How to Install Cinnamon on Debian (13, 12, 11)

This guide explains how to install Cinnamon desktop environment on Debian, giving you a traditional desktop layout with modern features such as customizable panels, window management, and desktop effects. Originally developed for Linux Mint, Cinnamon works well on Debian for users who prefer a classic layout similar to Windows while maintaining full access to GNOME applications.

Because Cinnamon installs alongside other desktops rather than replacing them, you can test the environment and switch back at any time without losing your current setup. Three installation methods are available ranging from a minimal shell to a complete desktop with bundled applications, so you can choose the option that fits your workflow.

Choose a Cinnamon Installation Method on Debian

Debian offers three meta-packages for installing Cinnamon, each providing different levels of components and bundled applications. Select the method that matches your needs:

Package	Includes	Display Manager	Best For
task-cinnamon-desktop	Full desktop with office suite, browser, and multimedia apps	Uses existing (GDM3 if GNOME installed)	Fresh installs, complete desktop experience
cinnamon-desktop-environment	Core desktop plus productivity apps (image viewer, text editor, calculator)	Uses existing display manager	Adding Cinnamon alongside another desktop
cinnamon-core	Essential Cinnamon components only (shell, Nemo, settings)	Installs LightDM/slick-greeter	Minimal installations, advanced users

For most users, task-cinnamon-desktop is recommended because it provides a complete working environment with all necessary applications. If you already have a fully configured desktop with your preferred applications, cinnamon-desktop-environment adds Cinnamon without duplicating software. The cinnamon-core package suits minimal server installations where you need only the desktop shell without bundled applications.

Update the Debian System

Before installing new packages, update your system to ensure you have the latest package information and security patches. Search for “Terminal” in Activities and open it, then run the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

The first command refreshes your package index, while the second upgrades any outdated packages. Once the upgrade completes, proceed with the Cinnamon installation.

If your user account does not have sudo privileges, see our guide on adding a user to sudoers on Debian before continuing.

Install Cinnamon Desktop Environment on Debian

Install the recommended full desktop package using APT:

sudo apt install task-cinnamon-desktop

This installation downloads several hundred megabytes of packages including the Cinnamon shell, Nemo file manager, supporting libraries, and bundled applications such as Firefox, LibreOffice, and multimedia players. During installation, APT displays the package list and disk space requirements before proceeding.

Example APT output:

The following NEW packages will be installed:
  cinnamon cinnamon-common cinnamon-control-center cinnamon-desktop-data
  cinnamon-screensaver cinnamon-session cinnamon-settings-daemon nemo ...
Need to get XXX MB of archives.
After this operation, X,XXX MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]

For a lighter installation without bundled applications, substitute cinnamon-desktop-environment or cinnamon-core in the command above. See the comparison table for differences between these packages.

After installation completes, verify that Cinnamon installed correctly by checking its version:

cinnamon --version

Expected output:

Cinnamon X.Y.Z

The version number depends on your Debian release:

Debian Release	Cinnamon Version
Debian 13 (Trixie)	6.4.x
Debian 12 (Bookworm)	5.6.x
Debian 11 (Bullseye)	4.8.x

Reboot your system to load the Cinnamon session options and apply all changes:

sudo reboot

Switch to Cinnamon Desktop at the Login Screen on Debian

After rebooting, the login screen displays your username as usual. However, you must select the Cinnamon session before entering your password. Follow these steps to switch desktop environments:

1. At the login screen, click your username but do not enter your password yet.
2. Look for a gear icon or “Session” option near the password field. On GDM3 (the default GNOME display manager), this appears in the bottom-right corner. On LightDM, it may appear as a dropdown next to the username.
3. Click the session selector and choose “Cinnamon” from the list. You may also see “Cinnamon (Software Rendering)” which uses CPU-based graphics instead of GPU acceleration.
4. Enter your password and log in. The system remembers your session choice for future logins until you change it.

Select the standard “Cinnamon” option unless you experience graphics issues such as black screens or visual artifacts. The “Cinnamon (Software Rendering)” mode bypasses GPU acceleration and works reliably on systems with incompatible graphics drivers.

Cinnamon runs on X11, not Wayland. If your GNOME desktop uses Wayland by default (common on Debian 13), switching to Cinnamon automatically starts an X11 session. This is expected behavior and does not affect desktop performance.

Install Optional Cinnamon Nemo Extensions on Debian

Nemo, the Cinnamon file manager, supports extensions that add functionality to the right-click context menu. These extensions integrate archive handling, file comparison, and cloud storage directly into the file browser:

sudo apt install nemo-fileroller nemo-compare

The nemo-fileroller extension adds “Extract Here” and “Compress” options to the context menu for working with archives. The nemo-compare extension enables file and folder comparison through the context menu. After installation, these features appear automatically when you right-click files in Nemo without requiring a restart.

Additional extensions available include:

• nemo-nextcloud or nemo-owncloud for cloud storage integration
• nemo-gtkhash for computing file checksums
• nemo-font-manager for font preview integration

To expand application availability beyond APT packages, consider setting up Flatpak on Debian for access to a wider catalog of desktop applications.

Troubleshoot Common Cinnamon Desktop Issues on Debian

Desktop environment installations occasionally encounter problems, particularly with display managers and graphics drivers. The following solutions address the most common issues using a problem, fix, and verify approach.

