I've got two simultaneous window managers, help!

[trendle]

Tired of having a crude screen 640x480 or something every time I forgot to switch my KVM after hitting the start button I stupidly followed some advice....
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
So now when I login, I see my original screen briefly, then it disappears for an unwanted screen with an on screen keyboard

After wasting a few hours on this. I have no idea where to look to track whats going on after login. It's nothing in my .bashrc
Eventually, running the process monitor I saw two different window manager processes with -display :0 Duh!.
So I killed the one with the higher process id and now I'm back to my original screen. Hooray. but it won't last. I'm sure as soon as I login again I'll be back to the same cr*p.

So please, can anyone suggest which file I have to attack to fix this.
Thanks.

[Toz]

Tired of having a crude screen 640x480 or something every time I forgot to switch my KVM after hitting the start button I stupidly followed some advice....
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
So now when I login, I see my original screen briefly, then it disappears for an unwanted screen with an on screen keyboard

After wasting a few hours on this. I have no idea where to look to track whats going on after login. It's nothing in my .bashrc
Eventually, running the process monitor I saw two different window manager processes with -display :0 Duh!.

Out of curiosity, what are the two window managers?

So I killed the one with the higher process id and now I'm back to my original screen. Hooray. but it won't last. I'm sure as soon as I login again I'll be back to the same cr*p.

So please, can anyone suggest which file I have to attack to fix this.
Thanks.

Not sure why you've got two window managers running after reconfiguring xorg. Doesn't make sense.

What happens, after you kill the other window manager process, when you go to Settings Manager->Session and Startup->Session tab and click on "Save Session" and logout and in again? Perhaps you've got two window managers cached to start. This should save it.

If not, you can always reset the saved sessions cache by deleting the ~/.cache/sessions directory.

[trendle]

Hi,
I see
xfwm4 --display :0.0
and
xfce-panel --display :0.0
and
xfdesktop --display :0.0

all with their ppid
xfce4-session
who's ppid is
/etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc -- /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc

I don't recall doing anything else other than the reconfigure, but perhaps I got a different prompt at login and answered wrongly. I can't quite remember, since I've been thrashing around trying to see what would fix this.

[trendle]

There was one other time on a different PC also with an older Xubuntu, that showed something that may be similar. For some reason, Xdisplay had two entries, laptop and the actual screen (it was a desktop). If they were both enabled then I saw a smaller window manager overlapping the other. Once I made sure that only the desktop was enabled that cured it. But no such luck this time. Only 1 display is listed.

[Toz]

What version of Xubuntu are you using?

Can you post back the results of:

ps -ef | grep xf

When you ran

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

...was an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file created? If so, can you post back the contents of that file?

Also, when you go to Settings Manager->Display, how many displays show?

[trendle]

Actually, that's always been something that's bamboozled me. Where do you find out what version of Xubuntu you're on ? I can find the version of the kernel and xfce... But I'm pretty sure it's 11.10, since I only installed it around Xmas.

