[SOLVED?]Desktop Background disappearing

[mikecz]

Just did the UP4 install, and for a couple of reboots everything looked fine after I switched back to the Mint-X theme.

Now, though, I get my normal background (the Mint Debian screen) on the login screen, and for a few seconds after I login, but then the background goes dark purple and it won't change with the Desktop applet.

On a hunch, I removed Nautilus and all the attendant packages, and the desktop background turned black, and the icons on the desktop disappeared (despite xfce being set to show them). The difference, though, is that the background for the login screen is now black, as opposed to my chosen desktop background.

I added just Nautilus back in (and whatever other packages it loaded with it), and the desktop went back to purple and I got the icons (though they don't look the same as they did before the upgrade, and are not what xfce says they should look like). There is still no desktop background on the gdm login screen.

After quite a bit more digging, it looks like xfce wants to run Nautilus as my default file manager, despite the fact that I hadn't installed it originally, and that the preferred application is, in fact, supposed to be Thunar. I have no idea why UP4 installed it in the first place.

I am not very skilled with all the geegaws & doodads for various X window managers/desktop envirnoments, so any help would be appreciated.

MikeC

[GeneC]

Similar issue today.

LMDE/XFCE tracking Testing.
updated, and it went fine as usual, but when I opened Nautilus (I had it installed and have been using it after issues with Thunar.
My background changed to the default Mint (same as log out screen), and with icons on the desktop (I have it set for no icons on desktop).

Setting manager does NOTHING. Cannot change wallpaper, or delete icons.

[GeneC]

Nautilus was the problem here also.

Un- installed it and things back to normal. Desktop settings works again.

Code: Select all

Commit Log for Tue Apr 10 20:23:09 2012


Completely removed the following packages:
nautilus
nautilus-actions
nautilus-gtkhash
python-nautilus

Removed the following packages:
file-roller
gnome-settings-daemon
gnome-sushi
nautilus-data
nautilus-image-manipulator
nautilus-open-terminal
nautilus-scripts-manager
nautilus-sendto
nautilus-wipe

Re-install Nautilus -- Desktop settings broke again.

running Nautilus from terminal

Code: Select all

gene@zordon:~$ nautilus
** Message: Initializing gksu extension...
Initializing nautilus-open-terminal extension
Initializing nautilus-gdu extension

(nautilus:11954): libnotify-WARNING **: Failed to connect to proxy

Will run Thunar until I find a fix.

[mikecz]

I have totally removed Nautilus (I didn't want it in the first place!), and even renamed the /home/MyUserName/.config folder and had xfce rebuild it.

Still, I get no desktop icons nor a desktop background, just black that doesn't seem to pay attention to the xfce settings. I'm sure its something simple, but I'm stumped and a bit frustrated.

I thought the whole point of the UP scheme was that things like this wouldn't happen, and if this is how its going to be I will have to look hard at going to a more truly rolling release, which is a shame because I do like LMDE XFCE when it isn't gratuitiously installing things that I didn't ask for.

MikeC

[mikecz]

OK, after sleeping on it and doing a little more research, I created a temporary login on my LMDE XFCE box, and the desktop came up normally. I then renamed my old and cruft-laden home directory (which has the remnants of at least 2 other Linux distros in it), and then renamed the temporary login's home directory for use by my normal login and laboriously copied my important files from the old home to the new home. I am pretty sure that some lingering settings from my old Ubuntu 9.10 installation (the last time I used Nautilus) was causing the problem.

I still haven't figured out why Mint-Debian-Update decided to install Nautilus. Possibly it picked up the old setups, possibly it was related to the attempt by the LMDE team to put as much Cinnamon/Mate/Gnome3 stuff into UP4 as possible. If so, then they really should take a look at whether the updater is completely appropriate for LMDE XFCE, since XFCE users aren't so concerned about the current desktop wars.

In any case, for any LMDE XFCE users out there, definitely make sure to go through the list of recommended updates and make sure you're not installing anything untoward.

Now, if only I can figure out why the 3.2 kernel wouldn't install in this round even though it looks like I have all the header files.

MikeC

[drdavidk]

Sounds like a lot of workarounds for what should be a simple solution:

run gconf-editor
apps - nautilus - preferences
unclick "show desktop"

You can have Nautilus and your old desktop too.

Hope this solves the problem more simply.

[mikecz]

Sounds like a lot of workarounds for what should be a simple solution:

run gconf-editor
apps - nautilus - preferences
unclick "show desktop"

You can have Nautilus and your old desktop too.

Hope this solves the problem more simply.

Like I said: I'm not good with the innards of the various desktops, but as I don't want any Gnome stuff, what I did will suit me better in the long run.

I will try to remember it for future, though, so thanks.

