How To Autostart Programs On Linux

How do you "autostart" programs on Linux? While the big desktop environments (like GNOME and Plasma) simplify this, knowing how to setup your autostart programs is especially important for standalone window manager users. While there are a number of ways to do this, I'm going to show you the two ways that I use.

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[philzeo]

KDE user here. I love how simple the autostart program is 😁 autostart my dock, my Konsole, my Backup application. Nothing more, nothing less. No kruft, all easy.
Thanks for showing us some more ways to make it work on other desktops!

[Abdot]

like your tutorials alot, simple and to the point thanks

[phonewithoutquestion]

I use xinitrc and have ever since I ditched the display manager. You can even automate the "startx" command to trigger every time you log into the tty, making it behave more like somewhat of a DM.

[Jeff_Seely]

This is really great information thank you Derek. I want to start the proper screen resolution for each window manager and this clearly explained it.

[jackkeifer]

Great explanation for auto-starting! I have to admit, I'm one of those users that never did it this way. 👍👍

[somedude]

Hey Thanks,
You uploaded it just when I neeed it.

[KeebHoard]

Great video. Thanks for the really good, in depth explanation of how these things are really meant to work. It's nice to get some light shed upon the situation.

[kychemclass]

Been using Linux (Thank you God!!) for year now and I know how to "startup" auto-start. Tq DT.

[QuotePilgrim]

Well, .desktop files have an option to run commands in the terminal so, yes, you can put the Htop desktop file in your autostart folder and it will work.

If you're using a GUI desktop file editor it should be a checkbox saying "run in terminal", if editing it manually with a text editor, it's a line saying "Terminal=true" (or "false").

[donpeer]

What a great topic! I've been wondering if removing an app got everything out and, thanks to your video, I found that there are actually leftover .desktop files laying around on my system. Well, no longer! Kudos, Derek ;)

[billeriksson]

In order to connect hardware and software in the correct order, it is important to be able to schedule the start-up of the components. Linux Mint has made it easy for the user by specifying a delay when specifying the startup programs! How do you do in other Distros that lack this?

[Pistachioooooooooooo]

Hi, when I open Kali Linux The terminal and Firefox browser open aromatically, how can I disable them when I boot? Peace ✌🏼

[SirStevenGilroy]

What about `/etc/init.d` or the `/etc/rc*` scripts and directories? How do you decide between using these, or the autostart files you mentioned in this video?

[ruandiablo]

Thank you, my friend! It is equal in Windows, just Win+R shell:startup to acess the folder

[theodorealenas]

I'm confused. Can't you write a bash script and make that autostart somehow?

[oldbeardedtech]

Any way to add a 10 second delay to an autostarted app? Like if you need internet connection before the application starts?

[nuligebla]

Does it have to be .desktop files, or can it be soft links? Because these desktop files already exist, no? I know they're small, but they get updated when you update, and copying them around always seems to cause problems, like icon file names being changed, etc.

[oalfodr]

What is wrong with using .xprofile? When using .xprofile, I do not need to make desktop files for all my scripts and programs that do not have desktop files (a lot of programs I use do not have desktop files)

[heroe]

Even on tiling wm we rely on premade solution like exec_always on i3

[OctaviusPelagius]

Hey @DistroTube for starting the Emacs daemon I'd consider a systemd unit since you'd have a lot of control over it to restart the daemon in cases like major updates to the Doom plugins for instance.