14.04 Can't Save Files To Desktop

[LaughingHorse]

I recently had to re-install Ubuntu 14.04 on my desktop after installing 14.10 which was unable to do things 14.04 could (like access my digital camera with a 64Gb SDXC, create music files in Audacity that could play on devices other than my computer, create movies that had sound)

So I did a clean install of 014.04. I selected the option to wipe the disc and do a new install.

I had all my data files (music, documents, etc.) backed up to a WD Passport.

After installing, I have a problems with the desktop that did not exist in my last 14.04 installation.



I can not save any text file, or any other file to my desktop (that shows) see pic below Desktop showing2015-01-14.png.
Themes are not showing up on my desktop. Currently I have it set to Theme "Radiance" with a Bluegreen Wallpaper - My desktop shows a Ubuntu Purple background.
The files that are listed as being on my desktop when using the file browser can only be accessed by using the file browser see pic below Desktop actual 2015-01-14.png


Any idea how to fix this?

I have not touched compiz which had caused me problems in the past.

Thanks in advance for your assistance!259239259240

[mc4man]

I've seen this on very rare occasion & a log out or restart fixed.
It seemed as if the session didn't totally or properly load, the 'Desktop' (background) didn't & was actually still the greeter 'screen'

[LaughingHorse]

It's been going on for several days. I log out, shut the computer down for the night. Next morning... same thing.

[Claus7]

Hello,

if I were in your shoes, and since the installation is new, I would try one more time a fresh install, since initially it was working fine. I guess that this is not a problem about permissions, since logging in/out fixes the issue.

Regards!

[mc4man]

If you log in to a guest session do you get a proper Desktop & use of?

[LaughingHorse]

@ Mc4man - Great suggestion!
I tried it, and still do not get a proper Desktop & use of it.

Well, the color of the desktop looks like what I have it set to, but no use.

Additionally, the look and feel of the guest session is different.
What I mean is there is no top bar, just a couple of choices. The side bars are gone, except when I click on "Activities", at which point the side panel appears with some options.

[mc4man]

Just for the heck of it - in a guest session could you open a terminal & run this -

echo $DESKTOP_SESSION
If it returns gnome that would be interesting..

[LaughingHorse]

Get ready to be interested... I have the most interesting desktop in the world (like the beer commercial :p ) It returned: gnome

[LaughingHorse]

For laughs, after logging back in to my system as me I opened a terminal window and entered

Code:


echo $DESKTOP_SESSION


It returned: ubuntu

[mc4man]

I think *some* of what you did is this -
When you installed 14.04 *maybe* you used the Ubuntu Gnome image instead of the Ubuntu image. So that's why you get a gnome (gnome-shell) session as guest.
In a gnome (gnome-shell) session there is no Desktop that you can use (there is a Desktop folder that can be used.

How you got an ubuntu session option in an Ubuntu Gnome install no clue. (if this is what happened?). At the login screen do you have a drop down icon in upper r. corner of the password box where you can choose either gnome or ubuntu?

In any event if desiring a ubuntu (unity) install/session I'd probably start over with an image from here - (either trusty-desktop-amd64.iso or trusty-desktop-i386.iso
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/trusty/daily-live/current/

Otherwise maybe try installing ubuntu-desktop unity-settings-daemon unity-control-center & see what happens (they may already be installed..

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop unity-settings-daemon unity-control-center

[LaughingHorse]

When I installed, I got the iso from the ubuntu site, and burned it to a dvd.

I just used the command you gave me:
Code:


sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop unity-settings-daemon unity-control-center


Hee are the results:


no talloc stackframe at ../source3/param/loadparm.c:4864, leaking memory

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree

Reading state information... Done

ubuntu-desktop is already the newest version.

unity-control-center is already the newest version.

unity-settings-daemon is already the newest version.

The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
dcraw

Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove it.

0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.

[mc4man]

Weird -
Try this -
log in to your ubuntu session that's not working right
ck. that this returns true

gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons
(- if it returns false then set to true -

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons true

Then go to System Settings >Appearance
Pick any one of the default Wallpapers, doesn't matter which one. Also switch theme from radiance to ambiance. Log out/in, any change?

[LaughingHorse]

It worked! Thank You Very Much!=d>

[LaughingHorse]

Any idea what would cause the desktop icons to not be working properly from a fresh installation?

[mc4man]

Cool, still don't get the guest session using gnome...
Anyway hopefully you can now use whatever you wish as a Desktop background.
There were a couple of bugs concerning the use of solid colors or solid colors with a gradient, not sure where that stands.. if resetting to previous is an issue let me know.

(- I use a solid color/vertical gradient here, works fine. The only 'issue' was solid colors don't work on the greeter/login screen. To get around that I temp set Desktop to not show icons, hid the unity launcher & took a screenshot. Then I simply edited out the unity panel in gimp & use the resulting image as the desktop background (Pictures
Screen shows -

[LaughingHorse]

I was using sold colors for a whole, but got tired of it, so decided to add some pics :)

Thank you very much for your help!

If I could have gotten 14.10 working properly I would have stayed with that. It would not recognize my SDXC card, it would create videos (using Open Shot) and thre would be no sound, I would create audio's using audacity, and they could not be played on my Samsung music player, or a Tascam device. So I went back to 14.04