How to Switch Raspberry Pi from Wayland to X11

Raspberry Pi Step-by-step instructions for switching from Wayland to X11 or X11 to Wayland.

These procedures apply to Raspberry Pi 5, 4 or 3 with Raspberry Pi OS (64-Bit), (32-Bit) or (Legacy, 32-Bit).

General Notes

1. General: The procedures below are optimized for switching Remote Graphics Support, A.K.A. compositor, from Wayland to X11 or X11 to Wayland on a Raspberry Pi 5, 4 or 3 with Raspberry Pi OS (64-Bit), (32-Bit) or (Legacy, 32-Bit).

2. Internet access during setup: Many of the steps below assume and require the target Raspberry Pi is connected to a network with access to the Internet.

3. Important note about Raspberry Pi Connect and TeamViewer: Both screen sharing programs can exist on a Raspberry Pi without interfering with each other, but the Raspberry Pi Connect screen sharing program requires Wayland (Remote Graphics Support A.K.A. compositor) and TeamViewer currently uses only the older X11 (compositor). Raspberry Pi Connect Remote shell does not use the compositor and will work with either compositor in use. It is posable to switch between Wayland and X11, however a reboot may be required. Raspberry Pi Connect is recommended for typical users, while TeamViewer may be more attractive to more experienced users.

Notice about updates, upgrades and installations failing due to repository or network congestion or outages

Occasionally updates, upgrades and installations fail due to repository or network congestion or outages. Sometimes there is an appropriate message saying as such, sometimes a missing file is reported, and sometimes there is just a failure message without an explanation. When this occurs, simply run the command again. If that does not solve the issues immediately, try again later.

Raspberry Pi OS Documentation

https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/os.html

Connect to the target Raspberry Pi

Via Raspberry Pi Connect Remote shell or Raspberry Pi Connect Screen share then open a Terminal window.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/connect

- or -

Via a Display, Keyboard and Mouse, then open a Terminal window.

- or -

Via SSH

Determine the target Raspberry Pi IP Address:

Via Raspberry Pi Connect Remote shell or Raspberry Pi Connect Screen share then open a Terminal window.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/connect
sudo hostname -I
- or -

Connect directly to the target Raspberry Pi via a Display, Keyboard and Mouse, then open a Terminal window.

sudo hostname -I
- or -

Use an IP Scanner tool such as Advanced IP Scanner on a PC or alike to locate the DHCP IP Address assigned to the Raspberry Pi.

https://www.advanced-ip-scanner.com
- or -

Login to your router and examine the DHCP assignments, sometimes labeled "Connected Devices" or similar.

Use SSH via a tool such as PuTTY to connect to the Raspberry Pi.

https://putty.software/
https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html
https://www.putty.org
Connect using the IP address determined above or URL of the target Raspberry Pi.
Note: The first time a connection is made, a security warning may be displayed | Yes

Switch from Wayland to X11 or X11 to Wayland

Note: Wayland is not enabled on Raspberry Pi OS (Legacy) by default.

Update Raspberry Pi OS and Components

Download latest package lists

sudo apt-get update -y

Download and install updated listed packages

sudo apt-get upgrade -y

Disable Wayland and switch to X11

Switch from X11 and enable Wayland

Remove packages that were automatically installed and are no longer required

Occasionally excess update, upgrade and installation packages install automatically, but are no longer required. These can be removed automatically.

Automatically detect and remove packages no longer required

sudo apt autoremove -y

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