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Accepted
Tom
Asked: 2012-05-05 18:42:20 +0800 CST

How to make ZSH the default shell?

  • 772

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.

command-line bash zsh

7 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    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:

    • 471

  2. 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.

    • 69

  3. You 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.

    • 38

  4. I 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>
    • 15

  5. 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.

    • 2

  6. 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
    • 2

  7. 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.

    • 0