AlienFX on older Alienware desktops

AlienFX controls the lights of older Alienware desktops. The original guide was written for an Aurora R4 desktop from 2011 with the USB device idVendor 0x187c, idProduct 0x0513. Check your own device ID with lsusb before you start.

lsusb | grep -i 187c

AUR package

AlienFX is in the AUR and not in the official Garuda or Arch repositories. The package reportedly changed maintainers several times since 2017. A malware incident in 2026 is also reported. Neither claim is verified here. Read the PKGBUILD before you build it.

Do not install alienfx-lite

The original guide warns against the alienfx-lite package. It is a different project that is also in the AUR.

1. Install AlienFX from the AUR. The alienfx package is in the AUR as version 2.4.3-4.

   yay -S alienfx

2. Set a theme. UNCONFIRMED: the original guide does not list the theme steps. Check the AlienFX help or the upstream project for the command.

3. Make the theme stick after a reboot. UNCONFIRMED: the original guide does not list the persistence steps.

Unconfirmed steps

The original guide lists the theme and reboot steps without commands. The AUR page could not be fetched from this environment, so the package details above come from the AUR RPC interface. The upstream project is trackmastersteve/alienfx.

Source: AlienFX for desktop dummies