i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

Setting up gnome-session + i3

Sat, 14 Sep 2013 20:15:24 +0000

hi, my goal was something like this: blog.hugochinchilla.net/2013/03/using-gnome-3-with-i3-window-manager/, setting i3 as window manager in gnome-session thus enabling the gnome-panel on top. His setup didn't work at all, on logon i just got an error that the session couldn't be loaded. So i adapted this one: makandracards.com/makandra/1367-running-the-awesome-window-manager-within-gnome resulting in: **/usr/share/xsessions/gnome-i3.desktop**
[Desktop Entry]
Name=GNOME with i3
Comment=A GNOME fallback mode session using i3 as the window manager.
TryExec=gnome-session
Exec=gnome-session --session=i3 **/usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/i3.session**
[GNOME Session]
Name=i3
RequiredComponents=gnome-panel;gnome-settings-daemon;
RequiredProviders=windowmanager;
DefaultProvider-windowmanager=i3 **/usr/share/applications/i3.desktop**
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=i3
TryExec=i3
Exec=i3 the session works fine but the top gnome-panel is completely empty. I removed the tray icons from the i3status bar in the i3 config file in hope that the tray icons will show up in the gnome-panel but it didn't work. I thought this would be the ideal setup on ubuntu for newbies and i was quite surprised that there was just one such article on the internet

Comment by Hibou57 for
hi, my goal was something like this: blog.hugochinchilla.net/2013/03/using-gnome-3-with-i3-window-manager/, setting i3 as window manager in gnome-session thus enabling the gnome-panel on top.

His setup didn't work at all, on logon i just got an error that the session couldn't be loaded. So i adapted this one: makandracards.com/makandra/1367-running-the-awesome-window-manager-within-gnome resulting in:

/usr/share/xsessions/gnome-i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=GNOME with i3
Comment=A GNOME fallback mode session using i3 as the window manager.
TryExec=gnome-session
Exec=gnome-session --session=i3

/usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/i3.session
[GNOME Session]
Name=i3
RequiredComponents=gnome-panel;gnome-settings-daemon;
RequiredProviders=windowmanager;
DefaultProvider-windowmanager=i3

/usr/share/applications/i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=i3
TryExec=i3
Exec=i3

the session works fine but the top gnome-panel is completely empty. I removed the tray icons from the i3status bar in the i3 config file in hope that the tray icons will show up in the gnome-panel but it didn't work.

I thought this would be the ideal setup on ubuntu for newbies and i was quite surprised that there was just one such article on the internet

Thu, 03 Jul 2014 10:10:54 +0000

Does not work, at least with Ubuntu 12.04. I get a message complaining the i3 session could not be loaded.

Comment by TBurette for
hi, my goal was something like this: blog.hugochinchilla.net/2013/03/using-gnome-3-with-i3-window-manager/, setting i3 as window manager in gnome-session thus enabling the gnome-panel on top.

His setup didn't work at all, on logon i just got an error that the session couldn't be loaded. So i adapted this one: makandracards.com/makandra/1367-running-the-awesome-window-manager-within-gnome resulting in:

/usr/share/xsessions/gnome-i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=GNOME with i3
Comment=A GNOME fallback mode session using i3 as the window manager.
TryExec=gnome-session
Exec=gnome-session --session=i3

/usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/i3.session
[GNOME Session]
Name=i3
RequiredComponents=gnome-panel;gnome-settings-daemon;
RequiredProviders=windowmanager;
DefaultProvider-windowmanager=i3

/usr/share/applications/i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=i3
TryExec=i3
Exec=i3

the session works fine but the top gnome-panel is completely empty. I removed the tray icons from the i3status bar in the i3 config file in hope that the tray icons will show up in the gnome-panel but it didn't work.

I thought this would be the ideal setup on ubuntu for newbies and i was quite surprised that there was just one such article on the internet

Tue, 16 Jun 2015 13:15:31 +0000

The instructions do not work for recent versions of Gnome (>=3.9). These instructions do work : https://awesome.naquadah.org/wiki/Quickly_Setting_up_Awesome_with_Gnome#Gnome_3.9_.2F_Ubuntu_13.10

Comment by Michael for
hi, my goal was something like this: blog.hugochinchilla.net/2013/03/using-gnome-3-with-i3-window-manager/, setting i3 as window manager in gnome-session thus enabling the gnome-panel on top.

