I'm using RedHat 7.2. I switched the desktop to TWM using the desktop switching tool. Now TWM won't start up and I don't know how to switch back to KDE or Gnome from the command prompt. Any suggestions?

$ more /etc/sysconfig/desktop

and tell me what you get. K

- or -
# vi /etc/sysconfig/desktop
DESKTOP="KDE"

DESKTOP="KDE"

check what ~/.xinitrc or ~/.Xclients say, and wehter they exist or not. that will define what WM you load if you've got them. the /etc... file is only a very last resort generaly

I did the /etc/sysconfig/desktop and i got

DESKTOP = "" does this have anything to do with the fact that when i reboot Linux...it defaults to the console?

no, it means you're on runlevel 3 and not runlevel 5. edit /etc/inittab and make the logical changes.

I think in RedHat I rely on Xclients. Is this correct?

Anyway, here are the contents of Xclients and xinitrc.

BTW, thanks for the help, guys.

Contents of Xclients:

#!/bin/bash
# Copyright 1999 - 2001 Red Hat, Inc.
# License: GNU General Public License v2

# check to see if the user has a preferred desktop
PREFERRED=
if [ -f /etc/sysconfig/desktop ]; then
if [ -n "`grep -i GNOME /etc/sysconfig/desktop`" ]; then
PREFERRED=gnome-session
elif [ -n "`grep -i KDE /etc/sysconfig/desktop`" ]; then
PREFERRED=startkde
fi
fi

if [ -n "$PREFERRED" ] && which $PREFERRED >/dev/null 2>&1; then
PREFERRED=`which $PREFERRED`
exec $PREFERRED
fi

# now if we can reach here, either no desktop file was present,
# or the desktop requested is not installed.

if [ -z "$PREFERRED" ]; then

GSESSION=gnome-session
STARTKDE=startkde

# by default, we run GNOME.
if which $GSESSION >/dev/null 2>&1; then
exec `which $GSESSION`
fi

# if GNOME isn't installed, try KDE.
if which $STARTKDE >/dev/null 2>&1; then
exec `which $STARTKDE`
fi
fi

# Failsafe.

# these files are left sitting around by TheNextLevel.
rm -f $HOME/Xrootenv.0
rm -f /tmp/fvwmrc* 2>/dev/null

# First thing - check the user preferences
if [ -f $HOME/.wm_style ] ; then
WMSTYLE=`cat $HOME/.wm_style |tr A-Z a-z`
case "$WMSTYLE" in
afterstep|windowmaker|mmaker)
exec /usr/X11R6/bin/RunWM --WindowMaker
;;
fvwm95|fvwm|fvwm2)
exec /usr/X11R6/bin/RunWM --Fvwm95
;;
mwm|lesstif)
exec /usr/X11R6/bin/RunWM --FvwmMWM
;;
esac
fi

# Argh! Nothing good is installed. Fall back to fvwm2 (win95-style) or twm
/usr/X11R6/bin/RunWM --Fvwm95 || {
# gosh, neither fvwm95 nor fvwm2 is available;
# fall back to failsafe settings
xclock -geometry 100x100-5+5 &
xterm -geometry 80x50-50+150 &
if [ -f /usr/bin/netscape -a -f /usr/share/doc/HTML/index.html ]; then
netscape /usr/share/doc/HTML/index.html &
fi
if [ -f /usr/X11R6/bin/fvwm ]; then
exec fvwm
else
exec twm
fi
}

Contents of xinitrc:

#!/bin/sh
# (c) 1999, 2000 Red Hat, Inc.

# Hack to symlink Glide3 lib to point to proper lib for either Voodoo 3 or 4/5
# This hack will go away in the future in XFree86 4.2.0 likely.
[ -x /usr/sbin/glidelink ] && /usr/sbin/glidelink

userresources=$HOME/.Xresources
usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
userxkbmap=$HOME/.Xkbmap

sysresources=/etc/X11/Xresources
sysmodmap=/etc/X11/Xmodmap
sysxkbmap=/etc/X11/Xkbmap

# merge in defaults
if [ -f "$sysresources" ]; then
xrdb -merge "$sysresources"
fi

if [ -f "$userresources" ]; then
xrdb -merge "$userresources"
fi

# merge in keymaps
if [ -f "$sysxkbmap" ]; then
setxkbmap `cat "$sysxkbmap"`
XKB_IN_USE=yes
fi

if [ -f "$userxkbmap" ]; then
setxkbmap `cat "$userxkbmap"`
XKB_IN_USE=yes
fi

if [ -z "$XKB_IN_USE" -a ! -L /etc/X11/X ]; then
if grep '^exec.*/Xsun' /etc/X11/X > /dev/null 2>&1 && [ -f /etc/X11/XF86Config ]; then
xkbsymbols=`sed -n -e 's/^[ ]*XkbSymbols[ ]*"\(.*\)".*$/\1/p' /etc/X11/XF86Config`
if [ -n "$xkbsymbols" ]; then
setxkbmap -symbols "$xkbsymbols"
XKB_IN_USE=yes
fi
fi
fi

# xkb and xmodmap don't play nice together
if [ -z "$XKB_IN_USE" ]; then
if [ -f "$sysmodmap" ]; then
xmodmap "$sysmodmap"
fi

if [ -f "$usermodmap" ]; then
xmodmap "$usermodmap"
fi
fi

unset XKB_IN_USE

# The user may have their own clients they want to run. If they don't,
# fall back to system defaults.

# run all system xinitrc shell scripts.
for i in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/* ; do
if [ -x "$i" ]; then
. "$i"
fi
done

if [ -f $HOME/.Xclients ]; then
exec $HOME/.Xclients
elif [ -f /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients ]; then
exec /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients
else
# failsafe settings. Although we should never get here
# (we provide fallbacks in Xclients as well) it can't hurt.
xclock -geometry 100x100-5+5 &
xterm -geometry 80x50-50+150 &
if [ -x /usr/bin/netscape -a -f /usr/share/doc/HTML/index.html ]; then
netscape /usr/share/doc/HTML/index.html &
fi
if [ -x /usr/X11R6/bin/fvwm2 ]; then
exec fvwm2
else
exec twm
fi
fi

wrong files. you want to look at your personal ones

/home/username/.xinitrc
/home/username/.Xclients

xinitrc will be looked for before Xclients btw, and yes programs like switchdesk do use .Xclients

Let's try that again. I have no .xinitrc. It looks to me like I have to find "startkde" and substitute its path after "exec".

listing of .Xclients-default

#!/bin/bash
# (c) 2000 Red Hat, Inc.

exec /usr/X11R6/bin/twm

listing of .Xclients

#!/bin/bash

# Created by Red Hat Desktop Switcher

if [ -e "$HOME/.Xclients-$HOSTNAME$DISPLAY" ]; then
exec $HOME/.Xclients-$HOSTNAME$DISPLAY
else
exec $HOME/.Xclients-default
fi

yeah so.. that's where it's running twm, startkde should be on your path already.

Thanks, acid_kewpie. I changed .Xclients-default to exec startkde and everything is cool.

Sorry so late in getting back to this topic. Glad that you got it resolved. One other tip for you. The easiest way to have gotten your RH box back to K is:

$ /usr/bin/switchdesk kde
-- or for gnome --
$ /usr/bin/switchdesk gnome

how's that for easy

then do a CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE to restart Xwindows