If you’re looking for a way to install KDE5 during the OpenSUSE OS installation there is a way. It takes a few steps but it works. I’ll explain how to do it below. As of this writing it will install KDE 5.1 on OpenSUSE 13.2.

Make sure you have a network connection during the install because the options you need don’t appear unless you add repos before installation. Fortunately the OpenSUSE installer now has you set up a network connection before you do anything else.

On this screen make sure you have “Add Online Repositories” checked off.



The default repos are all you need.



On this screen do not select any of the default desktop environments. Select “Minimal X Window”.



On this screen click software.



Check off Plasma 5 base on the left. Here you should also search for NetworkManager and install it as well. You might also want to check off some other packages such as image viewers and PDF readers. Everything you need to have a working OpenSUSE system with KDE 5.1 is selected already though.



Once you boot up you’ll have you’ll have a very minimal graphical interface. Log in as Root. You will need to go into Yast and then click the /etc/sysconfig editor.

Go to Desktop > Display Manager > DISPLAY_MANAGER and set it to kdm.

Then go to Desktop > Window Manager > DEFAULT_WM and set it to plasma5.

That’s it. Restart your system and you’ll have OpenSUSE KDE5 without the bulk of two full featured desktop environments.

You can try setting sddm as the display manager but as of now there is no easy way to get it running. Here is just one of several people I’ve heard feedback from:

From personal experience, sddm in openSUSE is very buggy. It does not allow a proper logout yet (display manager hangs during logout/restart/shutdown). –eeickmeyer (reddit.com)