# Hello everyone, I am setting up an interactive desktop and I don't know the steps. Can you help me with what needs to be set up?

**URL:** <https://discourse.openondemand.org/t/hello-everyone-i-am-setting-up-an-interactive-desktop-and-i-dont-know-the-steps-can-you-help-me-with-what-needs-to-be-set-up/4431>\
**Category:** Get Help\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [August 10, 2025, 3:11am UTC](https://discourse.openondemand.org/t/hello-everyone-i-am-setting-up-an-interactive-desktop-and-i-dont-know-the-steps-can-you-help-me-with-what-needs-to-be-set-up/4431 "2025-08-10T03:11:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
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**Author:** ![ouyang](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/discourse.openondemand.org/ouyang/32/2894_2.png) [@ouyang](https://discourse.openondemand.org/u/ouyang)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 3:11am UTC](https://discourse.openondemand.org/t/hello-everyone-i-am-setting-up-an-interactive-desktop-and-i-dont-know-the-steps-can-you-help-me-with-what-needs-to-be-set-up/4431/1 "2025-08-10T03:11:30Z")

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Hello everyone, I am setting up an interactive desktop and I am using Open OnDemand version 4.0.6. I did not configure it successfully according to the official manual. Preparing to configure xfce as an interactive desktop environment, what software packages do I need to install and what files do I need to set up? Do you have detailed steps? thank

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**Author:** ![jeff.ohrstrom](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/discourse.openondemand.org/jeff.ohrstrom/32/136_2.png) [@jeff.ohrstrom](https://discourse.openondemand.org/u/jeff.ohrstrom)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 1:40pm UTC](https://discourse.openondemand.org/t/hello-everyone-i-am-setting-up-an-interactive-desktop-and-i-dont-know-the-steps-can-you-help-me-with-what-needs-to-be-set-up/4431/2 "2025-08-11T13:40:46Z")

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Hi and welcome!

So you need the underlying packages for `xfce` installed. For example you can `dnf groupinstall "Xfce"` to get all the packages for it.

Beyond that, you need `turboVNC` and `websockify`. You may need to set the `WEBSOCKIFY_CMD` either through an environment variable or through the cluster.d configuration. I’ve given links for both below.

Many sites install these two through modules, though you may be able to install them through `apt` or `dnf`.

> **[Requirements — Open OnDemand 4.0.0 documentation](https://osc.github.io/ood-documentation/latest/requirements.html)**

> **[Batch Connect VNC Options — Open OnDemand 4.0.0 documentation](https://osc.github.io/ood-documentation/latest/reference/files/submit-yml/vnc-bc-options.html)**

> **[2. Modify Cluster Configuration — Open OnDemand 4.0.0 documentation](https://osc.github.io/ood-documentation/latest/how-tos/app-development/interactive/setup/modify-cluster-configuration.html)**

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**Author:** ![davide-q](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/discourse.openondemand.org/davide-q/32/1510_2.png) [@davide-q](https://discourse.openondemand.org/u/davide-q)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 4:10am UTC](https://discourse.openondemand.org/t/hello-everyone-i-am-setting-up-an-interactive-desktop-and-i-dont-know-the-steps-can-you-help-me-with-what-needs-to-be-set-up/4431/3 "2025-11-13T04:10:53Z")

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In RHEL9 and derivatives, the `dnf groupinstall “xfce”` brings in many dependencies that do not seem necessary such as `NetworkManager-wifi` and `gnome-bluetooth` (obviously HPC batch nodes do not have wifi and bluetooth) and other things such as `xfce4-power-manager` which might mess up with the node configuration. Is there a way for one to avoid troubles with those or am I being overly paranoid?

TIA

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**Author:** ![jeff.ohrstrom](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/discourse.openondemand.org/jeff.ohrstrom/32/136_2.png) [@jeff.ohrstrom](https://discourse.openondemand.org/u/jeff.ohrstrom)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 6:29pm UTC](https://discourse.openondemand.org/t/hello-everyone-i-am-setting-up-an-interactive-desktop-and-i-dont-know-the-steps-can-you-help-me-with-what-needs-to-be-set-up/4431/4 "2025-11-13T18:29:42Z")

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Not sure. Maybe a small ansible type role to install only what you need - or maybe puppet to get rid of what you don’t need.

Removing those packages like `xfce4-power-manager` won’t harm anything. That said I think we still have them on our systems, but the buttons don’t do anything meaningful (some other trap in systemd prevents regular users from doing so, but I’m not aware of what that is as I’m not a sysadmin).

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/uploads/osc/original/2X/b/bae70bd0ed39a3ae769c2108155f4cb3e9da8385.png) [@system](https://discourse.openondemand.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 6:30pm UTC](https://discourse.openondemand.org/t/hello-everyone-i-am-setting-up-an-interactive-desktop-and-i-dont-know-the-steps-can-you-help-me-with-what-needs-to-be-set-up/4431/5 "2026-05-12T18:30:32Z")

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