Desktop does not display

[Joon Lee]

I just upgraded from Lubuntu 12.10 to Lubuntu 13.04. On the login screen, you know that background image? Well it persists when I log in, even though my account's wallpaper is different. Also, I do not see any files onscreen (so I assume that means the desktop is not displaying) and there is no panel on the bottom (you know, that strip with the application menu button and such). The only way I can even use my account in this fashion is by right clicking on this blank-screen-except-for-the-default-wallpaper to pull up the little openbox application menu or using keyboard shortcuts to pull up terminal. In addition, if I run firefox (which worked perfectly fine before) it crashes the whole system, freezing the screen with a smeared image of the top bar of the firefox window. When I log into Lubuntu as a guest, this issue does not exist - when logged into the guest account, there are those icons on the desktop and I can see the panel on the bottom of the screen with the application menu, application shortcuts, names of open windows, and volume control, time, power button, etc. Even so, firefox still crashes the computer.
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW is how I can log into my account so that I do actually have my background, so that I do actually have my panel on the bottom, and so that I do actually have the desktop displayed.

[juanbano]

I have a similar problem after upgrading Xubuntu 12.10 to Xubuntu 13.04. Apart from the "no-desktop" problem, if I just log out of the account and then login again, all the desktop theme is gone to the default one.

[Joon Lee]

Yeah I wish someone would see this and find a solution already. But then again, i wouldn't expect the solution to be simple at all. I had a desktop, set to the default themes the first time I logged into 13.04, as you experienced, but when i started firefox the issue above happened so I had to manually restart the computer (holding power button) and then now I have no desktop on that account.

[nevle]

hi
i have a similar problem, login screen gives me no options (gnome3 gone etc.) hit user name and end up with wallpaper, must hit ctr-alt -t for terminal and typing unity to get desktop. All gnome3 extensions and themes gone. Does anyone now how to fix this? I have never had a version give me as much trouble as 12.10.

[Joon Lee]

The only way I could solve this issue was by customizing an lxde rather than lubuntu session, but I still didn't like the feel of it so I did a fresh install (remember I had upgraded from Lubuntu 12.10), choosing to delete everything on my computer before proceeding with the install. Works great, but Firefox and VirtualBox still freeze and crash the system.