His setup didn't work at all, on logon i just got an error that the session couldn't be loaded. So i adapted this one: makandracards.com/makandra/1367-running-the-awesome-window-manager-within-gnome resulting in:

/usr/share/xsessions/gnome-i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=GNOME with i3
Comment=A GNOME fallback mode session using i3 as the window manager.
TryExec=gnome-session
Exec=gnome-session --session=i3

/usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/i3.session
[GNOME Session]
Name=i3
RequiredComponents=gnome-panel;gnome-settings-daemon;
RequiredProviders=windowmanager;
DefaultProvider-windowmanager=i3

/usr/share/applications/i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=i3
TryExec=i3
Exec=i3

the session works fine but the top gnome-panel is completely empty. I removed the tray icons from the i3status bar in the i3 config file in hope that the tray icons will show up in the gnome-panel but it didn't work.

I thought this would be the ideal setup on ubuntu for newbies and i was quite surprised that there was just one such article on the internet

Sun, 15 Sep 2013 19:13:42 +0000

Re: removed the tray icons: can you edit your post to reflect how you did that? “tray_output none” should do the trick.

Comment by ghibe for
hi, my goal was something like this: blog.hugochinchilla.net/2013/03/using-gnome-3-with-i3-window-manager/, setting i3 as window manager in gnome-session thus enabling the gnome-panel on top.

His setup didn't work at all, on logon i just got an error that the session couldn't be loaded. So i adapted this one: makandracards.com/makandra/1367-running-the-awesome-window-manager-within-gnome resulting in:

/usr/share/xsessions/gnome-i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=GNOME with i3
Comment=A GNOME fallback mode session using i3 as the window manager.
TryExec=gnome-session
Exec=gnome-session --session=i3

/usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/i3.session
[GNOME Session]
Name=i3
RequiredComponents=gnome-panel;gnome-settings-daemon;
RequiredProviders=windowmanager;
DefaultProvider-windowmanager=i3

/usr/share/applications/i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=i3
TryExec=i3
Exec=i3

the session works fine but the top gnome-panel is completely empty. I removed the tray icons from the i3status bar in the i3 config file in hope that the tray icons will show up in the gnome-panel but it didn't work.

I thought this would be the ideal setup on ubuntu for newbies and i was quite surprised that there was just one such article on the internet

Sun, 15 Sep 2013 21:09:09 +0000

update: i added the ubuntu repository referenced in http://i3wm.org/docs/repositories.html and updated i3. Now the tray icons work right therefore the gnome bar isn't needed anymore and i'm going to use the simple i3 session. i'm really sorry for wasting your time.

Comment by Michael for
hi, my goal was something like this: blog.hugochinchilla.net/2013/03/using-gnome-3-with-i3-window-manager/, setting i3 as window manager in gnome-session thus enabling the gnome-panel on top.

His setup didn't work at all, on logon i just got an error that the session couldn't be loaded. So i adapted this one: makandracards.com/makandra/1367-running-the-awesome-window-manager-within-gnome resulting in:

/usr/share/xsessions/gnome-i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=GNOME with i3
Comment=A GNOME fallback mode session using i3 as the window manager.
TryExec=gnome-session
Exec=gnome-session --session=i3

/usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/i3.session
[GNOME Session]
Name=i3
RequiredComponents=gnome-panel;gnome-settings-daemon;
RequiredProviders=windowmanager;
DefaultProvider-windowmanager=i3

/usr/share/applications/i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=i3
TryExec=i3
Exec=i3

the session works fine but the top gnome-panel is completely empty. I removed the tray icons from the i3status bar in the i3 config file in hope that the tray icons will show up in the gnome-panel but it didn't work.

I thought this would be the ideal setup on ubuntu for newbies and i was quite surprised that there was just one such article on the internet

Mon, 16 Sep 2013 00:53:55 +0000

No worries. So as far as I can tell, we’ve had an XY problem here: you didn’t want to use gnome-session, but gnome-session was your workaround for an i3 bug :).

Comment by Michael for
hi, my goal was something like this: blog.hugochinchilla.net/2013/03/using-gnome-3-with-i3-window-manager/, setting i3 as window manager in gnome-session thus enabling the gnome-panel on top.

