I am trying to set ZSH as my default shell, however it keeps reverting back to bash.
I have tried this code:
sudo chsh -s $(which zsh) I've also tried:
sudo chsh -s /bin/zsh Also tried these commands without sudo. Any ideas on what else I need to do. When running ZSH from within bash it loads up and works fine but I'd like to set it as the default shell.
17 Answers
Just using chsh:
chsh -s $(which zsh) without sudo should work. If you use sudo it will change the shell not for your working user but for root
Finally, log out of your computer and log back in.
Troubleshooting:
- Do you have zsh installed (ii)?
dpkg -l zsh - Is your shell set to zsh? Last field of
grep $USER /etc/passwd - Is Zsh a valid login shell?
grep zsh /etc/shells
I found this on superuser forum
Open /etc/passwd:
sudo vi /etc/passwd Find the line with your username:
username:x:1634231:100:Your Name:/home/username:/bin/bash and replace bash with zsh:
username:x:1634231:100:Your Name:/home/username:/bin/zsh Log out and log in back for the changes to take effect.
2You may also do this:
open your bashrc file in your favourite editor
sudo nano ~/.bashrc then add the line below top of the file
exec zsh It will execute the command every time you load the terminal and run your zsh shell.
7I had an issue with permissions to change shell under the current user but next helps me (you should set correct 'zsh' folder for your computer):
sudo chsh -s /bin/zsh <myUserName> If zsh is not /bin/zsh then chsh won't work. On Ubuntu it is /usr/bin/zsh. so doing chsh -s /usr/bin/zsh or chsh -s `which zsh` should work. Also need to re-login to desktop session.
Strange, the "accepted" answer didn't work for me as I got
chsh: PAM: Authentication failure To solve this issue edit your /etc/passwd and make sure it points to the zsh location. (You can find this by running "which zsh") In my case my user called "webmaster" looked like this:
webmaster:x:1001:1001:webmaster,,,:/var/www/webmaster:/usr/bin/zsh As well as chsh (or editing /etc/passwd, which does the same thing), you might need to edit the settings in your terminal emulator (Gnome terminal, Konsole, xfce4-terminal, etc). Your profile will probably have a login shell, which will be run when you open a new tab instead of the shell in /etc/passwd.
In Konqueror it's Settings | Edit Current Profile | Command.
