How to Set the Background Color in Cygwin XWin

by Dave Wilson
Change XWin background color to differentiate multiple display instances.

Start the XWin program by appending the “bg” switch to the “startxwin” command and apply a background color other than the XWin default. The XWin GUI or Graphical User Interface program shares features and command line switches that are supported by the XTerm GUI program. Cygwin users that run XWin can modify the XWin appearance without editing configuration files. Change the XWin background color by adding a startup command switch.

1

Click the Windows “Start” button, then “Programs.” Click “Cygwin” and then “Cygwin Bash Shell.” The Cygwin command line window appears.

2

Type “startxwin –bg blue” on the command line and tap “Enter.” XWin will start with a blue background.

3

Click the “X” in the upper right corner of the XWin window. Type “startxwin –bg yellow” at the command prompt and press “Enter.” Note the XWin background color is yellow.

4

Repeat the previous step and change the color specified after the “-bg” command line switch to modify the XWin background color.

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About the Author

Dave Wilson has been writing technical articles since 1993, including manuals, instructional "how-to" tips and online publications with various websites. Wilson holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles and has Microsoft, Cisco, and ISC2 (CISSP) technical certifications. He also has experience with a broad range of computer platforms, embedded systems, network appliances and Linux.

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