So you don't have to do very much at all to set it up. You simply add a start up file which you create yourself in your text edit. But there are a few things you have to do first to get the important things such as network manager and others to run when you log into IceWM. So here is how to set up IceWM.
IceWM can be used on it's own without any desktop environment but it is better to install it alongside a desktop environment. Because it then picks up most of your settings such as your start menu applications and Home folders such as Documents and others. Which will be visible when you log into IceWM. IceWM can also be used inside of other desktop environments that support change of window managers such as the Mate desktop, Gnome Flashback, LXDE,LXQT and Xfce desktops. If you have Compiz installed which you can then switch to IceWM as the selected window manager using Compiz Fusion. But here we will focus on how to set up IceWM to run on it's own as a desktop. Well sort of anyway.
First thing you have to do is install IceWM from your package manager or software center or using the terminal. As I installed it on Debian 13 Trixie with the Cinnamon desktop I go into my system folder in Nemo. The Icewm folder is in your /usr/share folder. So you need to go to /user/share and look for a folder called icewm. Then copy that folder to your Home folder. You need to do this to edit the files to ad items to start up. Once you have coped the icewm folder to your home. You must rename that folder to .icewm which then makes it a hidden folder in Home. Then in your file manager (in my case) Nemo I tick show hidden files in the settings. To show the hidden files.
Things you will need.
This is what I used to set up my IceWM.
I will list those here.
Lxappearence to change both the themes, the fonts and the icon themes.
Lxpolkit which you must install in order to be able t run admin tools.
MatePolkit which you must also have in order to run most other system tools that depend on it the same as you do with your main desktop environment. So both must be installed and if not then you do need to install them.
PCManFM File manager or PCManFM-QT (if using IceWM alongside LXQT desktop) to draw both the desktop icons and desktop background and wallpaper.
SpaceFM file manager can also be used but it is not as user friendly and does not have a Trash folder. Which is why it's PCManFM which I use.
You can also use other file managers such as Nemo, Caja or Thunar but they won't draw the desktop background. As Nemo can only draw the desktop icons. So if you do you another file manager you will either have to install Nitrogen to change the wallpaper. Or use the default wallpapers provided in IceWM which in this case are the Debian Wallpapers. But then you won't have the desktop icons.
So PCManFM is the best one to use as it will give you both.
Mate- Power-Manager- or Xfce4-Power-Manager to enable screen brightness and battery control. If you have the Mate or Xfce desktop then you will already have this. But if not then you do need to install it because the Gnome, Cinnamon and KDE Power Managers won't work outside their own desktop environments. So won't work in IceWM neither will LXQT Power Manager. So either the Mate or Xfce Power Manager will need to be installed.
One they are you then need to go into the desktop file in /user/share/applications to remove the line in it that says OnlyShowIn Mate or XFCE. You also need to open the /usr folder as Root to do this. Once that is done they should show up in IceWM but you must also add then to your startup file as I have done.
Mate Notifications Daemon or Xfce4 Notify to get pop up notifications although some people don't want them. But if you do then you need either Mate or Xfce4 Notify and again you need to edit the desktop file to remove the OnlyShowInMate orXfce so that they show up in IceWM and then add them to startup.
PNMixer which is a system tray sound control mixer which enables you to both set your keybinding for the sound keys on your keyboad to work. As well as choose what sound mixer you want which is either Pavucontrol or AlsaMixerGUI or any sound mixer you have installed. Again you ad this to your startup file. You will most likely have Alsa Utils as well as Pulseaudio and Pipewire installed.
If you are running Debian, Ubuntu or Fedora because that is what comes with most Linux operating systems. Unless you have done a minimal install in which case you may have to install those yourself.
Debian and Ubuntu also come with Xorg and X11-Utils which are also needed to run IceWM as IceWM is X11. So that should also be installed if not then you need to install those as well.
Create A Startup File.
Then what you have to do is to create a start up file called startup. You can do this with Gedit.Pluma, or any text editor you have. Then to add items to the startup up file such as network manager you add then as follows. Here is an example file:
nm-applet &
pcmanfm --desktop &
So you type the actual system file command into your start up file then the & after it as shown above. To find out what the command or package name of the application you want to ad to start up is. You can just right click on Nemo or what ever file manager you have which will tell you this.
Above is my startup file and how it should look. Once that is done you must then make the file executable. To do this just right click on your text file in Gedit and click properties then tick "make executable" and that is it. You must do this so that your programs will run at start up.
You need to also make sure that Mate-Polkit and Lxpolkit is installed and enabled at startup. So that you will be able to run your admin tools such as Synaptic Package Manager and your software center. To be able to install and remove software. And to be able to use other system tools such as Users Admin and others. Otherwise they will not work in IceWM. As you can see in my startup file everything is set up and ready to run in IceWM.
