New user gets terminal on launch bar: how to stop?

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henrylaw
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New user gets terminal on launch bar: how to stop?

Post by henrylaw »

I'm creating a customised Mint 18.2 (XFCE) build to use in an education facility. The key feature is that the users' environment will be cleared down and reset to defaults each night. So I need a set of configuration files which represent the default environment they need: it's very basic, with just a launcher for web browsing and two Libreoffice functions. Pretty much everything else needs to be removed or hidden.

I'm finding that the XFCE panel definitions, specifically the "quick launch" bar, contain a Terminal Emulator launcher which I want to remove: our users wouldn't have a clue what to do with one, and it will only cause confusion.

I have fiddled around with putting "launcher-nn" directories in /etc/skel/.config/xfce4/panel, with a suitable .desktop file; that worked on xubuntu. But when I log on as a newly-created user I find that there is always another one of those launcher-nn directories, not always with the same number, which contains a desktop file for the Terminal Emulator. The user can remove it, of course; that's not the point.

I looked in /etc/xdg/xfce4/panel. The only relevant file seemed to be "default.xml", which contained a stanza "plugin-9" which is a Terminal launcher; so I removed that stanza but the Terminal launcher is still there for a newly-created user.

Can someone help me to find out where that dratted Terminal launcher is coming from, and exterminate it?
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Flemur
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Re: New user gets terminal on launch bar: how to stop?

Post by Flemur »

henrylaw wrote:Can someone help me to find out where that dratted Terminal launcher is coming from, and exterminate it?
Have you tried just deleting the terminal from the panel? (rt-click->remove) My panel doesn't show a terminal.
You'll probably want to remove the menus too? rt-click->remove should work there too.

If still problems, you might look at
~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-panel.xml
or the other files in that dir. None of them are properly commented.
Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] if/when it is solved!
Your data and OS are backed up....right?
MtnDewManiac
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Re: New user gets terminal on launch bar: how to stop?

Post by MtnDewManiac »

henrylaw wrote:I'm creating a customised Mint 18.2 (XFCE) build to use in an education facility. The key feature is that the users' environment will be cleared down and reset to defaults each night. So I need a set of configuration files which represent the default environment they need: it's very basic, with just a launcher for web browsing and two Libreoffice functions. Pretty much everything else needs to be removed or hidden.
In that case, you'll probably want to check the global keyboard macros, and remove any that perform commands that you do not wish the users to have access to (such as opening a terminal, launching the Whisper (et cetera) menu, and so on.

Adding some more "basic task" applications might be a convenience for them. I'm thinking specifically of the calculator app, but there may be additional ones.

You might wish to remove all "extra" workspaces, so that a user cannot accidentally switch to one of the others and get confused as to where everything went.

And you may want to figure out a way to remove certain options from the right-click (on desktop) menu - or how to remove that entirely. Speaking of removing, removing the ability for your users to right-click on and thereby modify your panel(s) and any items on them seems like a good idea.

Have you thought about Xfce's "Kiosk mode?"

Regards,
~TS~
Mint 18 Xfce 4.12.

If guns kill people, then pencils misspell words, cars make people drive drunk, and spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat.
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