Lost "desktop" in LM XFCE 16 - help needed

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Ajspik

Lost "desktop" in LM XFCE 16 - help needed

Post by Ajspik »

Hi,

I'm new to this forum so I hope I'm posting in the right place. I have a problem with my desktop in XFCE and since I'm quite a newbie in linux troubleshooting I would appreciate some help.

Here is the problem:

About two weeks ago I "lost" my desktop. By lost I mean that there is no background wallpaper, no icons and any actions with the mouse (like drag-select or right click) do not appear to be working. At first I thought that maybe something happened only to the wallpaper but when I tried to change it via "settings -> desktop" nothing happens. On the other hand the Conky starts and is shown on the desktop (I've turned it off for now) so it seems that it can show something. I've attached a snapshot of how it looks like.

The problem appeared out of nothing. I just started my laptop and found no desktop. I tried with moving my "xfce4" directory thinking it may be something in the settings that's screwing it up but that didn't help.

Another thing ... there is another user on the system, Test, which I use when I want to try something out and with that one it seems fine. Desktop and backgrounds are shown.

System info:

LM 16 XFCE
Linux 3.11.0-12-generic

Hardware info:

HP Probook 6910p (the CPU is a bit different but I don't think it matters)

If any additional info is required please ask.

Any ideas how to troubleshoot and solve this issue?

Thanks
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
yeti

Re: Lost "desktop" in LM XFCE 16 - help needed

Post by yeti »

Greetings, Ajspik.
Is it possible that you are as surprised as I was at the roll-up feature in Mint Xfce?
Mouse scroll wheel on window top panel controls roll-up/roll-down.
If you don't have a scroll wheel, a right click gets a pull-down menu with some choices.
A feature, not a bug, but a surprise for some of us, anyway.
Ajspik

Re: Lost "desktop" in LM XFCE 16 - help needed

Post by Ajspik »

Hi yeti,

Sorry for not replying earlier but I was away for a month and didn't have my LM16XFCE machine with me.

No, the problem is not related to any feature or windows being rolled-up. It is as if the entire "layer" is missing on the Desktop. Even when I right click or something nothing shows up, and you should get at least that menu window
kowi

Re: Lost "desktop" in LM XFCE 16 - help needed

Post by kowi »

Hi all,

have you found a solution yet? Since today I have exactly the same problem. It seems that something goes wrong with the config files since I can create a new user and all works fine there.
The question would be for the source of the issue and how to resolve it without having to move the hole home and reconfig everything.
I am running Mint 15 XFCE desktop. The desktop background always loaded a little bit late but now it is gone. Also no Icons and no menu on right click on the desktop.
Some KDE programms are installed but no full KDE desktop as it runs too slow on this old laptop. Last thing I did before the reboot that had the desktop lost was a VLC session and watching a DVD. Maybe Firefox and/or Thunderbird were open too.
A solution for this problem would be great!

Cheers, KoWi
Ajspik

Re: Lost "desktop" in LM XFCE 16 - help needed

Post by Ajspik »

Hi kowi,

No I haven't. To be honest I wasn't really looking much into it since I didn't know where to start. One of the reasons for opening this topic was to get some hints on where the problem might be. I also suspected the configuration files but I don't have a clue which ones. I think I tried to temper with directories in hope to reset to default but didn't work.

I don't really bother all that much with this because other than desktop missing I have no problems with applications. Also, LM17 should be out in a month or so and I will just do reinstall of system when it's out anyways.
Corvus

Re: Lost "desktop" in LM XFCE 16 - help needed

Post by Corvus »

Try this - it worked for me:

Code: Select all

rm -rf ~/.cache/sessions
Then log out or reboot to reset.
cwh3

Re: Lost "desktop" in LM XFCE 16 - help needed

Post by cwh3 »

This worked for me. Thanks Corvus!

I just upgraded to LM 17c from 14c and thought I had everything set up great, then this morning- BAM! no background image, no right-click, etc.

For me, I had installed the Nvidia driver 331.38 for my dual-monitor setup at home, and switched to a GDM Login screen (since my .face image wasn't showing up under MDM). When booting up at work, where I do not have a second monitor, it looks like my dual monitor setup was preserved (when I went to view all workspaces, my external monitor "real estate" was also showing up; also, some programs opened on the ghost second monitor, which means I couldn't get to them!!). Also, like I said, my background image was gone and I had not right-click ability.

Still, would like to know why this happened, and will it happen again, every time I go from double monitor to single monitor setup? Will post again with more news.

Cheers,
Charles
Corvus wrote:Try this - it worked for me:

Code: Select all

rm -rf ~/.cache/sessions
Then log out or reboot to reset.
Ajspik

Re: Lost "desktop" in LM XFCE 16 - help needed

Post by Ajspik »

Hey Corvus,

Thanks for the tip. Seems like it might have done the trick, like cwh3 reported.

Unfortunatley, I reinstalled when LM17 came out so I didn't get to test this but I'll remember it in case the problem should happen again.

Thanks
rafaelbdb

Re: Lost "desktop" in LM XFCE 16 - help needed

Post by rafaelbdb »

I have the same problem here, with LM XFCE 17. Tried the solution discribed here, but doesn't work... :(
Any other ideas?
richyrich

Re: Lost "desktop" in LM XFCE 16 - help needed

Post by richyrich »

rafaelbdb

Re: Lost "desktop" in LM XFCE 16 - help needed

Post by rafaelbdb »

richyrich wrote:Try this :

<SOLVED> Black desktop
The

Code: Select all

xfdesktop -R
trick SOLVED IT!!!

Thanks a lot richyrich! That was driving me crazy for a while!!
paul1149

Re: Lost "desktop" in LM XFCE 16 - help needed

Post by paul1149 »

Corvus wrote:Try this - it worked for me:

Code: Select all

rm -rf ~/.cache/sessions
Then log out or reboot to reset.
Excellent, Corvus. Worked great on LinuxLite 2.4, which is also xfce. Thank you.
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karlchen
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Re: Lost "desktop" in LM XFCE 16 - help needed

Post by karlchen »

paul1149 wrote:Excellent, Corvus. Worked great on LinuxLite 2.4, which is also xfce. Thank you.
(a) It is great that an instruction given for Linux Mint 16 works for LinuxLite as well.
(b) But LinuxLite is not Linux Mint. Both are derived from Ubuntu though.
Last edited by karlchen on Sat Aug 29, 2015 7:17 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Unlocked thread again: The reported problem is not specific to Mint 16 (obsolete by now), but can happen on Mint 17.x as well.
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