在计算机科学中，一个桌面环境（Desktop environment，有时称为桌面管理器）是对桌面比拟的实现。它由多个软件组成。一个桌面环境中的软件共享同一个图形用户界面。在一个典型的桌面环境中，这些软件提供给计算机用户视窗，文档夹，工具栏，壁纸、图标以及像拖放等服务。不同桌面环境在设计和功能上的特性会赋予其与众不同的外观和感觉。

一般封闭操作系统（如Microsoft Windows NT）所用的桌面环境是相对不可变的。但是也有主题和第三方软件可以完全更改常见界面元素的外观（比如窗口、按钮和图标）以及界面本身。在Windows中，这一切可以通过替换默认的Explorer shell来实现。

In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system, which share a common graphical user interface (GUI). The desktop environment was seen mostly on personal computers until the rise of mobile computing. Desktop GUIs help the user to easily access and edit files, while they usually do not provide access to all of the features found in the underlying operating system. Instead, the traditional command-line interface (CLI) is still used when full control over the operating system is required.