About me
Share on linkedin
...

How to Remove the Panel on Raspberry Pi After Login

By default, Raspberry Pi OS (with the LXDE / PIXEL desktop) starts a panel at the top of the screen using lxpanel-pi.
If you are building a kiosk, digital signage, or a fullscreen application, this panel can be unnecessary or distracting.

💡 A little personal note: I recently built a small, fun project on my Raspberry Pi that displays energy usage data from a windmill. To make it look cleaner and more “kiosk-like,” I needed to remove the desktop panel and give the viewer a full-screen experience. I ended up modifying the system just a bit to achieve this—and it works great!

In this article, I’ll show you a simple and reliable way to kill the panel automatically after login, using an autostart script with a short delay.

Why Use a Delay?

The panel (lxpanel-pi) is started after login by the desktop environment.
If you try to stop it too early, the process may not exist yet.

By adding a small delay (e.g. 5 seconds), we ensure:

  • The desktop has fully loaded

  • The panel process is running

  • The panel can be cleanly terminated

Step 1: Create a Script to Kill the Panel

First, create a directory to store your custom scripts:

mkdir -p ~/scripts
nano ~/scripts/kill_panel.sh

Paste the following content into the file:

#!/bin/bash
# Wait a few seconds for lxpanel-pi to start, then kill it
sleep 5
killall lxpanel-pi

Save and exit (CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X).

Step 2: Make the Script Executable

The script must be executable to run at login:

chmod +x ~/scripts/kill_panel.sh

Step 3: Add the Script to Autostart

LXDE uses .desktop files to start applications automatically when a user logs in.

Create the autostart directory (if it doesn’t already exist):

mkdir -p ~/.config/autostart
nano ~/.config/autostart/killpanel.desktop

Paste the following configuration:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=KillPanel
Exec=/home/$USER/scripts/kill_panel.sh
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true

Save and exit the editor.

Step 4: Reboot and Test

Reboot your Raspberry Pi:

sudo reboot

After login:

  • The desktop loads normally

  • After ~5 seconds, the panel disappears

When Is This Approach Useful?

This method is ideal for:

  • Kiosk systems

  • Touchscreen dashboards

  • Fullscreen browsers (Chromium kiosk mode)

  • Embedded or appliance-style Raspberry Pi setups

It avoids modifying system files and is easy to revert—just remove the .desktop file.

Conclusion

By using a small delayed script in the autostart configuration, you can cleanly remove the Raspberry Pi panel without hacking the desktop environment.
This approach is simple, reliable, and perfect for custom or production-style Raspberry Pi projects.

 

Go back