Cant change system settings

[Iasonaspav]

Hello, this is my very first question and I was forced to ask it because I cant find a solution. Let me describe the problem.

Today I decided to build from source wireshark. I am not an experienced linux user so it took me a long. I had to install different dependencies like Glib, Qt5 etc. I executed

Code: Select all

make

but there were some errors. Then I decided to quit the process. I updated and upgraded the system through

Code: Select all

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

Following that, I tried to spend some time on facebook but firefox started showing tab errors. Specifically, "Gah, your tab just crashed". So I restarted my laptop and the disaster came real. I logged in and noticed that my background and my theme was changed back to default. Also, all the desktop icons were aligned on the left side and there were 2 new mount volumes, "file system root" and "home". I cannot change anything. I created a test user through terminal but the problem remains. A weird thing is that I can see my background when I type my password in order to login. But after the login process the desktop background is the default one. I also noticed that some system settings are not preserved after reboot. For example, the "show hidden files" setting. Do you have any idea about that problem? Is it an update issue or I did the damage?

Thank you in advance.

[Sir Charles]

Please post the terminal output of the following command for those forum members who can assist you to have an idea about your system:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz

Copy the whole of the output and paste it here using code tags </> from above the edit-box to enclose it.

[Iasonaspav]

inxi -Fxz output:

Code: Select all

System:    Host: iasonas-PC Kernel: 4.13.0-45-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: HP product: HP 250 G6 Notebook PC v: Type1ProductConfigId
           Mobo: HP model: 8328 v: 23.38 Bios: Insyde v: F.22 date: 07/24/2017
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i3-6006U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 7968
           clock speeds: max: 2000 MHz 1: 500 MHz 2: 500 MHz 3: 500 MHz
           4: 500 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Sky Lake Integrated Graphics bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1366x768@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 520 (Skylake GT2)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 18.0.5 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.13.0-45-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 3000 bus-ID: 01:00.0
           IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Intel Device 24fb driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: wlo1 state: up speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1000.2GB (8.6% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD10JPVX size: 1000.2GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 118G used: 13G (12%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-2: /home size: 256G used: 49G (20%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 21.47GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 38.5C mobo: 29.8C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 184 Uptime: 1:45 Memory: 2037.7/3862.6MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 

[trytip]

linux mint in general has a lot of permission issues. i have never encountered so many permission errors as i do in mint/19. i can't even begin to understand where to start and rolling back a Timeshift will not solve this issue since it's at user home.
what do you get in terminal
find $HOME ! -user $USER -type f

[Iasonaspav]

linux mint in general has a lot of permission issues. i have never encountered so many permission errors as i do in mint/19. i can't even begin to understand where to start and rolling back a Timeshift will not solve this issue since it's at user home.
what do you get in terminal
find $HOME ! -user $USER -type f

Nothing... Is it normal?

[Iasonaspav]

I attach the commands that I had run before the problem occured. You may find something "illegal".

Edit: I removed a lot of commands which I believe are not relative to the problem so it can be read easier.

