Xfce Forum

alexankius

Member

Registered: 2017-08-09

Posts: 6

xfce4 issue

hi all,

new to linux..

installed Debian 9 and Xfce4.12

when i logon there is nothing on the screen, e.g. no taskbar or anything.

i can write click and for example open firefox, but any of the settings options i choose, for example display settings, open but nowhere that i can see them.

if i alt-tab i see that the application is running but i cant see it anywhere. tried switching workspaces using ctrl+alt+arrow but that doesnt seem to solve the problem.

many thanks in advance.

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,493

Re: xfce4 issue

Hello and welcome.

Try deleting your sessions cache. When not logged in, delete the contents of ~/.cache/sessions. Then log in and see if everything is okay.

If you are not making use of saved sessions, also disable (uncheck) Setings Manager > Session and Startup > Automatically save session on logout and also make sure that when you are logging out, shutting down, or rebooting that "Save session for future logins" is unchecked.

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k-3.14

Member

From: Rhineland

Registered: 2017-02-18

Posts: 156

Re: xfce4 issue

Are you sure, you selected  "Debian desktop enviroment" AND "Xfce" at that stage?

sixsixfive

Member

From: behind you

Registered: 2012-04-08

Posts: 579

Website

Re: xfce4 issue

just hit alt+f2 and type xfce4-panel also do the same for xfwm4

if that doesnt work hit ALT+CTRL+F2 login and remove the sessions cache like Toz mentioned, you could also login as root and run something like (to make sure everything is right):

apt install xfwm4 xfconf xfce4-panel xfce4-session xorg x11-common xinit xfce4-settings && apt install -f || dpkg-reconfigure --priority=medium -a

also how do you start xfce? from a login manager or from a tty/terminal?

Are you sure, you selected  "Debian desktop enviroment" AND "Xfce" at that stage?

you don't need to check any of them, since the xfce task will install a full blown xfce with many useles apps and panel plugins also standard system utilites is the same because it will install so desktop useful software like exim, mailx, mlocate, mutt or w3m.

Last edited by sixsixfive (2017-08-10 13:52:45)

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alexankius

Member

Registered: 2017-08-09

Posts: 6

Re: xfce4 issue

thanks for your replies.

what is happening is quite odd.

So I installed Debian 9 using the the following options: Debian Desktop Environment, Xfce, ssh server and standard system utilities.

when the installation finished i logged on into the GUI and all was well until that point.

After i log on, i get the blue debian background screen but no icons or anything else on the desktop. If i right click on the desktop i get all the usual options such as applications, settings, etc. the interesting thing is that if i click on firefox it works as i am writing write now. if i click on any type of setting, i observe through alt-tab that the application is running but i cant seem to find it. though it may be on another workspace but cant seem to sort it out.

file explorer works btw.

fyi i am logging in as root and i've reinstalled twice..

Jerry3904

Member

Registered: 2013-11-09

Posts: 863

Re: xfce4 issue

If you are logging in as root, you are seeing root's desktop. Log in as regular user (which is what you should do) and I'm pretty sure the problem will disappear.

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alexankius

Member

Registered: 2017-08-09

Posts: 6

Re: xfce4 issue

no login as root is most definitely not the problem. I was logging in as a regular user before. that doesn't change anything.

alexankius

Member

Registered: 2017-08-09

Posts: 6

Re: xfce4 issue

so when i do that:

just hit alt+f2 and type xfce4-panel also do the same for xfwm4

nothing happens but again if i alt-tab i can see the "welcome to the first start of the panel" screen however when i select it nothing happens.. it doesn't appear. I can still see by using alt-tab.

is there a way to delete all workspaces if there are multiple and to set the resolution to something low just in case for some reason the dekstop resolution is more than my screen.. can't think of anything else.

alexankius

Member

Registered: 2017-08-09

Posts: 6

Re: xfce4 issue

the output of:

apt install xfwm4 xfconf xfce4-panel xfce4-session xorg x11-common xinit xfce4-settings && apt install -f || dpkg-reconfigure --priority=medium -a

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
x11-common is already the newest version (1:7.7+19).
x11-common set to manually installed.
xinit is already the newest version (1.3.4-3+b1).
xinit set to manually installed.
xorg is already the newest version (1:7.7+19).
xorg set to manually installed.
xfconf is already the newest version (4.12.1-1).
xfconf set to manually installed.
xfwm4 is already the newest version (4.12.4-1).
xfwm4 set to manually installed.
xfce4-settings is already the newest version (4.12.1-1).
xfce4-settings set to manually installed.
xfce4-panel is already the newest version (4.12.1-2).
xfce4-panel set to manually installed.
xfce4-session is already the newest version (4.12.1-5).
xfce4-session set to manually installed.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

alexankius

Member

Registered: 2017-08-09

Posts: 6

Re: xfce4 issue

solved it.

for some reason it was as i thought, the desktop was larger than my screen so i couldnt view most of it. its an old samsung screen that has an auto adjustment feature and that made the trick.

thanks to all for your suggestions.