Apps on Desktop do not launch in Guest Session

[jr5user]

Looking for help with an issue I'm having with Linux Mint Mate 21.2

I've implemented the following solution to create a guest account for the purpose of having an account for the kids that doesn't get messed up (as the guest session clears when the computer restarts)

I followed these instructions that I got from easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com (The problem I'm having is at the end -last paragraph) I should mention that I'm a Linux newbie.

Instructions from easylinuxtipsproject

Enable the frozen Guest session (guest account) and customize it to your liking
1. Present by default in a cleanly installed Linux Mint: an idiot-proof guest account that automatically reverts to the default settings upon reboot (or upon logout).

This frozen guest account runs in kiosk mode (full confinement), so all changes in the guest session are being deleted at reboot or logout. It's a nice and handy feature of display manager LightDM.

Unfortunately its confinement currently isn't as complete as it should be, in combination with the systemd of Linux Mint. So it has been disabled by default. If you're willing to take that incomplete confinement onto the bargain, you can enable it as follows:

a. Menu button - Administration - Login Window

Tab Users: Allow guest sessions: switch it on.

b. Reboot your computer. Note that in Cinnamon and MATE you might not be able to log in to the Guest account yet, because of a bug. In Xfce this same bug might not allow logging in, but it might prevent rebooting and shutting down. But there is an elegant workaround for this misery:

c. Log into your normal account and launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)

d. Install some apparmor tools. In the terminal (use copy/paste to avoid typing errors):

sudo apt-get install apparmor-utils

Press Enter.

e. Then you're going to tell AppArmor not to deny access to required resources, by setting the profile of the Guest Session to "complain mode". In this mode the AppArmor security policy is not enforced for the Guest Session profile, but rather "access violations" are logged to the system log. Copy/paste into the terminal:

sudo aa-complain /usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-guest-session

Press Enter.

Now you should be able to log into the Guest account after all.

f. The guest session has default settings which might not suit you. You can adapt the default settings of the guest account by means of a trick: you can create a "skeleton" account with the right settings, and then configure the Guest session to copy those settings from the "skeleton" account.

This is how you do that:

g. Create a new user account, called Framework. You can do that by launching "Users and Groups" from the menu. This new account should be a normal user account with no special privileges.

Note: the "Full Name" of this new user should begin with a capital letter! Not the "Username", because user names have to be all lowercase. But in "Users and Groups" the new "Full Name" should begin with a capital letter, because otherwise a malfunction might occur.

Ensure that a password is required for logging into this new user account. It's best to set the same password as the one for the account of the system administrator (your personal account), because only the system administrator should be able to log into it.

h. Log out and then log into the new user account Framework, and configure it the way you want the Guest session to become. For example with a nicer wallpaper instead of Mint's default eternal night, and with different settings for Firefox and Libre Office.

In the next step you'll ensure that the Guest session will copy all of its settings from the new account Framework. You can change those settings later on as well: later changes in Framework will also land automatically in the Guest session.

i. Log out from the Framework account and log into the account of the system administrator (your personal account).

j. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)

k. Then in the terminal (use copy/paste to avoid typing errors):

sudo ln -v -s /home/framework /etc/guest-session/skel

Press Enter.

(note that framework doesn't begin with a capital letter in the command)

l. Log out from your account and log into the Guest session. Now it should have the same settings as the new user account Framework.

The only disadvantage is, that you now have an extra "useless" user account in the login window.

Do you want to make new changes later on? That's simple: later changes in the Framework account, will also land automatically in the Guest session.

THE PROBLEM THAT I HAVE:
I can make changes to the "framework" account and they do transfer over when I log into the guest session. The only problem that I have is that the program "launchers" that I added to the desktop in the "framework" account, do not work in the guest session.
Eg, I have a launcher to firefox on the desktop. When I click on it in the guest session, it does nothing. However if I click on firefox in the "Internet" category within the guest session, it DOES launch. Just the app "links" that are on the desktop do not work (as in, when I click on them, they do nothing)

What changes do I have to make to the "framework" account so that launchers that I place on the desktop, also work when I log into the guest session?