Window gets only active when clicking on the top

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Zephyroth

Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Zephyroth »

When I'm using multiple windows, a window in the background becomes only active, when I click the menu bar of the window. It's not sufficient to click the window itself. Is this behaviour new with Mint 18? Is it configureable?

BR,
Zeph
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Cosmo.
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Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Cosmo. »

Does this happen with any application?

Create a fresh new user account. Same behavior there?
Zephyroth

Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Zephyroth »

As far as I observed, it occurs with every application (Firefox, Thunderbird, Handbrake, VLC, MakeMKV).
One interesting thing is, I can mark a text (i.e. a text in a forum), but the Window itself doesn't become active.

I'll try with a new account.

BR,
Zeph
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austin.texas
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Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by austin.texas »

I experienced the same behavior in a 5 year old laptop with Mint 18. Until now, I believed that it was a hardware problem with the keyboard. That is because it only happens when I try to use the left SHIFT key. From then on it is stuck in that mode, and the only solution is to reboot. I am still inclined to believe it is the hardware, for that reason, but I guess there is the possibility that it is not the hardware.

Check your settings: System Settings > Windows > Behavior
WindowFocus.jpg
I will check the laptop running 17.3 and see what happens.

EDIT: I have the same problem with 17.3 So it is the hardware - OR the operator (me) being inexperienced with laptops, and not knowing how to work the fancy keys. 99.999% of all my computing has been with a desktop. Now the laptop (HP Pavilion g7) has these fancy keys that do weird stuff, and I don't know what to expect. There is a Fn key, for starters. I think if you press that plus another key the laptop will self-destruct, a la "Mission Impossible". I could be wrong.
Anyway, check the System Settings > Windows > Behavior > Focus to see if you get different behavior.
Mint 18.2 Cinnamon, Quad core AMD A8-3870 with Radeon HD Graphics 6550D, 8GB DDR3, Ralink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
Linux Linx 2018
Zephyroth

Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Zephyroth »

It's a desktop (i5-2500k, GTX770, P65-Chipset, 8GB RAM), not a laptop.

Focus "click" seems to be right, the next option is more interesting: "move focused Window on top"

Greetz,
Zeph
Cosmo.
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Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Cosmo. »

The option to move focused windows to top should only make a difference, if you set the focus option to anything different than "click".
Zephyroth

Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Zephyroth »

I checked the issue with a new account. There it works. It seems that something with my configuration is wrong.

Greetz,
Zeph
Cosmo.
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Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Cosmo. »

Also the symptoms do not lead to the likelihood of a permission problem, we should check this at first, as this is very fast to do:

Mark the following command and press ctrl-c

Code: Select all

find $HOME ! -user $USER -type f
open a terminal and press ctrl-shift-V
Mark the complete result inclusive the command with the mouse and press ctrl-shift-C
In the forum click the Code-button above the text box, than press ctrl-v.

Report in case, that there is no output.
Zephyroth

Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Zephyroth »

Code: Select all

find: "/home/zephyroth/.cache/dconf": Keine Berechtigung
find: "/home/zephyroth/.gvfs": Keine Berechtigung
That's the output. BTW, I'm from Austria, so the Output is German.

"Keine Berechtigung" means "no permission".

Greetz,
Zeph
Cosmo.
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Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Cosmo. »

The German language is no problem for me, it is my mother tongue.

The first line is the result of a bug in Mint 18 (and will constantly reappear), but the second line looks suspicious. To correct this:
Mark the following command completely and make sure, that you do not miss any sign, than press ctrl-c

Code: Select all

find /home/$SUDO_USER ! -user $SUDO_USER -exec chown $SUDO_USER:$SUDO_USER '{}' \;
Open a terminal and enter

Code: Select all

sudo -i
and press the Enter-key; you get prompted for your password, enter it.
Now still in the same terminal press ctrl-shift-V
Run this command and wait until it has finished. It does not produce a readable output.
Press twice ctrl-d
Immediately log off and back into your account.
Zephyroth

Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Zephyroth »

Ok, done. But it didn't change anything about the window behaviour.

