I boot into a command line which asks me login. If I then startx xfce will run fine.

But if I run xdm (whether I boot into run level 5 or type in xdm as root on the command line) I get the login pass part, but then I get another box saying....

Session Menu
chooseSessionListWidget

[Load Session] [Delete Session] [Break Lock] [Default/Fail Safe] [Cancel]

I can only press default/safe or cancel. If I press default/safe I just get the black/white screen with the X cursor.

Im guessing its sunnit to do with my xinitrc file in the home directory but what needs to be added? I rather crudly tried putting exec startxfce4 at the top of the other bits but it didnt work.

I haven't installed xfce4-session but am guessing I dont need to. Or am I wrong about this?

many thanks

doesnt matter.

I created .xsession file and copied the contents of .xinitrc.

Worked a treat.