell-extensions	NO
			gnome-themes-standard	NO
			grilo-plugins		NO
			gtk3-print-backends	NO
			gvfs			YES
			mutter			NO
			nautilus		NO
			tracker			NO

gnome-extra					Xfce?
			brasero			NO
			file-roller		YES
			gedit			NO
			gnome-calendar		NO
			gnome-documents		NO
			gnome-logs		NO
			gnome-maps 		NO
			gnome-music		NO
			gnome-photos		NO
			gnome-sound-recorder 	NO
			gnome-tweak-tool	NO
			gnome-weather		NO
			nautilus-sendto		NO
			orca			NO
			seahorse		NO

gnome-shell-extensions				Xfce?
	gnome-shell-extension-dash-to-dock 	NO

So I will uninstall the packages that are only used exclusively by Gnome.

Thanks to you both for helping me on this, much appreciated. I did learn a bit more about packages and package groups along the way

EDIT: I opened package manager to remove the packages, and first chose the gnome group and selected 10 packages as listed above, but when I clicked Apply, I got a Transaction Summary with a list of packages which included xfce4-settings even though I hadn’t selected that package. So I canceled the transaction, as this package is used on my other laptop which already has Antergos Xfce.

see screenshot … http://imgur.com/a/EGqIu with details

I’m not sure how to proceed so wondered if you can advise. Still have a lot to learn about packages and package groups I’m afraid.

Thanks again.

simple uninstall with dependency xfce4-settings, as packagemanager want, after this reinstall xfce4 from terminal with:

sudo pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies 

All will be like before… only without gnome

@joekamprad said in How to change desktop from Gnome to Xfce:

simple uninstall with dependency xfce4-settings, as packagemanager want, after this reinstall xfce4 from terminal with:

sudo pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies 

All will be like before… only without gnome

I did as you suggested and all working perfectly now. Thanks again @joekamprad, i’m understanding packages a little bit more now thanks to you and @fernandomaroto.