[SOLVED] Unable to set wallpaper

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mrjimphelps

[SOLVED] Unable to set wallpaper

Post by mrjimphelps »

Every so often, My Linux Mint Sonya xfce desktop will not allow me to set any wallpaper - it reverts to the default black background. If I go to my wallpaper folder and try to select one of the two images I have put there, both images are grayed out, not allowing me to select either one of them.

The last time this happened, the problem fixed itself a couple of weeks after it started.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!
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Flemur
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Re: Unable to set wallpaper

Post by Flemur »

mrjimphelps wrote:If I go to my wallpaper folder and try to select one of the two images I have put there, both images are grayed out, not allowing me to select either one of them.
Just a guess, but try

Code: Select all

ls -al /your/wallpaper/folder
and, if your wallpaper is under your $HOME

Code: Select all

find $HOME ! -user $USER 
Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] if/when it is solved!
Your data and OS are backed up....right?
mrjimphelps

Re: Unable to set wallpaper

Post by mrjimphelps »

I'll give this a try when I get home tonight. Thank you for your suggestion.

I should add something: The problem comes and goes -- sometimes the background is black, and I am not able to add any wallpaper. Then maybe a week or two later, either my wallpaper is back, or I can manually select it and turn it back on. Then a week or two later, the wallpaper is gone once again. And on and on...
mrjimphelps

Re: Unable to set wallpaper

Post by mrjimphelps »

It worked! I ran the first command you posted:

ls -al /your/wallpaper/folder

After doing that, I went to my desktop settings, and my two jpgs were no longer grayed out! I was able to select one of them to be the wallpaper.

By the way, what exactly does the command do? It appears to set the read and write permissions for the folder.

Thanks for your help!
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Termy
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Re: Unable to set wallpaper

Post by Termy »

That's really strange. That command just fully listed the contents of the folder, including hidden files. lol The next one recursively shows files in your HOME which are not owned by you, which could definitely be a reason for the issue. I'd guess that it just worked by coinkadink.
I'm also Terminalforlife on GitHub.
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