Enable System Notification Sounds(Optional.)
IceWM also has the option to enable system notification sounds including a startup and shutdown sound. So that every time you open or close a window or application or have notifications it will play a sound. Which is something we don't get on other window managers but we do on IceWM. This is optional and if you don't want this. Then you can skip this step. But here is how to enable sounds if you want them.
The IcewWM website has sound themes that you can download and use in IceWM. But you can use any sound theme you want. The only thing is that if you want to you the Ubuntu or Linux Mint sound theme for example. You will have to rename or convert the ogg or oga file to wav files. Because Icesound which is the settings daemon that plays the sounds in IceWM can only play wav files.
So to enable systems sounds in IceWM you fist have to add IceSound to startup. You do this by typing the following into the start up file that you created:
icesound &
Then save the file and close.
Then you need to create a new folder in .icewm folder in Home called sounds then copy and paste the sound files you want into that folder as you can see here. Any edit files from your other sound themes must be named as you can see in the picture. As Icesound does not read them as the Freedesktop files are read on your main desktop such as Mate or Cinnamon. So any sound files you copy from Linux Mint sound theme must be remamed exactly as the Ice files are. Example, WindowMin.wav WindowMax.wav so that they will play in IceWM. Here is my screenshot of my sound files for IceWM.
This is how your IceWM folder should look with your system sounds enabled. To create a startup and shutdown sound you just add paplay /path to sound file & to your start up file.
Then for the shutdown sound which will play when you log out, restart and shutdown your computer you simply create a shutdown file using your text edit. Then add the paplay command (which is pulseaudio) to that test file example paplay /path to sound file & save then make the text file executable as we did with the startupfile by clicking properties then tick "make executable" save and close.
My shutdown file for the shutdown sound is here.
I have chosen the Linux Mint logout sound for this but it can be any sound you want and it will play at logout and shutdown.
This is how your IceWM folder should look in your Home folder.
Now we are ready to log into IceWM. So you can now restart your computer and IceWM should listed on your logon screen. I am using Lightdm With the Slick Greeter which supports all desktops but any greeter should work.
This is IceWM and as this is Debian it uses the Debian wallpapers. Which Debian have added to the themes which are not very nice. But it's a wallpaper and you can use the desktop as it is. Or you can edit the default theme file and change the path to the wallpaper with that of your own. But the easy way is to just use PCManFM or Nitrogen to do this. Then you don't have to edit any theme files at all. We also don't get icons on the desktop with the default theme. I am just showing you how it looks when you log in with the Debian set up. Which I have not yet added PCManFM to start up but after I add it the desktop now looks much better.
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| Default Debian Theme. |
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| IceWM With PCManFM. |
As you can see the IceWm desktop looks much better with PCManFM added to start up. We can now change the wallpaper and also select a plain desktop background. We can also add what icons we want to the desktop. So we now have desktop icons.
This is IceWM with PCManFM. It also gives you the option to have a plain desktop background if that is what you want.
We also have Lxappearence which enables you to change the theme,icons and fonts.
IceWM also has it's own themes which you can change from the start menu as you can see here.
So that is how to set up IceWM without having to edit any files or anything. As IceWM is a fully functional desktop and has almost everything you get in a real desktop. It can be used alongside your desktop environment or on it's own without a desktop environment. The only thing is that if you install this without on it's own you may find some items missing from the start menu. You may also find your personal folders in Home such as the Documents folder missing.
In which case you can run this command that IceWM has to update the menu. To do this open your terminal and type the following command: icewm-menu-fdo then restart your computer.
You should now see your items in the start menu and you can also create the folders in Home such as Documents and others yourself. But if you installed IceWM alongside your desktop environment which is what I recommend then everything should be there in IceWM.
Finally I want to explain how to create a Root login session. So that if you ever do need to log in as Root you then have a working session. To do this you just copy the .icewm folder from your Home folder then paste it in the Root/Home folder and that is it. You now have a Root login session if you do need to use it. But you do need to have the Rot acount enabled to do this and to open the Root Home folder as Root.
IceWM can be installed from your package manager. The IceWM manual which is how I found out how to enable extras such as system notification sound can be found here:
The sound themes can be downloaded from here:
I also found out how to set up IceWM from this blog post here. It's old but it helped me a lot so you may want to read that here:
I have also made a video about my IceWM Set on as well. So IceWM is easy to set up and it also has a lot of nice features. It is a good alternative if you want to use it as a fallback if you are running Debian Sid for example where you might need a spare desktop. Or if you don't want to use Wayland as IceWM is X11. So it is another alternative. Either way it is very easy to use and has all of the features of a full desktop.
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