MX Linux / XFCE missing desktop background image!

Other Distributions
,
1

I am at a loss as to how to fix a new issue on MX-Linux Xfce that started about 30 min ago. I was working on things and my windows are always only expanded far enough right so that I can still see my Conky (top-right on desktop). I clicked outside the window on Conky and it disappeared. So did the background image. Later, switching workspaces, I found the same was true on all of them and when I right clicked on the desktop, no context menu.

I went in to the desktop settings and tried to apply a background, but nothing changed. They were all there to choose from, but choosing any did nothing.

I tried restarting the session, no change. I rebooted, desktop background returned to stock MX image, but still no context menu on right click and trying to change the background is unsuccessful. I then used CLI for:

xfdesktop &
[1] 10041
myviolinsings@MX-Acer:~
$ 
(xfdesktop:10041): Gtk-ERROR **: 13:23:37.444: failed to add UI: The resource at “/org/xfce/xfdesktop/monitor-candidates-chooser.glade” does not exist
$

So I search for that: and this issue reported on Gitlab indicates it has to do with using an external monitor and an update for Xfce desktop.

Hmm, well I did just swap monitors earlier, assumed both OS would detect and apply needed changes automatically, since both Debian 12 and MX (the two machines I switched monitors on) seem to be working just fine. So went to the Debian machine and it still has right context menu and nothing seems amiss there. Only MX seems to have been affected.

My internet search found this exact same behavior back in March after an update in MX. But unfortunately, no one could resolve it. MX Linux / XFCE missing desktop background image and no context menu. The OP had to use an earlier snapshot to get the desktop working as it had before.

I did have updates earlier to day, but believe it was several hours prior to this happening. Could switching to a different monitor cause this?

Funny thing is, I had just spent this morning updating snapshots, making backups, etc. So it’s not like I couldn’t revert to earlier today, but having never done this before where you need to revert after doing a bunch of backups, will my system snapshots and Lucky backups persist if I do?

Thanks
Sheila

UPDATE: I did just double-check myself, but all of my MX snapshots as well as the personal files backups (Lucky) are on an external drive, so no worries there.

4 Likes
2

If you use a different user, does it behave the same?
That isn’t a solution, but just curious.

4 Likes
3

Good question. … because each user has their own X configuration, and their own Xfce configuration.

If you switch to a tty, is there anything affected at the CLI prompt?
Is the login manager screen affected?

3 Likes
4

I had something similar on linux mint last week, not sure if this will help or take you down the wrong road…

Fsck file system check
Clean

I started linux into advanced mode using the shift key at boot.
Selected advanced recovery
It then took me to a different menu where I could select system clean, that got rid of older versions of the system, took about 20 mins. Then back to the advanced menu where I selected fsck to check and repair the system.
Finally ran a systems update

You can do all of this from the command line but requires unmounting the disk to run these commands and I dont feel comfortable to give that advice, but no doubt one of our fellow pembers will do.

Also not sure on mx linux or xfce if they offer the same.

3 Likes
5

Hi, @pdecker

I am the only user, so created a new one. Logged in and the issue was not present. So what does that imply? I do save my sessions upon each exit and choose it when logging in again.

Thanks,
Sheila

6

Hi @callpaul.eu

Actually, when updating the system this morning, I saw that it removed 2 older versions. It caught my eye because I saw it removing a kernel :grimacing: But I saw they were older ones ( I think about 5 versions back), so did not worry.

Obviously I can just restore a snapshot, all my personal stuff is backed up on external drives and even the system snapshots are on that same drive. But I would like to know why this happened.

Do you really think it is because of switching monitors while the computers were running? If so, why did Debian not get affected.

That link on gitlab pointed to the issue as external monitor and a file not being found (which was my error message received) and gave this as the workaround:

I had a closer look at the code and how to work around it: If I remove the file ~/.config/xfce4/desktop/icons.screen0.yaml the Desktop works again. It adds a previously not present monitor configuration to this file. If I copy the newly added monitor to my backed-up configuration file, the Desktop is also working fine. So at least I have a workaround for the time being!

