Xfce Forum

roli

Member

Registered: 2021-03-25

Posts: 8

Debian, XFCE & no Wallpaper

Hi *,

I have a folder with pictures which I used as wallpapers for years on my debian 10.8 notebook. I'm using XFCE 4.12.5. Since some month I only have a gray background. The only thing I have changed, as far as I remember, was connecting a second display to the notebook. Having no wallpaper on XFCE has been asked at Stackexchange several times, but none of the solutions worked for me. Going to the desktop settings, trying to set a pic as wallpaper via Thunar, "apt install --reinstall xfdesktop4", ... nothing workend.

Thanks

roli

CwF

Member

Registered: 2018-01-28

Posts: 305

Re: Debian, XFCE & no Wallpaper

You may have an issue with 'alternatives'.
update-alternatives --config desktop-background

If your prior images disappeared maybe some links broke in an update?
/usr/share/images/desktop-base is a primary location, often filled with links.
Check your options in 'Desktop Setting' are set to 'desktop-base'
/usr/share/backgrounds is another option, with links..

roli

Member

Registered: 2021-03-25

Posts: 8

Re: Debian, XFCE & no Wallpaper

update-alternatives --config desktop-background
gives me 31 pics. But selecting one doesn't change anything. The Desktop is still gray.

I don't think it's a matter of broken links, I still can open the pics via Thunar. But right, some pics are links, some are realy located in my wallpaper folder.

I don't know what do you mean by "heck your options in 'Desktop Setting' are set to 'desktop-base'"

CwF

Member

Registered: 2018-01-28

Posts: 305

Re: Debian, XFCE & no Wallpaper

With a right click on the desktop, choose 'Desktop Settings...' and check which folder is selected.
'desktop-base' I think is the default, set it there if it's not. The pics from an alternate location can be linked into that directory by root.

You can select a different directory, but it seems updates can alter things. I'm not clear in my memory, but I think I've seen an issue like this in the past. I started linking, or simply moving any pic to desktop-base and keep it simple. Utilities that can change desktop image seem to be numerous and problematic over many upgrades, I never narrowed down the issue...

Clio

Member

Registered: 2011-01-25

Posts: 102

Re: Debian, XFCE & no Wallpaper

In Debian, the path is:
/usr/share/backgrounds/xfce

There is also /usr/share/desktop-base, but
copy your own images to /usr/share/backgrounds/xfce/, this always works.

roli

Member

Registered: 2021-03-25

Posts: 8

Re: Debian, XFCE & no Wallpaper

Nothing happens when I right click on the desktop :-(

roli

Member

Registered: 2021-03-25

Posts: 8

Re: Debian, XFCE & no Wallpaper

Does no one has any idee what I can do?

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: Debian, XFCE & no Wallpaper

Nothing happens when I right click on the desktop :-(

Is xfdesktop managing your desktop? Perhaps a program like Nautilus or Nemo has taken over. What does the following return:

ps -ef | grep xfdesktop
ps -ef | grep -E 'nemo|nautilus'

Or has xfdesktop crashed? Try running:

xfdesktop

...to see what happens.

And finally, if you go to Settings Manager > Desktop and select a wallpaper, does it work?

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roli

Member

Registered: 2021-03-25

Posts: 8

Re: Debian, XFCE & no Wallpaper

The first grep gave me a result, xfdesktop is running. Searching the processlist for nano or nautilus returned an empty result.
Starting the desktop manualy returned:

root@griffon:/home/roli# xfdesktop
Failed to connect to session manager: Verbindung zur Sitzungsverwaltung fehlgeschlagen: Authentication Rejected, reason : None of the authentication protocols specified are supported and host-based authentication failed

** (xfdesktop:5816): WARNING **: 19:27:39.078: xfdesktop: unable to connect to settings daemon: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken..  Defaults will be used

** (xfdesktop:5816): CRITICAL **: 19:27:39.078: xfce_desktop_new: assertion 'channel && property_prefix' failed

(xfdesktop:5816): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 19:27:39.078: IA__gtk_widget_add_events: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(xfdesktop:5816): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: 19:27:39.078: invalid (NULL) pointer instance

(xfdesktop:5816): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 19:27:39.078: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed

(xfdesktop:5816): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: 19:27:39.078: invalid (NULL) pointer instance

(xfdesktop:5816): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 19:27:39.078: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed

(xfdesktop:5816): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: 19:27:39.078: invalid (NULL) pointer instance

(xfdesktop:5816): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 19:27:39.078: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed

(xfdesktop:5816): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 19:27:39.078: IA__gtk_widget_realize: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(xfdesktop:5816): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 19:27:39.078: IA__gtk_widget_get_window: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(xfdesktop:5816): Gdk-CRITICAL **: 19:27:39.078: IA__gdk_window_lower: assertion 'GDK_IS_WINDOW (window)' failed

** (xfdesktop:5816): CRITICAL **: 19:27:39.078: xfce_desktop_set_session_logout_func: assertion 'XFCE_IS_DESKTOP(desktop)' failed

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: Debian, XFCE & no Wallpaper

root@griffon:/home/roli# xfdesktop

Are you logging in as root? or just trying to run xfdesktop as root?

