Cinnamon Desktop Icons Shift to The Left

[LikeyTheCinnamon]

Hello. I've been using Linux Mint for some time now. I'm currently using Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon edition with Cinnamon version 5.8.4 on my desktop computer. I typically save a lot of files to my desktop for easy access. Each time I shutdown my computer and then power it back on and login to my Cinnamon desktop, the files that are saved to the desktop have shifted to the left. The text has shifted to the left and the file icons have shifted to the left. They are no longer in alignment. Shouldn't the icons stay in alignment and not shift? This has been happening for quite a long time. The below is a screenshot of my monitor layout settings. Any ideas on how to stop this file/icon shifting would be great. Thanks.

[spamegg]

Hello LikeyTheCinnamon welcome to the Forum.
Please share your system info by going to:
Menu/System Reports/System Information/click "Copy"
and pasting it here.
(You can use the command inxi -Fxxxmprz on the Terminal.)

Icons can shift when there is a resolution change. I've heard this can happen with multi-monitor setups, or if you have custom xrandr scripts. It might also be caused by fractional scaling, if you are using that.

It might also be just a bug in Cinnamon.

[LikeyTheCinnamon]

Below is the System Information. I do have dual monitors but I haven't changed the resolution, I don't use any xrandr scripts, and I don't use fractional scaling. If it's a bug in Cinnamon, wow I wish they would fix it.

System:
Kernel: 5.15.0-91-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.4.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.8.4
tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 21.2 Victoria base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
Type: Desktop Mobo: Shuttle model: SH370V2 v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required>
UEFI-[Legacy]: American Megatrends v: 1.07 date: 01/04/2021
CPU:
Info: 8-core model: Intel Core i9-9900 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Coffee Lake rev: D cache:
L1: 512 KiB L2: 2 MiB L3: 16 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 4822 high: 4899 min/max: 800/5000 cores: 1: 4800 2: 4761 3: 4810 4: 4798
5: 4802 6: 4876 7: 4848 8: 4875 9: 4800 10: 4802 11: 4799 12: 4779 13: 4896 14: 4806 15: 4802
16: 4899 bogomips: 99199
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GP108 [GeForce GT 1030] vendor: eVga.com. driver: nvidia v: 535.129.03 pcie:
speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 4 ports: active: none off: DVI-D-1,DVI-D-2 empty: none bus-ID: 01:00.0
chip-ID: 10de:1d01
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: nvidia
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa gpu: nvidia display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 5120x1440 s-dpi: 92
Monitor-1: DVI-D-0 pos: primary,left res: 2560x1440 dpi: 93 diag: 801mm (31.5")
Monitor-2: DVI-D-1 pos: right res: 2560x1440 dpi: 93 diag: 801mm (31.5")
OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 535.129.03
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Holco Enterprise Co /Shuttle driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a348
Device-2: NVIDIA GP108 High Definition Audio vendor: eVga.com. driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 4 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0fb8
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-91-generic running: yes
Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
Device-1: Intel I211 Gigabit Network vendor: Holco Enterprise Co /Shuttle driver: igb v: kernel
pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 4000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:1539
IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Device-2: Intel I211 Gigabit Network vendor: Holco Enterprise Co /Shuttle driver: igb
v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 3000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:1539
IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
RAID:
Device-1: bpool type: zfs status: ONLINE level: linear raw: size: 1.88 GiB free: 1.31 GiB
zfs-fs: size: 1.75 GiB free: 1.19 GiB
Components: Online: N/A
Device-2: rpool type: zfs status: ONLINE level: linear raw: size: 920 GiB free: 902 GiB
zfs-fs: size: 891.5 GiB free: 872.68 GiB
Components: Online: N/A
Drives:
Local Storage: total: raw: 931.51 GiB usable: 1.78 TiB used: 36.74 GiB (2.0%)
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: 980 PRO with Heatsink 1TB size: 931.51 GiB
speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> temp: 31.9 C
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 890.55 GiB used: 17.87 GiB (2.0%) fs: zfs logical: rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_i3oj6p
ID-2: /boot size: 1.75 GiB used: 574.1 MiB (32.1%) fs: zfs logical: bpool/BOOT/ubuntu_i3oj6p
ID-3: /boot/efi size: 512 MiB used: 16.7 MiB (3.3%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
ID-4: /var/log size: 872.69 GiB used: 6 MiB (0.0%) fs: zfs
logical: rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_i3oj6p/var/log
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/dm-1
mapped: cryptoswap
USB:
Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 16 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
Hub-2: 1-6:2 info: Genesys Logic Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 05e3:0608
Device-1: 1-8:3 info: Avocent type: Keyboard,Mouse driver: hid-generic,usbhid rev: 1.1
speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 0624:b021
Device-2: 1-10:4 info: Avocent type: Keyboard,Mouse driver: hid-generic,usbhid rev: 1.1
speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 0624:b021
Hub-3: 2-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 8 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 27.8 C pch: 39.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 38 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 37%
Repos:
Packages: apt: 2790
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
1: deb http: //packages.linuxmint.com victoria main upstream import backport
2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
Info:
Processes: 528 Uptime: 40m Memory: 62.6 GiB used: 4.05 GiB (6.5%) Init: systemd v: 249
runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.4.0 alt: 11/12 Client: Unknown python3.10 client inxi: 3.3.13

[RollyShed]

the files that are saved to the desktop have shifted to the left. The text has shifted to the left and the file icons have shifted to the left.

