How to install Xfce desktop environment?

I have read this post How do I switch to Xubuntu?, but it tells me to install xubuntu-desktop.

Can I install Xfce (only)? I mean, I don't want to install any application which is not related to Xfce desktop, but becomes dependency of xubuntu-desktop, such as abiword, gthumb, etc. What package should I install?

Solution 1:

Click here:

Or via command line:

sudo apt-get install xfce4

this is what you will get

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libstdc++5 libvncserver0 libaio-dev sysstat ksh expat libelf-dev
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
  desktop-base exo-utils gtk2-engines-xfce libexo-1-0 libexo-common libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common
  libthunarx-2-0 libxfce4ui-1-0 libxfce4util-bin libxfce4util-common libxfce4util4 libxfconf-0-2
  orage thunar thunar-data thunar-volman xfce-keyboard-shortcuts xfce4-appfinder xfce4-mixer
  xfce4-panel xfce4-session xfce4-settings xfce4-utils xfconf xfdesktop4 xfdesktop4-data xfwm4
  xfwm4-themes xscreensaver
Suggested packages:
  thunar-archive-plugin thunar-media-tags-plugin xfprint4 xfce4-goodies fortunes-mod aumix xli
  xloadimage xfishtank xdaliclock qcam streamer
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  desktop-base exo-utils gtk2-engines-xfce libexo-1-0 libexo-common libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common
  libthunarx-2-0 libxfce4ui-1-0 libxfce4util-bin libxfce4util-common libxfce4util4 libxfconf-0-2
  orage thunar thunar-data thunar-volman xfce-keyboard-shortcuts xfce4 xfce4-appfinder xfce4-mixer
  xfce4-panel xfce4-session xfce4-settings xfce4-utils xfconf xfdesktop4 xfdesktop4-data xfwm4
  xfwm4-themes xscreensaver
0 upgraded, 31 newly installed, 0 to remove and 17 not upgraded.
Need to get 19.8 MB of archives.
After this operation, 80.0 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? 

once installed log out and choose xfce desktop - log back in

Solution 2:

xfce can be installed from the terminal by default using the following command:

sudo apt-get install xfce4

And to install the goodies (extra programs, plugins, and artwork), the command is:

sudo apt-get install xfce4-goodies

Enter your password when prompted.

Enjoy using Xfce!

Solution 3:

On 30/09/2015

To install latest version of Xfce 4.12 on Ubuntu 14.04 and 15.04:

Open terminal and run the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xubuntu-dev/xfce-4.12
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install xfce4

Here is the output of commands,

ravan@ravan:~$ sudo apt-get install xfce4
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
account-plugin-windows-live libupstart1
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
desktop-base exo-utils gtk2-engines-xfce libexo-1-0 libexo-common
libexo-helpers libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common libjpeg-progs
libjpeg-turbo-progs libkeybinder0 libthunarx-2-0 libtumbler-1-0
libxfce4ui-1-0 libxfce4ui-common libxfce4ui-utils libxfce4util-bin
libxfce4util-common libxfce4util7 libxfconf-0-2 orage tango-icon-theme
thunar thunar-data thunar-volman tumbler tumbler-common xfce4-appfinder
xfce4-mixer xfce4-notifyd xfce4-panel xfce4-session xfce4-settings
xfce4-volumed xfconf xfdesktop4 xfdesktop4-data xfwm4 xscreensaver
xscreensaver-data xubuntu-icon-theme
Suggested packages:
devhelp sox kdelibs-data thunar-archive-plugin thunar-media-tags-plugin
tumbler-plugins-extra xfce4-goodies xfce4-power-manager gtk3-engines-xfce
fortunes-mod menu xfwm4-themes xfishtank xdaliclock xscreensaver-gl fortune
qcam streamer gdm3 kdm-gdmcompat
Recommended packages:
greybird-gtk-theme
The following NEW packages will be installed:
desktop-base exo-utils gtk2-engines-xfce libexo-1-0 libexo-common
libexo-helpers libgarcon-1-0 libgarcon-common libjpeg-progs
libjpeg-turbo-progs libkeybinder0 libthunarx-2-0 libtumbler-1-0
libxfce4ui-1-0 libxfce4ui-common libxfce4ui-utils libxfce4util-bin
libxfce4util-common libxfce4util7 libxfconf-0-2 orage tango-icon-theme
thunar thunar-data thunar-volman tumbler tumbler-common xfce4
xfce4-appfinder xfce4-mixer xfce4-notifyd xfce4-panel xfce4-session
xfce4-settings xfce4-volumed xfconf xfdesktop4 xfdesktop4-data xfwm4
xscreensaver xscreensaver-data xubuntu-icon-theme
0 upgraded, 42 newly installed, 0 to remove and 6 not upgraded.
Need to get 19.7 MB of archives.
After this operation, 69.3 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] 

To uninstall PPA:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
sudo ppa-purge ppa:xubuntu-dev/xfce-4.12