Code: Select all

  671  cd /opt/wireshark-2.6.1
  675  sudo apt-get install build-essential 
  676  sudo apt-get install qtcreator
  678  cmake --version
  681  sudo mv wireshark-2.6.1/ /opt
  683  cd /opt/wireshark-2.6.1/
  685  ./configure
  686  sudo apt-get install libgcrypt
  687  sudo apt-get install libgcrypt11 libgcrypt11-dev
  689  uname -a
  690  lsb_release -a
  691  sudo apt-get install libgcrypt20-dev
  692  sudo apt-get update
  693  sudo apt-get upgrade 
  694  sudo apt-get update
  697  sudo apt-get install glib
  700  less INSTALL
  706  sudo mv glib-2.56.1/ /opt
  709  cd glib-2.56.1/
  711  ./configure
  712  sudo apt-get install libffi-dev
  713  ./configure
  714  sudo apt-get install libmount-dev
  715  ./configure
  716  sudo apt-get install libpcre++-dev
  717  ./configure
  718  make
  719  sudo rm -rf /install-prefix/include/glib.h /install-prefix/include/gmodule.h
  720  sudo make install
  721  cd ../
  722  ls
  723  cd wireshark-2.6.1/
  724  ./configure
  727  sudo apt-get install qt5-default 
  730  sudo apt-get install libcap-dev
  731  pkg-config glib-2.0 --modversion
  736  sudo mkdir wireshark-2.6.1-build
  738  cd wireshark-2.6.1-build/
  744  sudo cmake -DDUMPCAP_INSTALL_OPTION=suid -DMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5  ../wireshark-2.6.1/
  745  sudo apt-get update
  747  rm -r CMakeFiles/
  748  sudo rm -rf CMakeFiles/
  750  rm CMakeCache.txt 
  751  sudo rm CMakeCache.txt 
  754  sudo cmake -DDUMPCAP_INSTALL_OPTION=suid ../wireshark-2.6.1/
  761  ls
  762  rm -rf *
  763  sudo rm -rf CMake*
  764  ls
  765  CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH={$HOME/Qt/5.11.1/gcc_64}
  770  export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$HOME/Qt/5.11.1/gcc_64/
  771  sudo cmake -DDUMPCAP_INSTALL_OPTION=suid ../wireshark-2.6.1/
  773  less CMakeCache.txt 
  774  sudo cmake -DDUMPCAP_INSTALL_OPTION=suid -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/home/iasonas/Qt/5.11.1/gcc_64  ../wireshark-2.6.1/
  778  make
  779  sudo make
  780  sudo apt-get remove qt5-default 
  784  cd ~/Downloads/
  786  mv qt-unified-linux-x64-3.0.5-online.run /opt
  787  sudo mv qt-unified-linux-x64-3.0.5-online.run /opt
  789  cd /opt
  791  chmod +x qt-unified-linux-x64-3.0.5-online.run 
  792  ./qt-unified-linux-x64-3.0.5-online.run 
  793  sudo apt-get install libfontconfig1
  794  sudo apt-get install mesa-common-dev
  797  cd /opt
  798  sudo rm -rf wireshark-2.6.1 wireshark-2.6.1-build/
  801  find $HOME ! -user $USER -type f
  802  find /home/$SUDO_USER ! -user $SUDO_USER -exec chown $SUDO_USER:$SUDO_USER '{}' \;
  814  rm -rf .cache/
  815  rm -rf .compiz
  816  rm -rf .config/
  817  rm -rf .compiz/
  823  sudo chown iasonas:iasonas /home/iasonas/.config/dconf/iasonas
  824  sudo apt-get install dconf-tools
  825  dconf reset -f /org/compiz/
  827  cd 
  828  rm -r .config/dconf/user*
  829  ls .config/dconf/
  831  sudo adduser test
  833  sudo chown -r iasonas:iasonas /home/iasonas
  834  sudo chown -R iasonas:iasonas /home/iasonas
  835  sudo chown  iasonas:iasonas /home/iasonas
  841  sudo chown $USER:$USER ~/.config/dconf -R
  842  chmod u+w ~/.config/dconf -R
  843  sudo chown -R iasonas:iasonas /home/iasonas
  844  inxi -Fxz
  845  find $HOME ! -user $USER -type f

[trytip]

yes, nothing is normal. your issue is not permissions here

[Sir Charles]

yes, nothing is normal.

your issue is not permissions here

You really expect that to be the normal?

[trytip]

if the output for find $HOME ! -user $USER -type f returns nothing, this is normal . is this what you mean?

[gm10]

I attach the commands that I had run before the problem occured. You may find something "illegal".

Define "illegal". I didn't go through this in detail, but I see you had some fun

rm -rf .config/

Good riddance, never wanted all those user settings, anyway, amirite? I'm not sure your desktop thought the same.

And if the find command came back empty (see post above) I guess you nuked your entire user folder afterwards as well.

[trytip]

I attach the commands that I had run before the problem occured. You may find something "illegal".

