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Sunil Pradhan
Sunil Pradhan

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How to Customize the Linux Mint Login Window

#linux #linuxmint

If you are new to Linux Mint, you may have noticed that the login screen has its own settings.

You can change the wallpaper, theme, icons, mouse pointer, user list, clock, and several other options.

Linux Mint provides a tool called Login Window for this.

In this guide, we will go through the available options in simple terms and see how to create your own wallpaper folder for the login screen.

Open Login Window Settings

Open the Linux Mint menu and search for:

Login Window

You may be asked for your password because some of these settings affect the system login screen.

You will see three tabs:

  • Appearance
  • Users
  • Settings

Let's look at each one.

Linux Mint Login Settings Window

1. Appearance

The Appearance tab controls how the login screen looks.

You will find options for:

  • Background
  • Background color
  • GTK theme
  • Icon theme
  • Mouse pointer
  • Mouse pointer size
  • Etc.

Change the Login Screen Wallpaper

The easiest and most noticeable customization is the wallpaper.

In:

Login Window → Appearance → Background

click the image or folder button and select your wallpaper.

You can use any normal image such as:

  • JPG
  • JPEG
  • PNG

A high-resolution image usually looks best.

For example, a 1920×1080 wallpaper is a good choice for a Full HD screen.

Create Your Own Wallpaper Folder

If you download wallpapers from the internet, it can be useful to keep them in one dedicated folder.

You can simply keep them in your home directory, for example:

Login Wallpapers Linux Mint

This is the easiest option and does not require administrator permissions.

However, Linux Mint also has a system-wide backgrounds directory:

/usr/share/backgrounds
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You will find the standard Linux Mint wallpapers there.

How to Open /usr/share/backgrounds

Open Files (Nemo).

Press:

Ctrl + L
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This lets you enter a location manually.

Type:

/usr/share/backgrounds
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and press Enter.

You should now be inside the system backgrounds folder.

Create a Custom System Wallpaper Folder

If you want your wallpapers to live alongside the system wallpapers, you can create your own folder.

For example:

/usr/share/backgrounds/my-wallpapers
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Open a Terminal and run:

sudo mkdir /usr/share/backgrounds/my-wallpapers
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Enter your password when asked.

The folder is now created then copy your wallpapers into it.

Linux Mint Login - copy your wallpapers

Background Color

The Background color option controls the color used behind the wallpaper.

For example:

Black
Dark gray
Blue
White
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For a dark wallpaper, black usually looks good.

You can simply leave it at the default if you are happy with it.

Stretch Background Across Multiple Monitors

This option matters if you have more than one monitor.

For example:

Stretch background across multiple monitors img

With Stretch background across multiple monitors enabled, Linux Mint can treat the monitors as one large area:

Stretch background across multiple monitors img-1

If you only have one monitor, this option does nothing.

Draw User Backgrounds

This controls whether the login screen can use backgrounds associated with individual users.

If you only have one account and want a simple, consistent login screen, you can leave this at its default.

Draw a Grid

This adds a grid effect to the login background.

Without it:

Beautiful wallpaper
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With it:

Wallpaper + grid pattern
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It is purely a visual option.

For a clean modern login screen, I would leave it off.

GTK Theme

GTK controls the visual style of the login interface.

It affects things such as:

  • Login box
  • Buttons
  • Text fields
  • Colors
  • Borders
  • General interface appearance

For example, Linux Mint provides themes such as:

Mint-Y
Mint-Y-Dark
Mint-Y-Aqua
Mint-Y-Blue
Mint-Y-Teal
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A dark login screen can look especially good with:

Mint-Y-Dark
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Can You Install Custom GTK Themes?

This is where Linux Mint can be a little confusing.

You can install desktop themes such as:

  • Orchis
  • WhiteSur
  • Graphite
  • Nordic
  • Fluent

However, a theme being installed on your desktop does not automatically mean it will appear in the Login Window theme selector.

Your desktop and login screen are separate.

Linux Mint's login screen uses:

LightDM + Slick Greeter

Many custom GTK themes are designed primarily for desktop environments such as Cinnamon or GNOME. They may not work correctly with Slick Greeter.

Therefore, if you want a reliable login screen, Mint's own Mint-Y themes are the safest choice.

You can still experiment with custom themes, but always keep a working Mint theme available.

Icon Theme

The icon theme controls the icons used by the login screen.

For example:

  • Power icon
  • Login-related icons
  • Other small interface icons

Linux Mint provides its own icon themes.

You can also install popular icon themes such as Papirus.

For example:

sudo apt install papirus-icon-theme
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After installation, you may see options such as:

Papirus
Papirus-Dark
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Papirus-Dark can work nicely with:

Mint-Y-Dark
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Mouse Pointer

This controls the appearance of your mouse cursor on the login screen.

There are many cursor themes available for Linux.

A popular choice is Bibata.

For example:

Bibata-Modern-Classic
Bibata-Original-Ice

If you already have Bibata installed, it is a very good choice.

Mouse Pointer Size

This controls how large the cursor appears.

