11.04: Ubuntu Classic Desktop does not stay as default selection

[outrageousgriot]

As the title explains it, the issue is quite odd. I'm simply used to having to select Ubuntu Classic once prior to login, and then each and every session afterwards to be automatically selected to the classic environment.

My current situation for some reason requires me to select Ubuntu Classic each and every time, or be greeted by Unity in spite of the fact that the previous session may have been in the classic environment.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Krytarik]

Please check the ownerships and permissions of these files:


"~/.dmrc"

("~" is your home directory)



"/var/cache/gdm/<USERNAME>/dmrc"

(where <USERNAME> is the name your user, obviously)

They should both be set to "-rw-r--r--" (644) and owned by your user.

Regards.

[outrageousgriot]

Please check the ownerships and permissions of these files:


"~/.dmrc"

("~" is your home directory)



"/var/cache/gdm/<USERNAME>/dmrc"

(where <USERNAME> is the name your user, obviously)

They should both be set to "-rw-r--r--" (644) and owned by your user.

Regards.

ls -l dialogue gives us:

total 4
-rw-r--r-- 1 <myusername> <myusername> 78 2012-01-13 15:42 dmrc

The .dmrc file was nowhere to be seen. I couldn't uncover it via terminal, nor via gui hitting ctrl+h

I have no idea. It may be of concern I that I have Ubuntu Tweak installed. Everything seemed to work fine and I have had a similar software setup on previous machines. It is an inconvenience though, that every time I start up this pc I have to manually select Ubuntu classic. I also noticed suddenly losing certain hotkeys such as ctrl+alt+t and cmd/windows button + d for minimize all windows in workspace.

[Krytarik]

The .dmrc file was nowhere to be seen. I couldn't uncover it via terminal, nor via gui hitting ctrl+h
Really!? It should be there, in the top-level of your home directory, like I said. However, GDM always pulls the one under "/var/cache/gdm" first, updates that according to the made choices, and then, after a successful login, copies that into the home directory of the concerning user. So please post at least the content of that, if you still can't find the other one.


I also noticed suddenly losing certain hotkeys such as ctrl+alt+t ...
Check if the "Gnome Compatibility" plugin is enabled in "CompizConfig Settings Manager", and the correct command/key-combination is set under the "Commands" tab in the plugin's settings.


... and cmd/windows button + d for minimize all windows in workspace.
Check if "CompizConfig Settings Manager -> General Options -> Key bindings -> Show Desktop" is set to the desired key-combination.

[outrageousgriot]

Really!? It should be there, in the top-level of your home directory, like I said. However, GDM always pulls the one under "/var/cache/gdm" first, updates that according to the made choices, and then, after a successful login, copies that into the home directory of the concerning user. So please post at least the content of that, if you still can't find the other one.


Check if the "Gnome Compatibility" plugin is enabled in "CompizConfig Settings Manager", and the correct command/key-combination is set under the "Commands" tab in the plugin's settings.


Check if "CompizConfig Settings Manager -> General Options -> Key bindings -> Show Desktop" is set to the desired key-combination.

Here is that file's contents from /var/cache/gdm/<user>:

[Desktop]
Language=en_US.utf8
Layout=us
Langlist=en_US:en
LCMess=en_US.UTF-8
Session=gnome-classic

There is one line of whitespace on top of the file.

[Krytarik]

Here is that file's contents from /var/cache/gdm/<user>:


[Desktop]
Language=en_US.utf8
Layout=us
Langlist=en_US:en
LCMess=en_US.UTF-8
Session=gnome-classic
So, it does contain the right "Session" value for Gnome Classic, kinda like I expected.

If still true, I'm curious why there is no ".dmrc" file in your home directory; I suppose the ownerships and permissions of and in home directory are ok, as you are not reporting any other serious issues, like not being able to log in, or issues in the handling of various apps. Right!?

We could try a couple of things now:


Copy the "/var/cache/gdm/<USERNAME>/dmrc" into your home directory and rename it to ".dmrc", although I don't really expect that to be fruitful, considering what I explained before.
Remove "/var/cache/gdm/<USERNAME>/dmrc" to let it be re-created.
Set the "default session" to Gnome Classic in the "Login Screen" settings.

Hopefully, any of these will be fruitful!

[outrageousgriot]

So, it does contain the right "Session" value for Gnome Classic, kinda like I expected.

If still true, I'm curious why there is no ".dmrc" file in your home directory; I suppose the ownerships and permissions of and in home directory are ok, as you are not reporting any other serious issues, like not being able to log in, or issues in the handling of various apps. Right!?

We could try a couple of things now:


Copy the "/var/cache/gdm/<USERNAME>/dmrc" into your home directory and rename it to ".dmrc", although I don't really expect that to be fruitful, considering what I explained before.
Remove "/var/cache/gdm/<USERNAME>/dmrc" to let it be re-created.
Set the "default session" to Gnome Classic in the "Login Screen" settings.

Hopefully, any of these will be fruitful!

Hey, you were a great help. I appreciate it. Somehow this solution has been found, though I am not sure which of the steps did it. It seems quite odd, but it seems to work. I don't know why the hotkeys I was used to suddenly stopped working, but I set them back to what I was used to.

Many thanks.