Frustrated with Linux Mint 19 Mate - Window manager is no longer working

[BenJeremy]

Title says most of it. I've been running Linux Mint for years on a RAID server for my home network, upgraded up to 19 before things got... wonky. Now my windows manager isn't working, half my graphical apps do not come up, and the ones that do have no window buittons (close/etc) and only a few can be moved, none resized.
When Mint comes up, I get a startup screen, but before I can do much, it reverts to text screen, showing "Failed to start the X Server (your graphical interface). It is likely that it is not set up correctly...."

This is followed up with "Fatal Server Error: Server is already active for display 0" "If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock and start again"

which is followed with "The X Server is now disabled. Restart MDM when it is configured correctly"

It dumps me into the desktop, but as described above, the windowing functionality is gone.









I have a secondary issue with upgrading to the latest Linux Mint, but that's a different problem, just made worse by my inability to use the desktop reliably. I had hoped updating might solve the issue, but that is going nowhere until I get this fixed.

[BenJeremy]

I will say that after some searching, I did accomplish something.... I learned that upgrading from 18.3 to 19 apparently installs MDM, so I removed that, reinstalled and reconfigured lightdm. It no longer shows the errors, but I still have no "windowing" controls on my apps. Something is still messed up.

[AZgl1800]

you do realize that LM 19 is no longer receiving updates?

maybe it is time to try out LM21.3 in a Live Session??

[billyswong]

You are upgrading from long-overdue out of support version to a newer but still out of support version. LM 18.3 ended support in 2021. LM 19 ended support in April 2023. No more software security updates.

See if you can launch "Desktop Settings" or mintdesktop. In my LM 21.1 Mate, I can go to the "Windows" tab and select which "window manager" to use. I use "Compiz" myself but I remember the safest choice is "Marco", while the default choice is "Marco + Compositing"

[BenJeremy]

you do realize that LM 19 is no longer receiving updates?

maybe it is time to try out LM21.3 in a Live Session??

You are upgrading from long-overdue out of support version to a newer but still out of support version. LM 18.3 ended support in 2021. LM 19 ended support in April 2023. No more software security updates.

I really appreciate the quick response, but you do understand this is not terribly helpful, right?

If you read my post, you'd see that I intend on upgrading, which is a whole other issue - "mintupgrade package not found" and I'm dealing with the more immediate issue, since fixing package sources or whatever I have to do to get to being able to upgrade is going to be a nightmare with the windowing not working.

I can't upgrade until I fix this issue, unless you guys have some magical solutions to the "Mintupgrade package not found" issue. I figured on asking for help on that in another post, AFTER getting my desktop workable. I like Mint, but it seems like the devs for this have gone out of their way to make it tricky.

See if you can launch "Desktop Settings" or mintdesktop. In my LM 21.1 Mate, I can go to the "Windows" tab and select which "window manager" to use. I use "Compiz" myself but I remember the safest choice is "Marco", while the default choice is "Marco + Compositing"

I seem to be using Compiz, at least that's what shows up. I do not have a Windows manager selector in my settings. Some of my settings don't do anything (Update manager, Package Sources (which helpfully gives me a sudo dialog, but then nothing afterward)

Do I need to re-install the windows manager? I tried to "reset to defaults" and that just cleared all the checked items in the Compiz settings dialog.


For context, I've been running Linux for a couple of decades now, mostly as servers. I normally maintain them with WebMin when I can. Upgrading from 18.3 to 19 was, as I recall, a nightmare as it was. I'd rather not do a fresh install, as I have years worth of configuring on the various server apps running on my system and a 2TBx8 RAID array full of data to deal with.

I should also mention that I was also getting a dialog on startup informing me that the "MintMenu modlet" was disabled and asking me to delete it, which I eventually said "Yes" hoping it might fix my issues. It did not.

Given that I also had the MDM/LightDM issue from upgrading 18.3 -> 19, I suspect this is a vestige of the upgrade being sloppy with the windowing.

[spamegg]

Upgrading from 18.3 to 19 was, as I recall, a nightmare as it was. I'd rather not do a fresh install, as I have years worth of configuring on the various server apps running on my system and a 2TBx8 RAID array full of data to deal with.

No offense but that was a mistake. Linux desktop does not have much in the way of backwards or forwards compatibility, and those major upgrades are not guaranteed to work.

You need more professional solutions. Mint is for personal desktop usage, not server usage. You need a way to save / deploy your server app configurations, rather than doing them manually. You can look into scripting, or tools like Ansible.

Honestly don't use Mint, it's a personal desktop distro. You can use more server-oriented distros like Debian or Ubuntu Server. You can look into "rolling" distros that do not need major upgrades.

I can't upgrade until I fix this issue, unless you guys have some magical solutions to the "Mintupgrade package not found" issue.

You can't fix that issue since the repositories for Mint 19 do not exist anymore. You should have upgraded to Mint 20 when you had the chance. Now you need to back up the data and do a fresh install.

You need to always have a bullet-proof future plan. You can't just let your server sit there for years and wait and wait until the inevitable happens. Linux does not have forwards compatibility, you have to do the work.

[Pjotr]

@spamegg: well put. Good advice.