MikeC

[drdavidk]

Sounds good. I don't like the elementary-ish Nautilus (3.2.1), but like dual-pane file managers, so I haven't updated to the new Nautilus, and now mostly use Dolphin. Wish Thunar had a dual-pane function.

[fiver22]

posted to the New LMDE isos (Pos-UP4) in testing, I wrote:

The only issue I'm having currently is an inability to change my desktops backgrounds. I 'Menu>Settings>Settings Manager>Desktop: where you can select Monitors, 1 or 2 and select a default background image, or none, for each. The behaviour I'm used to seeing is that changes take effect immediately when selecting a new background (or none); however that isn't happening/ I seem 'stuck' with the gelsan_debian.png background. Related: I can't remove the default Icons (Home, Fs, Trash, Removable) so I'd say the issue is with all my 'Desktop Settings'.
I don't KNOW that this is related directly to the rc iso -it very well COULD be something I've pulled in since the install.Any thoughts?

I'm not sure I'm following the solution here, why are people talking about Nautilus and gconf-editor? I guess, more appropriately, why is Nautilus in an xfce iso? (That sounds like I'm judging -I'm not, I really just don't understand).
So, I'm pulling out Nautilus (sudo apt-get remove --purge nautilus) in hopes that it will fix my issue. Will report back after reboot/log-out.
FWIW: I did a totally clean install (I didn't save my home folder -or pull in old config files).

[mikecz]

posted to the New LMDE isos (Pos-UP4) in testing, I wrote:

The only issue I'm having currently is an inability to change my desktops backgrounds. I 'Menu>Settings>Settings Manager>Desktop: where you can select Monitors, 1 or 2 and select a default background image, or none, for each. The behaviour I'm used to seeing is that changes take effect immediately when selecting a new background (or none); however that isn't happening/ I seem 'stuck' with the gelsan_debian.png background. Related: I can't remove the default Icons (Home, Fs, Trash, Removable) so I'd say the issue is with all my 'Desktop Settings'.
I don't KNOW that this is related directly to the rc iso -it very well COULD be something I've pulled in since the install.Any thoughts?

I'm not sure I'm following the solution here, why are people talking about Nautilus and gconf-editor? I guess, more appropriately, why is Nautilus in an xfce iso? (That sounds like I'm judging -I'm not, I really just don't understand).
So, I'm pulling out Nautilus (sudo apt-get remove --purge nautilus) in hopes that it will fix my issue. Will report back after reboot/log-out.
FWIW: I did a totally clean install (I didn't save my home folder -or pull in old config files).

I had no idea why mint-debian-update installed Nautilus, either; I had a straight Mint XFCE system running for nearly a year. I suspect it was probably brought in as part of the backend updates they put in for the mainline LMDE to support Gnome3/Cinnamon/MATE.

In my case, removing Nautilus did not solve the issue, but I didn't have to do a full re-install. I created a temporary login with sudo privs, renamed my old home folder (which had a lot of accumulated cruft from other distros that included Gnome2 and Nautilus related settings; it may have been that mint-debian-update saw those settings and included Nautilus on the update, but that is just a wild guess on my part), created a new home folder for my normal login. When I logged back in as my normal login, I had a fresh XFCE configuration to build on and I copied all my important data from the old directory into the new one.

MikeC

[fiver22]

Just a follow-up:
pulling out nautilus and restarting fixed the issue. Oddness.

[aljoriz]

Removed nautilus and I am now very happy with a minimalist desktop background. I don't know why nautilus is included in the XFCE UP4 when it will cause problems.

thank you so much to the OP who fixed a nagging issue for me.

[ormu]

Removed nautilus and I am now very happy with a minimalist desktop background. I don't know why nautilus is included in the XFCE UP4 when it will cause problems.

thank you so much to the OP who fixed a nagging issue for me.

I second this.

Removing nautilus and some other packages solved the problem but now the login screen has black background. Not a big problem, but just a bit annoying.

[Elderwuss]

Sounds like a lot of workarounds for what should be a simple solution:

run gconf-editor
apps - nautilus - preferences
unclick "show desktop"

You can have Nautilus and your old desktop too.

Hope this solves the problem more simply.

I have no "show desktop" option in apps->Nautilus->preferences

[drdavidk]

You're right. That's been removed from gconf-editor in this edition. I just upgraded and now have the same problem. I'll post if I find a solution.

[Elderwuss]

Fiver22's solution (sudo apt-get remove --purge nautilus) worked for me. Tried just removing single package "nautilus" in Synaptic, but didn't work.

[gonefortheday]

Had the same problem with disappearing desktop image and right click menu.
Followed fiver22's nautilus purge command and got it back. Using non DE Mint on most of my computers. Gettig interesting with this Mint DE version . I just hope not too interesting. thanks fiver22.