Darnia and Ubuntu (XP) install gives Frankenstein result!

[mschilling]

I had XP installed on my new Gateway MX8738 and then partitioned the hd with the Ubuntu installer and gparted. I made an extended part with a separate part for /home which I want to share between Mint and Ubuntu. The install went fine with U. Then I installed Mint and selected the same /home folder (this time NOT formatting it) with a new / part. After booting either linux, I ended up with no desktop pic (background) and some mixed up icons between the two. They are sharing the same /home part after install which is what I wanted, but they are getting confused between the two wrt the desktop. What should I do at this point?

[Husse]

It was not as bad as I thought....
This is the only downside with home on its own partition as old settings are remembered
I have no "easy fix" unfortunately. I assume both were gnome or kde not one of each?
You have to examine the hidden files and folders in home and try to adjust the settings in
.gconf .gconfd and the three .gnomexxx folders if you have gnome - for kde it's some other folders
You could start either live CD and copy the appropriate files to the desktop to examine them
All this takes a bit of knowledge and time, but works (and it is really not difficult...)
I'm going to do something similar myself and write a bit in the wiki about it when and if I get the time
Sorry but this is as good as it gets

[mschilling]

Yes, they are the gnome version of each. There is no real problem, as I was testing out that type of installation. If you do a write-up on the procedure to straighten out those particular files, I would like to know it. This problem will probably come up with every fresh installation of Mint, or others. But I really like the setup of using a common home partition! Cheers, Martin.