Define "illegal". I didn't go through this in detail, but I see you had some fun
rm -rf .config/
good riddance, never wanted all those user settings, anyway, amirite? I'm not sure your desktop thought the same.
And if the find command came back empty (see post above) I guess you nuked your entire user folder afterwards as well.

good catch i didn't even look through the commands. that explains why OP desktop settings are all gone. not sure what the issue is now.

[Sir Charles]

yes, nothing is normal. your issue is not permissions here

I realize that is a type of "typo" here but I take these two statement together as implying that having permission issues is the normal.
Just a bit amusing

[Sir Charles]

Iasonaspav,
If you by any chance have a backup of your /home, you can use that to restore your configurations.

[Iasonaspav]

As I understand, removing .config erased all my previous settings, right? The problem is that I cannot bring them back. When I choose a theme or a wallpaper, nothing changes. Furthermore, I noticed that some settings are not saved. For example, I removed the "show desktop" icon from the task bar but after a reboot it comes back. The same happens with the "show hidden files" setting.

[Iasonaspav]

Iasonaspav,
If you by any chance have a backup of your /home, you can use that to restore your configurations.

Unfortunately I don't. I was going to learn to use rsync soon but that happened today. Apart from some ssh keys which are still here (I believe), there aren't many things that I can't live without.

[trytip]

since you deleted the .config you might as well create another user and configure that one not sure what else was removed. you can copy your documents and files from old user into new one the get rid of your old user

[Iasonaspav]

I created a new user from terminal

Code: Select all

 sudo adduser testuser
 usermod -aG sudo testuser
 sudo usermod -aG sudo testuser

and logged in. But the problem persists.Can't change themes, wallpapers, etc and some settings change to default after restart.

[Iasonaspav]

Eventually I formatted my laptop and installed Linux mint 19. I kept my documents so there is no problem anymore. Is this considered a solution to the problem?

[SadSack963]

I realise this is an old thread, but for anyone who has a similar problem and comes across this while browsing:

I had a very similar problem to this where I could not alter ANY system settings at all through the (Mint 19.3) System Settings GUI. As soon as I tried to change a dial box or slider etc, it would revert to the default immediately. I could not change the desktop wallpaper, font size or scaling, etc - which was a bit of a pain on my 4K laptop screen!

The Linux Mint machine in question was a VirtualBox guest virtual machine which I use for testing running under Windows 10 host. Just as I was logging into the VM, Windows decided to lock up completely (black screen crash), cause still unknown, so I had to power down.

After performing the usual chkdsk and sfc on the host machine, I booted the VM again only to discover the settings problems above. I had an earlier snapshot which I cloned so I could use it while I was troubleshooting the failed machine.

<aside>
Because I happened to have a document open on my host this crash also corrupted my LibreOffice settings which I eventually discovered in <home>\AppData\Roaming\LibreOffice\4\user
</aside>

Suspecting system corruption of the VM, I tried using Timeshift to restore system files. This crashed in a number of interesting ways - Timeshift wouldn't work! After a few attempts, I booted into a Live ISO and used Timeshift to restore the desired backup, which worked perfectly. However, I still couldn't adjust any settings. This pointed to a user specific corruption.

So anyway, to come to the punch-line...

I created a new test user, and found that I could now alter settings normally. I logged out of the test user and did a dump of all files in the test user's home to a text document in my own Documents folder:

Code: Select all

# cd /home/test 
# sudo ls -al -R 1> /home/<user>/Documents/test.txt

Parsing this into LibreOffice Calc allowed me to easily sort by time (I noted what time I was successfully adjusting the settings) and pointed me to this file:

Code: Select all

./.config/dconf:									
total	12								
drwx------	2	test	test	4096	Feb	5	19:40	.
-rw-r--r--	1	test	test	2803	Feb	5	19:40	user

So, back in my normal user home, I simply went to ~/.config/dconf/ and renamed the user file to user.OLD
As soon as I did this a new user file was created and I could now adjust settings normally!! Problem solved.

So, I hope this may help someone else who comes across this issue.
I should also offer props to Gnome Help which helped me understand what was going on.
<https://help.gnome.org/admin/system-adm ... es.html.en>