[SOLVED] How to Reset XFCE Mint Panel to Default Settings

[quarter]

I'm running Mint 19 Tessa (latest one) and after I shutdown and reboot the panel was completely out of whack. I restored to a previous snapshot using timeshift but that didn't seem to help. How do I reset the panel to the mint default setup?

[Pjotr]

The settings for the panel are user settings which reside in your personal folder. That's why Timeshift didn't help: Timeshift is, by default, only for restoring system files. Not stuff in your /home.

Launch your file manager, hit Ctrl h in order to make the hidden folders and files visible, and delete the hidden file that contains the panel settings.

Don't know which one it is, but poke around a bit. Also in the folder .config.

After deletion, log out and then log in again.

[karlchen]

Hi, quarter.

the panel was completely out of whack.

This means what precisely?
Anyway.
Here on my Mint 19.1 xfce, I spot the following objects, which are clearly related to the xfce-panel:

• directory $HOME/.config/xfce4/panel: 3 quick launchers (Firefox, Terminal, File Manager) next to the Application Menu icon here)
• file $HOME/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-panel.xml
  But I would not be amazed if other files in the same directory xfce-perchannel-xml had any impact on the bottom panel as well.

Regards,
Karl

[quarter]

Hi, quarter.

the panel was completely out of whack.

This means what precisely?

All but one of my icons were gone (including the time, battery, wifi indicators, etc.). The Windows button doesn''t work in launching the "start" menu (I don't know the proper term). Also, minimized windows disappear. I know they are still running, but they aren't in the panel bar.

I'm not sure why this happened. I installed system updates earlier in the day and was able to shut down and restart no problem. This happened on a subsequent startup.

[karlchen]

Hello, quarter.

Google found these steps when asked to search for "Linux Mint reset xfce-panel":
How to reset xfce panels to default settings !

• Shut down the panel first, xfce4-panel --quit.
• Kill the xfce4 configuration daemon, pkill xfconfd.
• First delete settings for the panel, rm -rf ~/.config/xfce4/panel.
• Clear out the settings for xfconfd , rm -rf ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-panel.xml.
• Restart the panel, run xfce4-panel.

I'm not sure why this happened. I installed system updates earlier in the day

Could it be that the updates did not finish successfully, yet you irgnored the warnings / error messages perhaps?

Regards,
Karl

[quarter]

Hello, quarter.

Google found these steps when asked to search for "Linux Mint reset xfce-panel":
How to reset xfce panels to default settings !

• Shut down the panel first, xfce4-panel --quit.
• Kill the xfce4 configuration daemon, pkill xfconfd.
• First delete settings for the panel, rm -rf ~/.config/xfce4/panel.
• Clear out the settings for xfconfd , rm -rf ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-panel.xml.
• Restart the panel, run xfce4-panel.

HTH,
Karl

That worked! Thanks!

I'm not sure what caused it to go out of whack in the first place though, but oh well.

[deanr72]

Could be a useful post that last one - especially for tinkerer's like me

Now combine your fresh new panel layout with this: viewtopic.php?f=57&t=297383