Ubuntu
gnome-panel package

desktop has no launcher bar, menus or status bar

Asked by Steve

Running gnome on Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick AMD64 with a ATI Raidon 4780 graphics card

1) A failed install of google earth and subsequent uninstall left me with no windows manager after next login (ie no windows titles and borders and can only open One app at a time;

2) Though googling found that metacity --replace at command prompt could help. This only worked while command prompt was left open. When command prompt closed, situation returned to (1) above.

3) Tried gonf-editor and set /apps/metacity/general/compositing-manager to yes - still no good

3) Spent morning goggling a around but nothing helped so in desperation reinstalled metacity from synaptic and rebooted.

4) Can login and get a gnome desktop but no launcher bar, menus or status bar - can't logout or run apps. Tried from a different login id and get same result.

Though I've used Ubuntu for about 5 years I'm a newbie as to how it works under the hood (would love to learn more but don't know where to start as to my knowledge there are no ubuntu courses offered in Australia at the moment)

Please help

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Jeruvy (jeruvy) said : 		#1

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I looked at Google Earth for Linux and just walked away shaking my head. I think it's a bit beta still to mess around with in a production system so if I need to use Google Earth (does anyone really need to use this..) I'll bring it up on a Windows machine where its much more stable.

To reset Gnome Panels, open a terminal and copy and paste the following:

gconftool-2 --recursive-unset /apps/panel

If you are seeking information on ubuntu, don't forget the wealth of documentation at ubuntu.com under support.
There is also a site, ubuntugeek.com that has a book you can download for free if you sign up on the site.

http://ubuntugeek.tradepub.com/free/w_ubun01/

Good luck,

Revision history for this message
Steve (deoshiatsu) said : 		#2

Thanks Jeruvy I'll check out the book and stay away from google earth ;-)

Through a lot of trial and error and a bit of luck I managed to fix this:

First I booted up into the recovery console and re-installed gnome-panel:

    apt-get install gnome-panel

It installed ok - rebooted into normal ubuntu and logged in ok, the panels were back but still no windows manager was loaded so no windows borders or titles.

Created another user (test) and logged in with that account - the windows where ok. So some settings in my original login where corrupt.

Deducing that the ubuntu gui settings where stored in hidden folders in my home directory but not knowing which ones they where I:

- Logged on with the new login id - test;

- Backed up all the non-hidden folders from my original home directory;

- deleted all the folders in my original home directory;

- logged out of my test login and restarted the pc;

- then logged back in with my original login id hoping that Ubuntu would re-create all the required gui settings as I assume Ubuntu does with a new login during the first log in process;

- Logged in ok using my original login id - gui was ok and windows had borders and titles again - yay!!;

- Logged out and then logged back in using my test login id and copied back all my folders to my original home directory;

- opened a terminal and set me back as the owner of these files:

    sudo chown -R myuserid:myuserid /home/myuserid

- logged out of the test login - logged back in with my original login id and everthing was back...except my email and web browser book marks where gone;

- used a utility called <a href="http://extundelete.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank">extundelete</a> to recover my .mozilla and .mozilla-thunderbird folders - all my bookmarks seem ok but some of the mail was corrupt and my addressbook couldn't be found but after I day lost I could get back to work again.

cheers

Steve