But on to your request. ps -ef | grep xf
bill 1820 900 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /bin/sh /etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc -- /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc
bill 1851 1820 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/ssh-agent /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session /usr/bin/startxfce4
bill 1854 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session /usr/bin/startxfce4
bill 1863 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/xfconf/xfconfd
bill 1873 1820 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 xfce4-session
bill 1878 1873 0 19:17 ? 00:00:01 xfwm4 --display :0.0 --sm-client-id 289a3ed63-f6d7-4a68-8021-4479b6fd0847
bill 1880 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 xfsettingsd --force
bill 1886 1873 0 19:17 ? 00:00:04 xfce4-panel --display :0.0 --sm-client-id 25d7834b4-7ae0-4a52-b988-a37b476d9c60
bill 1897 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 xfce4-power-manager --restart --sm-client-id 232ebdd2c-3590-40d9-bb6c-1fbcc0ac43b9
bill 1898 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 xfce4-settings-helper --display :0.0 --sm-client-id 244913a26-05b6-4be0-a1de-4b1604a188cc
bill 1901 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/notifyd/xfce4-notifyd
bill 1902 1886 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/wrapper /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libsystray.so 4 20971572 systray Notification Area Area where notification icons appear
bill 1904 1886 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4-indicator-plugin/xfce4/panel-plugins/xfce4-indicator-plugin 5 20971573 indicator Indicator Plugin An indicator of something that needs your attention on the desktop
bill 1906 1886 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/wrapper /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libxfsm-logout-plugin.so 9 20971578 xfsm-logout-plugin Session Menu Shows a menu with options to lock the screen, suspend, shutdown, or log out
bill 1909 1886 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/wrapper /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libthunar-tpa.so 24 20971601 thunar-tpa Trash Applet Display the trash can
bill 1961 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 xfce4-volumed
bill 1992 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:01 xfce4-terminal --geometry=138x40 --display :0.0 --role=Terminal-0x20a8f800-2790-1331262387 --show-menubar --show-borders --hide-toolbars --working-directory /etc/X11
bill 2015 1992 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 [xfce4-terminal] <defunct>
bill 2279 1 0 19:19 ? 00:00:02 xfce4-settings-manager
bill 2287 1 0 19:20 ? 00:00:02 xfdesktop-settings --socket-id=65012403
bill 2362 1 2 19:22 ? 00:00:04 xfce4-settings-manager
bill 2365 1886 7 19:22 ? 00:00:11 xfce4-taskmanager
bill 2373 2307 0 19:25 pts/1 00:00:00 grep --color=auto xf


I don't think dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg did generate /etc/X11.xorg.conf. There is one there, but it has nothing in it, except..
bill@xubuntu:~$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Device"
Identifier "Default Device"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection

Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Keyboard Defaults"
Option "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
EndSection

There is only one display device listed.

One thing I notice that makes me wonder...
Normally when I try it wit hXubuntu live, if I change the background from the system settings, it changes immediately. But here I don't. I also don't see my desktop icons... which according to the systems settings I should have Home etc. I do see them briefly after logging in, but then they seem to get overlaid with a solid blue screen.

I'm sorry if this thread seems to be a bit slow... I was using the problem pc to run ddrescue on a 2TB drive that took 2.5days to complete. So not much chance to experiment on it.
Thanks for your patience.

[Toz]

Actually, that's always been something that's bamboozled me. Where do you find out what version of Xubuntu you're on ? I can find the version of the kernel and xfce... But I'm pretty sure it's 11.10, since I only installed it around Xmas.

This will tell you what *buntu version you are using:

cat /etc/lsb-release

But on to your request. ps -ef | grep xf
bill 1820 900 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /bin/sh /etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc -- /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc
bill 1851 1820 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/ssh-agent /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session /usr/bin/startxfce4
bill 1854 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session /usr/bin/startxfce4
bill 1863 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/xfconf/xfconfd
bill 1873 1820 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 xfce4-session
bill 1878 1873 0 19:17 ? 00:00:01 xfwm4 --display :0.0 --sm-client-id 289a3ed63-f6d7-4a68-8021-4479b6fd0847
bill 1880 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 xfsettingsd --force
bill 1886 1873 0 19:17 ? 00:00:04 xfce4-panel --display :0.0 --sm-client-id 25d7834b4-7ae0-4a52-b988-a37b476d9c60
bill 1897 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 xfce4-power-manager --restart --sm-client-id 232ebdd2c-3590-40d9-bb6c-1fbcc0ac43b9
bill 1898 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 xfce4-settings-helper --display :0.0 --sm-client-id 244913a26-05b6-4be0-a1de-4b1604a188cc
bill 1901 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/notifyd/xfce4-notifyd
bill 1902 1886 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/wrapper /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libsystray.so 4 20971572 systray Notification Area Area where notification icons appear
bill 1904 1886 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4-indicator-plugin/xfce4/panel-plugins/xfce4-indicator-plugin 5 20971573 indicator Indicator Plugin An indicator of something that needs your attention on the desktop
bill 1906 1886 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/wrapper /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libxfsm-logout-plugin.so 9 20971578 xfsm-logout-plugin Session Menu Shows a menu with options to lock the screen, suspend, shutdown, or log out
bill 1909 1886 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/wrapper /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libthunar-tpa.so 24 20971601 thunar-tpa Trash Applet Display the trash can
bill 1961 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 xfce4-volumed
bill 1992 1 0 19:17 ? 00:00:01 xfce4-terminal --geometry=138x40 --display :0.0 --role=Terminal-0x20a8f800-2790-1331262387 --show-menubar --show-borders --hide-toolbars --working-directory /etc/X11
bill 2015 1992 0 19:17 ? 00:00:00 [xfce4-terminal] <defunct>
bill 2279 1 0 19:19 ? 00:00:02 xfce4-settings-manager
bill 2287 1 0 19:20 ? 00:00:02 xfdesktop-settings --socket-id=65012403
bill 2362 1 2 19:22 ? 00:00:04 xfce4-settings-manager
bill 2365 1886 7 19:22 ? 00:00:11 xfce4-taskmanager
bill 2373 2307 0 19:25 pts/1 00:00:00 grep --color=auto xf