[BenJeremy]

Upgrading from 18.3 to 19 was, as I recall, a nightmare as it was. I'd rather not do a fresh install, as I have years worth of configuring on the various server apps running on my system and a 2TBx8 RAID array full of data to deal with.

No offense but that was a mistake. Linux desktop does not have much in the way of backwards or forwards compatibility, and those major upgrades are not guaranteed to work.

You need more professional solutions. Mint is for personal desktop usage, not server usage. You need a way to save / deploy your server app configurations, rather than doing them manually. You can look into scripting, or tools like Ansible.

Honestly don't use Mint, it's a personal desktop distro. You can use more server-oriented distros like Debian or Ubuntu Server. You can look into "rolling" distros that do not need major upgrades.

I can't upgrade until I fix this issue, unless you guys have some magical solutions to the "Mintupgrade package not found" issue.

You can't fix that issue since the repositories for Mint 19 do not exist anymore. You should have upgraded to Mint 20 when you had the chance. Now you need to back up the data and do a fresh install.

You need to always have a bullet-proof future plan. You can't just let your server sit there for years and wait and wait until the inevitable happens. Linux does not have forwards compatibility, you have to do the work.

Thanks for the advice. Time to rebuild my server, I guess. I'm not looking forward to backing up terabytes of data, or setting up all of my software again, but I guess I'll need to bite the bullet and figure out my new configuration from the ground up.

[all41]

Now my windows manager isn't working, half my graphical apps do not come up, and the ones that do have no window buittons (close/etc) and only a few can be moved, none resized.

All this sounds like compiz issues. Usually these can be corrected by temporarily changing window managers then reverting back to compiz.

I'm not looking forward to backing up terabytes of data

This should have been happening all along.

[billyswong]

I really appreciate the quick response, but you do understand this is not terribly helpful, right?

If you read my post, you'd see that I intend on upgrading, which is a whole other issue - "mintupgrade package not found" and I'm dealing with the more immediate issue, since fixing package sources or whatever I have to do to get to being able to upgrade is going to be a nightmare with the windowing not working.

I can't upgrade until I fix this issue, unless you guys have some magical solutions to the "Mintupgrade package not found" issue. I figured on asking for help on that in another post, AFTER getting my desktop workable. I like Mint, but it seems like the devs for this have gone out of their way to make it tricky.

I am pity for your situation. No, it is your first time that mentioned the miss of mintupgrade. Try "Software Sources" or pkexec mintsources. Select either "cicku" or "rackspace" for the main mirror. See if that help. I took a check and see they seems to still have the old mintupgrade package copies in their server
https://mirrors.cicku.me/linuxmint/pack ... ntupgrade/
https://mirror.rackspace.com/linuxmint/ ... ntupgrade/

Don't blame the Mint developers. Hosting packages forever for out-of-support versions is impossible. The official repository server has to decide a cut-off point.

I seem to be using Compiz, at least that's what shows up. I do not have a Windows manager selector in my settings. Some of my settings don't do anything (Update manager, Package Sources (which helpfully gives me a sudo dialog, but then nothing afterward)

Do I need to re-install the windows manager? I tried to "reset to defaults" and that just cleared all the checked items in the Compiz settings dialog.

I heard stories of "reset to defaults" button within CompizConfig being misleading. According to those who reported in this forum, that button trashed the real default Compiz setting preconfigured for Linux Mint. Their solution is: Pick a live USB. Boot into it. Export the Compiz setting there and import that into the computer one working on.

I don't have a Mint19 on hand. But I were expecting it to be similar enough to my Mint21.1 on mintdesktop...

You can see "window manager" dropdown button in the screenshot.

For context, I've been running Linux for a couple of decades now, mostly as servers. I normally maintain them with WebMin when I can. Upgrading from 18.3 to 19 was, as I recall, a nightmare as it was. I'd rather not do a fresh install, as I have years worth of configuring on the various server apps running on my system and a 2TBx8 RAID array full of data to deal with.

Mint devs expect people to do in-place upgrade toward in-support versions only. I can't guess what happened to you so that you have to delay the upgrade for so long, so I can only pray for you to get well soon.

I should also mention that I was also getting a dialog on startup informing me that the "MintMenu modlet" was disabled and asking me to delete it, which I eventually said "Yes" hoping it might fix my issues. It did not.

"MintMenu" is the start menu in LM MATE. You deleted it?

[scjet45]

What's your RAID server, hardware or software.? how is it configured.?

I've been using Linux Mint MATE on several RAID/NAS media servers for years now, (including mdadm, or Adaptec, or LSI, ...), since Mint MATE 17. -but yes, I also have methodically upgraded/system re-installed consistently up to Mint mate 21.3, with latest hwe/6.5.* kernel. You should be able to to re-install/upgrade your linux system, including mounting your hardware or software raid array, without affecting your RAID, unless you've raid'ed your root/system disks, "/", with your data.?

Nonetheless, as others have also said here, backups are important, and there may be better server alternatives, but in my case Mint MATE still works fine for my (headless) dedicated RAID/NAS servers, plus I still have X-display libs back if I need it, just for convenience sake. A desktop can be a server, and a server can be a desktop, that's what I luv about Linux.