[RESOLVED ?]Desktop black without any context menu, panel, wallpaper etc

[ternor]

Hi.  I was following the topic about the multi desktop feature.  I opened up the "Configure your desktop" application and went to Workspace appearance > Workspace behaviour > Virtual desktops: Desktops tab.

I selected the option "Different widgets for each desktop" and everything except windows disappeared.  I cancelled the selection and clicked 'apply'.  There is no panel, no wallpaper, no trash widget, no short cuts, no context menu.

Please, what to I do to get everything back?

[ternor]

I also just discovered that the option I selected is now inactive.

[djohnston]

Hi.  I was following the topic about the multi desktop feature.  I opened up the "Configure your desktop" application and went to Workspace appearance > Workspace behaviour > Virtual desktops: Desktops tab.

I selected the option "Different widgets for each desktop" and everything except windows disappeared.  I cancelled the selection and clicked 'apply'.  There is no panel, no wallpaper, no trash widget, no short cuts, no context menu.

Please, what to I do to get everything back?

You can't get your previous settings back. You can get to a default desktop with a panel, wallpaper, etc. Open Dolphin and show all hidden files and folders. Rename .kde4 folder to .kde4-bad or something similar. Close Dolphin. Log out. Log back in. Your new (default KDE4 settings) desktop will be in folder view.

[Archie]

Hi.  I was following the topic about the multi desktop feature.  I opened up the "Configure your desktop" application and went to Workspace appearance > Workspace behaviour > Virtual desktops: Desktops tab.

I selected the option "Different widgets for each desktop" and everything except windows disappeared.  I cancelled the selection and clicked 'apply'.  There is no panel, no wallpaper, no trash widget, no short cuts, no context menu.

Please, what to I do to get everything back?

You can't get your previous settings back. You can get to a default desktop with a panel, wallpaper, etc. Open Dolphin and show all hidden files and folders. Rename .kde4 folder to .kde4-bad or something similar. Close Dolphin. Log out. Log back in. Your new (default KDE4 settings) desktop will be in folder view.

@djohnston, I would rather think of doing that as a last resort. Perhaps eliminating the offending file from ~/home/<user_name>/.kde4/share/config might be a good place to start. At least, ternor won't lose any pre-misconfiguration settings.

Just a thought.

[ternor]

What I was going to post (in reply to DJohnston):

Thanks.  There was no way I could open Dolphin or anything else.  None of the key bindings to move to a different desktop worked.  There was no applications menu (because there was no panel).

I used REISUB and when I logged in again there was a context menu and panel.  The desktop had gone to desktop mode, so I changed it back to folder view and restored the visible environment.  In the light of your advice, I will log in as root and restore last night's backup of my home folder.

That particular setting seems to be a dangerous and defective one.

Thanks again.

In the light of Archie's comments, I will leave everything as is until I hear differently.

Strange things happened when I ran BleachBit (as user), then BleachBit Root after logging in again.  First, BleachBit (user) tried to delete a lot of system files so I ran BleachBit Root which deleted many files.  What is odd is that I ran BleachBit in both roles before the fiasco with the desktops so there should have been very little to delete, especially for BleachBit Root.

My question now is whether to stay with the existing home folder or to restore my latest backup.

[ternor]

Sorry about this.  I have just discovered that I only changed one desktop to folder view.  The others are still in 'desktop' view but there is a panel and a context menu on each.  When I look at Configure Your Desktop, the option to show different widgets for each desktop is selected.

[Archie]

The culprit is most possibly ~/home/<username>/.kde4/share/config/plasma-desktop-appletsrc and I would try with that file first.

Try this (where [user@locahost ~ ] $ is your PS1):

Code:

[user@localhost ~] $ cd ~
[user@localhost ~] $ mkdir kde_config_files
[user@localhost ~] $ mv .kde4/share/config/plasma-desktop-appletsrc kde_config_files

Note the dots!

Logout and relogin, and see what that gives you.

If you don't like the results, you can always copy the original plasma-desktop-appletsrc back.

HTH

[ternor]

Thanks for looking into that.  I have been using the new set up for several hours now.  Each desktop is operational and I can have different wallpaper etc on each.

That is how it should be.  What shouldn't be is the fact that the panel and elements of the desktops became unavailable until I re-started the computer and logged in again.  I re-started (with REISUB) rather than use ctrl-alt-bkspace (I think that's the key binding) because I wanted to close all open applications.

I'll move that file as you suggest if I should run into any problems.  It is a very long file and probably impossible to edit without spending a month or longer as a Linux monk.

[Archie]

Thanks for looking into that.  I have been using the new set up for several hours now.  Each desktop is operational and I can have different wallpaper etc on each.

That is how it should be.  What shouldn't be is the fact that the panel and elements of the desktops became unavailable until I re-started the computer and logged in again.  I re-started (with REISUB) rather than use ctrl-alt-bkspace (I think that's the key binding) because I wanted to close all open applications.

I'll move that file as you suggest if I should run into any problems.  It is a very long file and probably impossible to edit without spending a month or longer as a Linux monk.

Actually, the different [Containments] sections hold clues on which ones might be stale and active. Other hints might be the activity=??? ... but you're right. It's too much to look into when it is just easier to do these stuff on a GUI.