Can you post back the results of:

ps -ef | grep xf

Some other questions:
- which version of xfdesktop are you running ("xfdesktop -V")?
- is this a connection to a local machine or are you remoting in to another computer?
- how are you starting Xfce? Display manager (if so, which one?) or if via init, then can you post your ~/.xnitrc?

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roli

Member

Registered: 2021-03-25

Posts: 8

Re: Debian, XFCE & no Wallpaper

I used the root account, because I did a apt-get upgrade just before. Usually I'm using a ordinary user.
I have this problem on my notebook.

roli@griffon:~$ ps -ef | grep xf
roli      2310  1417  0 19:19 ?        00:00:00 /bin/sh /etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc -- /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc
roli      2380  2310  0 19:19 ?        00:00:00 xfce4-session
roli      2404  2294  0 19:19 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/xfconf/xfconfd
roli      2412  2380  0 19:19 ?        00:00:23 xfwm4 --display :0.0 --sm-client-id 23f59d4e2-9e43-443e-ae84-e09419c1c4ce
roli      2431  2380  0 19:19 ?        00:00:01 xfce4-panel --display :0.0 --sm-client-id 2cc7c351c-6ece-498a-8490-97e6db0320de
roli      2432     1  0 19:19 ?        00:00:00 xfsettingsd --display :0.0 --sm-client-id 2dc0d5d2f-fb95-410a-ada6-d9d57c06c748
roli      2437  2380  0 19:19 ?        00:00:01 xfce4-terminal --geometry=190x53 --display :0.0 --role=xfce4-terminal-1616843551--859997430 --show-menubar --show-borders --hide-toolbar --active-tab --working-directory /home/roli --sm-client-id 230324d6e-58fc-4657-b386-06100352a1cd
roli      2441     1  0 19:19 ?        00:00:00 xfce4-power-manager --restart --sm-client-id 2e5a28ae1-fc5e-4f5b-9cb2-53acdaf44490
roli      2448  2294  0 19:19 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/notifyd/xfce4-notifyd
roli      2460  2431  0 19:19 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/wrapper-1.0 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/plugins/libsystray.so 6 14680106 systray Benachrichtigungsfläche Fläche, in der Symbole für Benachrichtigungen erscheinen
roli      2461  2431  0 19:19 ?        00:00:16 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/wrapper-2.0 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/plugins/libnetload.so 19 14680107 netload Netzwerkmonitor Netzwerkverkehr anzeigen
roli      2462  2431  0 19:19 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/wrapper-1.0 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/plugins/libactions.so 2 14680108 actions Aktionsknöpfe Abmelden, sperren oder andere Systemaktionen
roli      2463  2431  0 19:19 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/wrapper-2.0 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/plugins/libxfce4powermanager.so 18 14680109 power-manager-plugin Energieverwaltungserweiterung Den Akkuladestand Ihrer Geräte anzeigen und die Helligkeit Ihres Bildschirms steuern
roli      2464  2431  0 19:19 ?        00:00:07 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/wrapper-1.0 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/plugins/libcpugraph.so 17 14680110 cpugraph CPU-Graph Grafische Darstellung der CPU-Last
roli      2465  2431  0 19:19 ?        00:00:01 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/wrapper-2.0 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/plugins/libpulseaudio-plugin.so 16 14680111 pulseaudio PulseAudio-Modul Die Lautstärke des PulseAudio-Klangsystems anpassen
roli      2468  2431  0 19:19 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/wrapper-2.0 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/plugins/libdatetime.so 22 14680112 datetime Datum und Uhrzeit Eine Erweiterung für die Leiste, die Datum und Uhrzeit anzeigt und einen einfachen Kalender anbietet
roli      6407  2431  0 19:44 ?        00:00:00 xfce4-settings-manager
roli     14691 14212  0 20:20 pts/1    00:00:00 grep xf
root     26370     2  0 19:23 ?        00:00:00 [xfsalloc]
root     26371     2  0 19:23 ?        00:00:00 [xfs_mru_cache]
roli@griffon:~$
roli@griffon:~$ xfdesktop -V
Dieses ist xfdesktop Version 4.12.4, auf Xfce 4.12.
Erstellt mit GTK+ 2.24.32, verknüpft mit GTK+ 2.24.32.
Optionen bei der Erstellung:
Schreibtischmenü: aktiviert
Schreibtischsymbole: aktiviert
Schreibtischdateisymbole: aktiviert
roli@griffon:~$

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: Debian, XFCE & no Wallpaper

xfdesktop isn't running.

While not root, run:

xfdesktop

...and post back the results.

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roli

Member

Registered: 2021-03-25

Posts: 8

Re: Debian, XFCE & no Wallpaper

that's it!
I was alt least 100% shure it was running ...
Thanks

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: Debian, XFCE & no Wallpaper

It might not be properly saved in your cached sessions. Try deleting the contents of ~/.cache/sessions while not logged in.

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