This looks okay.

I don't think dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg did generate /etc/X11.xorg.conf. There is one there, but it has nothing in it, except..
bill@xubuntu:~$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Device"
Identifier "Default Device"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection

Section "InputClass"
Identifier "Keyboard Defaults"
Option "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
EndSection

Nothing that could cause the problem here

There is only one display device listed.

Ok.

One thing I notice that makes me wonder...
Normally when I try it wit hXubuntu live, if I change the background from the system settings, it changes immediately. But here I don't. I also don't see my desktop icons... which according to the systems settings I should have Home etc. I do see them briefly after logging in, but then they seem to get overlaid with a solid blue screen.

Would you happen to have nautilus installed? Is it running?

ps -ef | grep nautilus

If so, nautilus by default will by default take over control of the desktop. See this link: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...13&postcount=6 for info on how to disable that behaviour.

I'm sorry if this thread seems to be a bit slow... I was using the problem pc to run ddrescue on a 2TB drive that took 2.5days to complete. So not much chance to experiment on it.
Thanks for your patience.

No worries.

[trendle]

Hi, Toz,
Thanks for taking the time over this.
So I am running 11.10 Xubuntu and I do have Nautilus lurking away in the background.

I did try one other thing that brought the problem more into focus..
If I logged in as guest (I should have disabled it but hadn't yet) I did not get the overlay of managers, I didn't quite get the one I had as my proper desktop, but pretty close.

So I wend a bit further with purging, not only ~/.cache but also .config/xfce4 and maybe a bit more.. Ok so I now have to repair my preferences etc.

But it seems to have worked. UPDATE ** No it didn't, on another login it's back to the same old same old.**
I've now got the desktop I expected to get when I login.

I'll check out the nautils link though, since it might come back. (* It Did* So I'll check out that link now).

Many thanks.

[Toz]

Nautilus will take over and manage the desktop. If you are using xfce (xubuntu) you can disable this functionality by opening a terminal window and executing thee commands:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons false
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background draw-backround false

[trendle]

Hi Toz,
You're right, Nautilus is the cuase of the problem. I'm not sure but it might be associated with my instal of drop-box which seems to set up some nautilus based triggers.

If run start nautilus from the cli, after clearing the problem it comes back.
If I simply kill nautilus after login I get my desktop back too.
bill 1797 1 3 17:47 ? 00:00:03 nautilus
bill 2069 1920 0 17:50 pts/0 00:00:00 grep --color=auto naut
bill@xubuntu:~$ kill 1797

Now to try your gsettings suggestion. Though gsettings doesn't seem to come with Xubuntu, I have to install it too.

thanks.