Changing Login from Console to X at Startup

Q: Changing to Graphical Login

How do I change my login from the console to the graphical screen?

A. Edit /etc/inittab

Instead of logging in to your system at the console and typing the startx command to start the X Window System, you can configure your system so that you can log in directly to X.

You must edit one file, /etc/inittab, by changing just one number in the runlevel section. When you're finished, log out and, the next time you log in, you'll have a graphical screen.

Open a shell prompt. If you're in your user account, su to root by typing

su Password: yourrootpassword

Now, type pico /etc/inittab to edit the file with Pico. The file /etc/inittab will open. Within the first screen, you'll see a section of the file which looks like this:

# Default runlevel. The runlevels used by RHS are: # 0 - halt (Do NOT set initdefault to this) # 1 - Single user mode # 2 - Multiuser, without NFS (The same as 3, if you do not have networking) # 3 - Full multiuser mode # 4 - unused # 5 - X11 # 6 - reboot (Do NOT set initdefault to this) # id:3:initdefault:

To change from a console to a graphical login, you should change the number in the line id:3:initdefault: from a 3 to a 5.

Your changed line should look like:

id:5:initdefault:

When you're satisfied with your change, save and exit the file using the [Ctrl]-[x] keys. You'll see a message telling you that the file has been modified, and asking you to confirm your change. Type [y] for yes.

That's it. Your next login will be from the graphical screen.