I checked with the first command again, now there is no output.

Greetz,
Zeph
Cosmo.
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Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Cosmo. »

As I already wrote further up, the chance that this would solve the issue, was rather low. (But it is always good, to correct the ownership.)

For my understanding: In the title you say, that you click on the top, that would be usually the title bar; but in the starting post you named the menu bar. What really do you mean?

Further questions:
Does the window get the focus back, if you click the corresponding icon in the panel?
Does the window get the focus back, if you switch with alt-tab?
Zephyroth

Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Zephyroth »

Many thanks for your effort!
Cosmo. wrote:For my understanding: In the title you say, that you click on the top, that would be usually the title bar; but in the starting post you named the menu bar. What really do you mean?
Sorry, I didn't have the right word, as I wrote the post. I meant the title bar.
Cosmo. wrote:Does the window get the focus back, if you click the corresponding icon in the panel?
Yes.
Cosmo. wrote:Does the window get the focus back, if you switch with alt-tab?
Yes.

I tried some different settings, with the windows behaviour. If I set it to focus immediatly when the mouse is over the window, it also works correctly. Only the "click to focus" option doesn't work properly. The only window where it works is the Steam window. Any other window focuses only with a click to the title bar.

Just for my information, as I want to learn, not only to solve the problem, what exactly did the commands do, which you suggested in the previous posts?

Greetz,
Zeph
Cosmo.
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Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Cosmo. »

Zephyroth wrote:Just for my information, as I want to learn, not only to solve the problem, what exactly did the commands do, which you suggested in the previous posts?
The command here searches for files and folders inside of your home, where you are not the owner and produces the list of them. All inside of user's user must have the ownership of the user.

The next command changes the ownership of those objects back to you.

Coming back to your problem:
It seems - from your starting post - that you used another Mint version in the past, perhaps Mint 17.x, which did not give the problem. Is Mint 18 a fresh install or did you upgrade from Mint 17.3?
Do you use the same graphics driver as in the former Mint? Which graphic hardware?
Zephyroth

Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Zephyroth »

Ok, thanks.

Yes, I used Mint 17.3, but Mint 18 was a fresh install. The only thing I re-used is the folder for Steam and the entries in the fstab.
As I installed Mint 18 I used the actual (the suggested) nVidia driver for my GTX770.

Greetz,
Zeph
Cosmo.
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Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Cosmo. »

To summarize what we know:
The problem is account related.
The problem is not ownership related.

Do you use any different theme than the default one? If yes switch back to the default theme, log out and back in.
If this does not help:

The most easy approach would be to switch completely to a new account.

The investigative way is trying to find the culprit.
For the latter way do this:
Go into the test account.
From there copy (not move) all hidden files and folders from the main account to the test account; leave out the hidden folders .mozilla and .thunderbird.
When ready, immediately log out and back into the test account. I expect, that the problem is now there.
Now start to delete some of the folders; most suspicious are .config and .local. After deleting (or renaming for easier reverting) you have again to log out and back in, than test. Hopefully this will encircle the cause.
Zephyroth

Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Zephyroth »

Ok, I will test these things, but it can last for a while (my wife is pregnant and I can become father every day).

I investigated my issue a litte bit further and saw, that the window gets active, as soon as I click into it, but it doesn't get to the front! So it seems to be a problem displaying or stacking the windows in the correct order, not getting them active.

Greetz,
Zeph
Cosmo.
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Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Cosmo. »

The most important things at first! I wish you all the very best.
Zephyroth

Re: Window gets only active when clicking on the top

Post by Zephyroth »

Many thanks! We're still waiting...

Yesterday I had to use my PC and the issue was not there! I tested it with my typical applications, but it worked in every case. I don't know what happened. On one side I'm glad, on the other side I really want do know what was going on. This outcome is not very satisfying.

BR,
Zeph
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