Session Selector Not Visible

If no session selector appears at the login screen, the display manager may not be running properly. First, check which display manager is active:

cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager

Expected output for GDM3:

/usr/sbin/gdm3

If the display manager is not running, enable and start it:

sudo systemctl enable gdm3 --now

Verify the fix by checking the service status:

systemctl status gdm3

Expected output:

● gdm.service - GNOME Display Manager
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/gdm.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since ...

If GDM3 fails to start, check the logs with journalctl -xeu gdm3 for specific error messages.

Black Screen After Selecting Cinnamon

A black screen when logging into Cinnamon typically indicates a graphics driver issue. This commonly occurs with NVIDIA graphics cards using the nouveau driver. Try these steps:

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+F2 to switch to a text console and log in with your username and password.
2. Check the session log for errors: cat ~/.xsession-errors | tail -50
3. If errors mention graphics, OpenGL, or GPU, log out of the text console and return to the graphical login with Ctrl+Alt+F1.
4. Select “Cinnamon (Software Rendering)” at your next login attempt. This bypasses GPU acceleration entirely.

For NVIDIA graphics cards, installing the proprietary drivers typically resolves black screen issues permanently. You may need to enable the contrib and non-free repositories on Debian first. See our guide on installing NVIDIA drivers on Debian for detailed instructions.

After installing proprietary drivers, verify the standard Cinnamon session works by logging in and checking your session type:

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE

Expected output:

x11

Login Loop Returns to Login Screen

If entering your password returns you to the login screen repeatedly instead of loading the desktop, the session may be crashing due to permission issues. Press Ctrl+Alt+F2 to open a text console, log in, and check the ownership of your home directory:

ls -la ~ | head -5

Expected output (with your username):

drwxr-xr-x 15 username username 4096 Dec 18 10:00 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root     root     4096 Dec 18 09:00 ..
...

If the home directory shows root root as the owner instead of your username, fix the permissions. Replace josh with your actual username in all three places:

sudo chown -R josh:josh /home/josh

Verify the ownership is corrected:

ls -la ~ | head -3

Expected output:

drwxr-xr-x 15 josh josh 4096 Dec 18 10:00 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root 4096 Dec 18 09:00 ..
...

After fixing ownership, reboot and attempt login again. The Cinnamon session should now load correctly.

Remove Cinnamon Desktop Environment on Debian

If you decide to remove Cinnamon, run the following command to uninstall the desktop environment and its associated packages. The regex patterns '^cinnamon' and '^nemo' match all packages with names starting with those prefixes:

sudo apt purge '^cinnamon' '^nemo' task-cinnamon-desktop cinnamon-desktop-environment
sudo apt autoremove --purge

The first command removes Cinnamon packages and Nemo with its extensions. The second command cleans up orphaned dependencies and removes leftover configuration files.

Example APT output:

The following packages will be REMOVED:
  cinnamon* cinnamon-common* cinnamon-control-center* cinnamon-desktop-data* ...
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, XX to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]

After removal completes, verify that Cinnamon is no longer installed:

cinnamon --version

Expected output confirming successful removal:

bash: cinnamon: command not found

Removing Cinnamon does not affect your GNOME installation or personal files in your home directory. After removal and reboot, select “GNOME” or “GNOME on Xorg” at the login screen to return to your original desktop environment.

Restore GNOME Desktop on Debian

If your GNOME desktop stops working properly after installing or removing Cinnamon, the following recovery steps help restore normal operation.

Reinstall GNOME Desktop

If you accidentally removed GNOME components or the desktop appears broken after changes, reinstall the GNOME meta-packages to repair the installation:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install gnome gdm3 task-gnome-desktop --reinstall

The --reinstall flag forces APT to reinstall packages even if they appear to be present, which repairs any missing or corrupted files. After reinstalling, reboot to apply the changes.

Enable the GNOME Display Manager

If your system boots to a text console instead of a graphical login screen, the display manager may be disabled or misconfigured. Enable and start GDM3:

sudo systemctl enable gdm3 --now

Verify the display manager is running:

systemctl status gdm3

Expected output:

● gdm.service - GNOME Display Manager
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/gdm.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since ...

The --now flag starts the service immediately in addition to enabling it for future boots. After running this command, the graphical login screen should appear within a few seconds.

Switch Between GDM3 and LightDM

Installing cinnamon-core installs LightDM as a display manager, which may replace GDM3 as the default. To switch back to GDM3 or choose a different display manager, run:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm3

This opens an interactive dialog where you can select your preferred display manager. Choose gdm3 for the GNOME login screen or lightdm for the LightDM login screen, then reboot to apply the change.

Conclusion

You now have Cinnamon desktop environment installed alongside your existing desktop on Debian, with the ability to switch between environments at the login screen. Cinnamon’s traditional layout, Nemo file manager, and built-in customization options provide a familiar workflow for users transitioning from Windows or Linux Mint. To personalize your desktop further, open Cinnamon Settings to adjust themes, panel layouts, and desktop effects, or use GNOME Tweaks on Debian for additional customization across both environments.

If you want to explore other desktop environments on Debian, these guides cover popular alternatives:

• Budgie desktop on Debian for a clean, modern interface
• KDE Plasma on Debian for a feature-rich, highly customizable desktop
• XFCE on Debian for a lightweight desktop with low resource usage
• LXQt on Debian for a minimal Qt-based desktop environment