System Settings > Window Tiling > Enable Window Tiling and Snapping > OFF

[LikeyTheCinnamon]

@RollyShed - I lined up the desktop icons and text, made the change you suggested, shutdown the computer. I started the computer this morning and logged into my desktop and the desktop icons and text still shifted to the left. Turning the Enable Window Tiling and Snapping to OFF did not work.

[motoryzen]

Although I normally don't like much more drastic options, ( and do a Timeshift snapshot creation ...FIRST...)..reinstalling Cinnamon desktop itself may be an option here.

[LikeyTheCinnamon]

@motoryzen - Thanks for the response. I have reinstalled Linux Mint at least three times. It continues to happen. I don't know, maybe it is a Cinnamon bug.

I was searching around for a way to update Cinnamon to the latest version seeing I already have it installed. I couldn't find anything to try.

[motoryzen]

@motoryzen - Thanks for the response. I have reinstalled Linux Mint at least three times. It continues to happen. I don't know, maybe it is a Cinnamon bug.

I was searching around for a way to update Cinnamon to the latest version seeing I already have it installed. I couldn't find anything to try.

Cinnamon 5.8.4 is the latest version currently that is available in Mint 21.2 to my immediate memory. (shrugs)

[LikeyTheCinnamon]

So, a couple of months have gone by now and I decided to try Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) 6 Faye. I installed it on a wiped SSD with no issues. My LMDE 6 has Cinnamon version 6.0.4. Interestingly, desktop icon shifting is still occurring. Has anyone else has seen this phenomenon? If you have, were you able to solve the issue? I guess it could be a Cinnamon bug.

[mikeflan]

The text has shifted to the left and the file icons have shifted to the left.

I saw something similar to this on LM 19.3 Cin. There would be a vertical line of 8 or more icons all lined up, and then who knows what would results in 3 contiguous icons in that row would be moved to the right about 1/4 of the space between the icons. I would just drag them back and they would stay corrected for quite a while. Then 3 others would move over and I would drag them back.

Eventually it never happened again in LM 19.3 Cin. And it never happen in the LM 20.3 Cin I now run. So the problem just went away.

[LikeyTheCinnamon]

Yes, that's it. Vertically placed icons/files are shifting; it could be horizontally placed icons as well though. Very annoying indeed. Unfortunately, the issue for me hasn't gone away.

[RollyShed]

The other thing I always do when doing an installation is -
Right click on the desktop
Go down to Customize
Auto arrange OFF

[LikeyTheCinnamon]

@RollyShed - If you were to take a look at the screenshot in my original post, you'll see that Auto-arrange is off. And still desktop icon shifting. Ugh!!!

[RollyShed]

@RollyShed - If you were to take a look at the screenshot in my original post, you'll see that Auto-arrange is off. And still desktop icon shifting. Ugh!!!

Ooops, sorry, missed looking at that.
I have icons spread across the desktop, two monitors, messy layout and everything stays where it has been put.
And No, not seen icons move on any other installation either so an odd one.

Only one word there that would worry me "Nvidia".

[LikeyTheCinnamon]

@RollyShed - It could be an NVIDIA issue. I never thought of that. Unfortunately, I don't have a computer that doesn't have an NVIDIA video card to test.

[mikeflan]

All 3 of my primary computers have NVIDIA video cards. Even my Laptop:

System: Kernel: 5.4.0-84-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.8.6
wm: muffin 4.8.1 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal
Machine: Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Inspiron 7570 v: N/A serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10
serial: <filter>
Mobo: Dell model: 0RP6XK v: A00 serial: <filter> UEFI: Dell v: 1.18.0 date: 12/29/2020
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA G86M [GeForce 8600M GS] vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: nvidia v: 340.108 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:0425
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.6 driver: nvidia
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa resolution: 1440x900~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: GeForce 8600M GS/PCIe/SSE2 v: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 340.108
direct render: Yes

[LikeyTheCinnamon]

Hmm. I wonder if the Mint developers monitor this forum to look for bugs?

[mikeflan]

I wonder if the Mint developers monitor this forum to look for bugs?

Not too much I would say.
They probably knew about this bug years ago and tried their best to squash it.