How to make Terminal semi-transparent?

Question

I am running Ubuntu 11.04 with gnome 2.3 and I would like my terminal window to be transparent.

The problems is the transparent settings in my terminal just shows the desktop background and not the actual windows that are opened behind the terminal. This works on my laptop where I have Xubuntu 11.10 and I see no reason why it should not work the same here.

This is how it should look:

This is how it looks:

As WarriorIng64 mentoned, this is typically because you are using ATI or nVidia graphics and don't have a driver installed. I've seen this frequently with a USB Linux I was giving to students. — Veazer, Apr 25 '12 at 18:11
I would like this 'show desktop only' behavior by default, Its a little strange but when I had this bug I grew to really enjoy not seeing ugly other windows below the terminal and just getting an ice vista of my choosing, A window into serenity. — ThorSummoner, Dec 01 '15 at 19:48

score 59 · Answer 1 · edited Feb 21 '13 at 18:21

59

Navigate through Edit Menu → Profile Preferences → Background Tab → Click the Radio button for Transparent Background and adjust the slider.

terminal

edited Feb 21 '13 at 18:21

Aditya

13,416

answered Nov 01 '11 at 00:37

Bruno Pablo

777

2

Doesn't work in my case. This is what i tried first and nothing happens. – Alfie Jun 14 '15 at 15:31

score 16 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 21 '13 at 18:08

16

If you are using metacity make sure you have compositing enabled. To turn on run the following command in terminal:

gconftool-2 -s '/apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager' --type bool true

edited Feb 21 '13 at 18:08

Aditya

13,416

answered Oct 31 '11 at 19:13

Jonathan

316

1

Didn't change anything. – prayagupa Jun 16 '14 at 04:05

score 5 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 21 '13 at 18:14

5

It seems that you're not using compiz. You can install it by running:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install compiz

And if you already have it installed, try running:

compiz --replace

edited Feb 21 '13 at 18:14

Aditya

13,416

answered Oct 31 '11 at 16:53

Christian Vielma

755

I seem to have compiz installed, But compiz --replace just removed all window borders and it did not work. – zidarsk8 Oct 31 '11 at 17:31
@zidarsk8 It sounds like your system cannot support Compiz in its current state. Have you installed the necessary graphics drivers for your system to enable 3D effects? You may want to edit additional information about your graphics hardware back into the original question. – Knowledge Cube Oct 31 '11 at 18:33

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 18 '14 at 21:10

2

I'm a MATE user (under Linux Mint), and this issue was also window compositing for me. To turn it on in Mint 17/MATE, go to Menu -> Desktop Settings -> Windows, and check off the box that says "Use compositing", then restart mdm or reboot your machine.

answered Dec 18 '14 at 21:10

Eric Dand

211

This is the only answer that works for me, thanks! I didn't even need to restart anything. – Scz Dec 26 '16 at 13:27

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 22 '13 at 19:24

1

The top answer with metacity did not work for me in Raring (13.04), but I found a setting in dconf editor that did:

org.gnome.metacity.compositing-manager = True

Probably because of the move to a new settings system.

answered Aug 22 '13 at 19:24

Gringo Suave

736

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 31 '11 at 15:59

1

Have you tried Edit>Profile Preferences > Background > Transparent Background

answered Oct 31 '11 at 15:59

Pavan

51

Yes, as you can see, my background "is transparent" but still shows only the desktop background, and no other windows that should be visible behind the terminal. – zidarsk8 Oct 31 '11 at 16:28

How to make Terminal semi-transparent?

6 Answers6

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