For example:

24
28
32
40
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If you have a normal Full HD laptop display, something around 24 is usually comfortable.

On a high-resolution display, you may prefer a larger cursor.

Other Monitors

Further down the Appearance tab, you may see:

Other monitors

This is only useful when you have multiple monitors. You can choose a separate image for another monitor.

For example:

Main monitor → Mountain.jpg
Other monitor → Space.jpg
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If you have only one screen, you can ignore this option.

Bottom Left

The Bottom left option lets you select a small image to display in the bottom-left area of the login screen.

You could use:

  • A logo
  • A small icon
  • A custom image
  • A company logo

For a personal computer, you can simply leave it empty.

2. Users

The Users tab controls who can log in and how the login process works.

There are three main sections:

  • User list
  • Guest sessions
  • Automatic login

Users tab

Allow Manual Login

When this is disabled, the login screen normally shows the available users.

For example:

Sunil
Password: __________
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With manual login enabled, you can type the username manually.

For example:

Username: __________
Password: __________
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For a normal personal laptop, leaving this disabled is usually simpler.

Hide the User List

If this is disabled, your account appears on the login screen.

For example:

Sunil
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If you enable it, the list of users is hidden and you can enter the username manually.

This can provide a little more privacy because the login screen does not show the available usernames.

For a single-user personal laptop, you can leave it disabled for convenience.

Allow Guest Sessions

A guest session allows someone to use the computer without logging into your normal account.

For example:

Sunil
Guest Session
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Guest sessions are useful if you occasionally want someone to use the computer without giving them access to your account.

If you don't need this feature, leave it off.

Automatic Login

Automatic login means Linux Mint logs into your account automatically after starting the computer.

Instead of:

Start computer
↓
Login screen
↓
Enter password
↓
Desktop

you get:

Start computer
↓
Desktop

You don't have to enter your password.

This is convenient, but anyone who can start the computer can access your account.

For a personal laptop, decide whether convenience or security is more important to you.

Delay Before Connection

This option is related to automatic login.

You can specify a delay before automatic login takes place.

For example:

10 seconds

The computer waits before logging in automatically.

This gives you a short opportunity to interrupt the automatic login.

If you don't use automatic login, you can ignore this setting.

3. Settings

The Settings tab controls additional login-screen features.

Activate NumLock

NumLock controls the numeric keypad.

If your keyboard has a numeric keypad, enabling NumLock makes the number keys work as numbers when the login screen appears.

Linux Mint may tell you:

Please install numlockx to use this option.

If you need it, install it with:

sudo apt install numlockx
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If you don't use a numeric keypad, you can ignore this option.

HiDPI Support

HiDPI is useful for high-resolution displays such as:

  • 2K
  • 4K
  • Other high-density screens

Without proper scaling, text and buttons can appear too small.

The default:

Auto
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is usually the best choice.

Linux Mint can decide how the login screen should be scaled.

Monitor

This controls which monitor is used for the login screen when multiple monitors are connected.

The default:

Auto
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is normally the best choice.

If you have multiple monitors and want the login screen to appear on a specific one, you can experiment with this option.

Panel Indicators

These options control the small pieces of information shown around the login screen.

You can enable or disable them individually.

Hostname

The hostname is the computer's name.

For example:

sunil-Inspiron-14
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You can display it on the login screen.

For a personal computer, it is usually unnecessary.

Recommendation: Off

Accessibility Options

This provides access to accessibility features before logging in.

If you need accessibility tools, keep it enabled.

Otherwise:

Recommendation: Off

On-Screen Keyboard Layout

This controls the layout of the on-screen keyboard.

An on-screen keyboard is useful when you don't want to or cannot use a physical keyboard.

Most laptop users can simply leave the default setting.

Battery Power

This shows the battery status on the login screen.

For a laptop, this is useful.

For example:

85%
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Recommendation: On

Keyboard Layout

This shows the current keyboard layout.

For example:

EN
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If you use multiple keyboard languages, this is particularly useful.

Recommendation: On

Quit Menu

The Quit Menu gives you options such as:

  • Restart
  • Shut down
  • Suspend

directly from the login screen.

Recommendation: On

It is useful to have these options available.

Clock

This displays the current time on the login screen.

For example:

22:45
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It is both useful and visually nice.

Recommendation: On

Clock Format

You can change how the clock is displayed.

The default:

%H:%M
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uses the 24-hour format.

For example:

22:45
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If you prefer the 12-hour format, you can use:

%I:%M %p
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which gives:

10:45 PM
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One Important Thing to Remember

Linux Mint has two separate areas of customization:

Desktop
↓
Cinnamon Themes, Extensions, Applets, etc.

Login Screen
↓
LightDM + Slick Greeter
↓
Login Window settings

A theme you install for your Cinnamon desktop does not necessarily work on the login screen.

That is why a theme such as Orchis or WhiteSur can appear in your normal desktop theme settings but not appear in the Login Window GTK theme list.

For the login screen, the safest themes are the ones designed to work with Slick Greeter, including the built-in Mint-Y themes.

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