His setup didn't work at all, on logon i just got an error that the session couldn't be loaded. So i adapted this one: makandracards.com/makandra/1367-running-the-awesome-window-manager-within-gnome resulting in:

/usr/share/xsessions/gnome-i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=GNOME with i3
Comment=A GNOME fallback mode session using i3 as the window manager.
TryExec=gnome-session
Exec=gnome-session --session=i3

/usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/i3.session
[GNOME Session]
Name=i3
RequiredComponents=gnome-panel;gnome-settings-daemon;
RequiredProviders=windowmanager;
DefaultProvider-windowmanager=i3

/usr/share/applications/i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=i3
TryExec=i3
Exec=i3

the session works fine but the top gnome-panel is completely empty. I removed the tray icons from the i3status bar in the i3 config file in hope that the tray icons will show up in the gnome-panel but it didn't work.

I thought this would be the ideal setup on ubuntu for newbies and i was quite surprised that there was just one such article on the internet

Sun, 15 Sep 2013 19:14:14 +0000

Re: ideal setup for newbies: i3’s target audience is advanced users and developers. Most of our users don’t use any desktop environment at all. I’m not surprised that there are not that many articles about such a setup out there.

Comment by Gary Bishop for
hi, my goal was something like this: blog.hugochinchilla.net/2013/03/using-gnome-3-with-i3-window-manager/, setting i3 as window manager in gnome-session thus enabling the gnome-panel on top.

His setup didn't work at all, on logon i just got an error that the session couldn't be loaded. So i adapted this one: makandracards.com/makandra/1367-running-the-awesome-window-manager-within-gnome resulting in:

/usr/share/xsessions/gnome-i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=GNOME with i3
Comment=A GNOME fallback mode session using i3 as the window manager.
TryExec=gnome-session
Exec=gnome-session --session=i3

/usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/i3.session
[GNOME Session]
Name=i3
RequiredComponents=gnome-panel;gnome-settings-daemon;
RequiredProviders=windowmanager;
DefaultProvider-windowmanager=i3

/usr/share/applications/i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=i3
TryExec=i3
Exec=i3

the session works fine but the top gnome-panel is completely empty. I removed the tray icons from the i3status bar in the i3 config file in hope that the tray icons will show up in the gnome-panel but it didn't work.

I thought this would be the ideal setup on ubuntu for newbies and i was quite surprised that there was just one such article on the internet

Sun, 27 Apr 2014 19:49:41 +0000

I'm following up late on this, I can post a new question if that would be better... I'm setup just as above and can login but I see that i3 is not starting. If I add i3 to requireComponents above, then i3 starts and seems to work. Seems strange that i3 isn't started for being a requiredProvider.

Comment by ghibe for
hi, my goal was something like this: blog.hugochinchilla.net/2013/03/using-gnome-3-with-i3-window-manager/, setting i3 as window manager in gnome-session thus enabling the gnome-panel on top.

His setup didn't work at all, on logon i just got an error that the session couldn't be loaded. So i adapted this one: makandracards.com/makandra/1367-running-the-awesome-window-manager-within-gnome resulting in:

/usr/share/xsessions/gnome-i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=GNOME with i3
Comment=A GNOME fallback mode session using i3 as the window manager.
TryExec=gnome-session
Exec=gnome-session --session=i3

/usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/i3.session
[GNOME Session]
Name=i3
RequiredComponents=gnome-panel;gnome-settings-daemon;
RequiredProviders=windowmanager;
DefaultProvider-windowmanager=i3

/usr/share/applications/i3.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=i3
TryExec=i3
Exec=i3

the session works fine but the top gnome-panel is completely empty. I removed the tray icons from the i3status bar in the i3 config file in hope that the tray icons will show up in the gnome-panel but it didn't work.

I thought this would be the ideal setup on ubuntu for newbies and i was quite surprised that there was just one such article on the internet

Sun, 15 Sep 2013 19:31:20 +0000

"tray_output none" is exactly what i used. the tray icons dissapeared from the i3 bar but they didn't show up in the gnome-panel by the way i have ubuntu 12.04 and i3, gnome and gnome-session-fallback installed from the default repositories