Centos 5 with XFCE

Introduction

Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment, which based on the GTK+ library. It uses less resources than alternative desktop environments, yet is still visually appealing, fast, and user-friendly. Xfce is the perfect environment if you absolutely have to have a desktop interface on your server.

Steps

yum install switchdesk
yum groupinstall "X Window System"
yum groupinstall "GNOME Desktop Environment"
yum groupinstall XFCE-4.4
Reboot your machine
Log-in to your graphical environment, at log-in you have the option to select a desktop environment from a list. If you are already logged-in then use the command:

switchdesk

from the terminal . It will ask you to select a default desktop environment for the next log-in.
Use “CTL + ALT + Backspace ” to log-out from the graphical environment, the next log-in will take your configurations.

Source

Installing desktop environments on CentOs 5.x - tournasdimitrios