But that was on Arch Linux. Not sure that I know which MX Xfce equivalent needs modification.

Thanks,
Sheila

2 Likes
7

The issue is within your user configuration somewhere. I’m not an XFCE user, so I can’t give much advice there.

If you could narrow down which configuration files to use, you could copy them from the new user to your user and things would basically be reset. Maybe all you’d need to customize would be your background and screen saver or something.

I risked using Copilot to ask a question:

Under MX Linux running XFCE is there a command to reset XFCE settings to default?

Yes! You can reset XFCE settings to default in MX Linux using the following steps:

  1. Shut down the panel: Run xfce4-panel --quit
  2. Kill the XFCE configuration daemon: Run pkill xfconfd
  3. Delete panel settings: Run rm -rf ~/.config/xfce4/panel
  4. Clear out XFCE configuration settings: Run rm -rf ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-panel.xml
  5. Restart the panel: Run xfce4-panel

This will respawn xfconfd automatically and restore the default settings.

Alternatively, if you just want to reset the panel to its original design, you can use MX Tweak and select “Restore Default Panel”.

Let me know if you need more details! :rocket:

Maybe rather than doing that reset you could see what the differences are in the xfce4-panel.xml file. As far as MX Tweak, I don’t know if you have that installed. I assume it’s something like Gnome Tweaks.

4 Likes
8

No, the login screen is the same. I have noticed that all of my fonts are smaller, changed somehow.

I don’t think Conky had anything to do with it, actually, I think that the timing was such that when I happened to click outside my working window onto the desktop, that was when Xfce crashed and so Conky disappeared. Because I have since started Conky, and it is working fine, exactly as it was before.

Conky works
Conky works216Ă—483 53.6 KB

But I do not know where the user config file is in MX for Xfce. Search is non-specific, but I looked in:
~/.config/menus/xfce-applications.menu

But that was not found. Under menus I only have multiple XXX-applications-merged.menu and the original xfce-settings.menu from Dec 2023.

Have never attempted before, but going to see if I can compare what changed between my earlier system snapshot and the one after the event that seemed to have caused this.

Sheila

3 Likes
9

Excuse my ignorance on the subject, but the default settings will:
move my lower panel back to vertical left, get rid of any gadgets added like workspaces miniature view, etc. on that panel?

I do have the MX Tweaks and it is quite the helper. I found a backup panel from Feb 2025, so that would probably work to restore my panel once I reset to defaults.

But how does resetting panels and icons fix not having a context menu on right click on the desktop?

Thanks,
Sheila

UPDATE: I am going to try what the gitlab user who reported the issue did:

I had a closer look at the code and how to work around it: If I remove the file ~/.config/xfce4/desktop/icons.screen0.yaml the Desktop works again. It adds a previously not present monitor configuration to this file.

I have found that exact file and will delete it and see if it generates a new monitor file with specs.

2 Likes
10

And that fixed it automatically. After deleting:

~/.config/xfce4/desktop/icons.screen0.yaml

I logged out. And this time at login, instead of accepting the default (last saved a few minutes prior) I named a new one 'After deleting .yaml" and all of my desktops had their backgrounds restored and each of them now has a “context menu” when right-clicking the desktop.

Thankfully, it is fixed. I guess I better do the other part in that issue and
If I copy the newly added monitor to my backed-up configuration file, the Desktop is also working fine.

5 Likes
11

That means X11 is OK… the issue is with Xfce.
So follow what @pdecker suggests
or
purge Xfce and reinstall. You will have to configure Xfce again if you do this.

No need, I am glad to see you fixed it.

4 Likes
12

Good to read you fixed it yourself

There is very little on any of the sites for graphical issues on xfce or mx to help.

2 Likes
13

That is where copilot is useful… it accesses other information.

4 Likes