Xfce Forum

jacko

Member

Registered: 2024-09-14

Posts: 4

Desktop background disappears and fails after xfdesktop update

Hi there,

This is a recurring issue I've seen in lots of other forum posts. I did a pacman syu on my system and the desktop background stopped working. The desktop is just black now and unable to be changed through the settings editor.

Here is a bunch of info about what i've tried.

When I run the following command

xfconf-query --channel xfce4-desktop --monitor

and attempt to change my desktop background, I can verify that the relevant xfconf value is being updated.

This technique has worked once for me before:

xfdesktop --quit && xfdesktop --enable-debug

Now when I do it, the desktop background actually does appear! But my session begins to crash and windows stop working, and the desktop does not persist on reboot.

Otherwise, the arch wiki says to delete ~/.cache/sessions. This hasn't worked for me, even in conjuntion with the previous thing.

Finally, here are some debug logs of the issue. I got them by running  `xfdesktop --quit && xfdesktop --enable-debug`. I even switched desktop background a couple times for kicks. Sorry for excessive text here. (These logs do show a gdbus warning but i think that is just because I am not using a display manager, just running startxfce4 on login)

DBG[xfdesktop-common.c:407] xfdesktop_debug_set(): debugging enabled
DBG[xfdesktop-application.c:588] cb_wait_for_window_manager_destroyed(): found window manager after 1 tries
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1766] xfce_desktop_set_single_workspace_mode(): single_workspace_mode now TRUE
DBG[xfce-workspace.c:329] xfce_workspace_monitors_changed(): Adding workspace 0 backdrop 0
DBG[xfce-workspace.c:630] xfce_workspace_connect_backdrop_settings(): prefix string: /backdrop/screen0/monitoreDP-1/workspace0/
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:757] workspace_changed_cb(): current_workspace 0, new_workspace 0
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1

** (xfdesktop:3104): WARNING **: 01:15:13.576: Failed to register the newly set background with AccountsService '/home/jackus/Pictures/dock.jpg': GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.InvalidArgs: No such interface “org.freedesktop.DisplayManager.AccountsService”
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:531] backdrop_changed_cb(): monitor x 0, y 0, width 1920, height 1080
DBG[xfce-backdrop.c:1673] xfce_backdrop_generate_async(): loading image /home/jackus/Pictures/dock.jpg
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:531] backdrop_changed_cb(): monitor x 0, y 0, width 1920, height 1080
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1

** (xfdesktop:3104): WARNING **: 01:16:26.094: Failed to register the newly set background with AccountsService '/home/jackus/Pictures/cityscape.jpg': GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.InvalidArgs: No such interface “org.freedesktop.DisplayManager.AccountsService”
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:531] backdrop_changed_cb(): monitor x 0, y 0, width 1920, height 1080
DBG[xfce-backdrop.c:1673] xfce_backdrop_generate_async(): loading image /home/jackus/Pictures/cityscape.jpg
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:531] backdrop_changed_cb(): monitor x 0, y 0, width 1920, height 1080
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1

** (xfdesktop:3104): WARNING **: 01:16:27.820: Failed to register the newly set background with AccountsService '/home/jackus/Pictures/dock.jpg': GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.InvalidArgs: No such interface “org.freedesktop.DisplayManager.AccountsService”
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:531] backdrop_changed_cb(): monitor x 0, y 0, width 1920, height 1080
DBG[xfce-backdrop.c:1673] xfce_backdrop_generate_async(): loading image /home/jackus/Pictures/dock.jpg
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:1528] xfce_desktop_get_current_workspace(): workspace_num 0, single_workspace_num 0, current_workspace 0, max workspaces 1
DBG[xfce-desktop.c:531] backdrop_changed_cb(): monitor x 0, y 0, width 1920, height 1080

Thank you for reading! Jack

Last edited by jacko (2024-10-24 15:22:28)

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,482

Re: Desktop background disappears and fails after xfdesktop update

What version of Xfce and xfdesktop are you running?

But my session begins to crash and windows stop working, and the desktop does not persist on reboot.

Can you post the contents of ~/.xsession-errors after this happens? Also, can you post back the output of:

ls -l ~/.config/autostart

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jacko

Member

Registered: 2024-09-14

Posts: 4

Re: Desktop background disappears and fails after xfdesktop update

Thanks for responding!

Anyway, I seem to have fixed the issue. When I talked about the session failing earlier, I believe that was because I closed the terminal instance running the command `xfdesktop --quit && xfdesktop --enable-debug`. What I did was run that command, then keep that terminal window open and log out. That fixed the desktop background issue, and the fix persists on reboot.

(silly mistake, to be fair I wrote my last post at like midnight)

It's frustrating I couldn't find a root cause. As for your other questions, my xfce and xfdesktop are version 4.18. here is my autostart directory

$ ls -l ~/.config/autostart/
total 4
-rw-r--r-- 1 jackus jackus 206 Aug 25 11:53 xcape.desktop

It just contains xcape which I use to open whisker menu when I press the super key.

I do have the logs from the last time I ran `xfdesktop --quit && xfdesktop --enable-debug`. This time I didn't have any major session failure, so there isn't anything too interesting I think. I do not have the file ~/.xsession-errors on my distribution - according to GNOME, this file is being deprecated? (reference). But I saved some of the systemd journals. I think the only change after restarting xfdesktop was the final line where dbus started again? here are the logs:

$ journalctl -b _UID=1000 > xsession.txt
$ cat xsession.txt
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Queued start job for default target Main User Target.
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Created slice User Application Slice.
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Reached target Paths.
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Reached target Timers.
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Starting D-Bus User Message Bus Socket...
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Listening on GnuPG network certificate management daemon.
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Listening on GnuPG cryptographic agent and passphrase cache (access for web browsers).
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Listening on GnuPG cryptographic agent and passphrase cache (restricted).
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Listening on GnuPG cryptographic agent (ssh-agent emulation).
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Listening on GnuPG cryptographic agent and passphrase cache.
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Listening on GnuPG public key management service.
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Listening on p11-kit server.
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Listening on PipeWire Multimedia System Sockets.
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Listening on Sound System.
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Listening on D-Bus User Message Bus Socket.
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Reached target Sockets.
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Reached target Basic System.
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Starting Update XDG user dir configuration...
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Finished Update XDG user dir configuration.
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Reached target Main User Target.
Oct 26 12:42:00 mycomputer systemd[848]: Startup finished in 175ms.
Oct 26 12:42:01 mycomputer systemd[848]: Created slice User Core Session Slice.
Oct 26 12:42:01 mycomputer systemd[848]: Starting D-Bus User Message Bus...
Oct 26 12:42:01 mycomputer dbus-broker-launch[963]: Service file '/usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.xfce.Thunar.FileManager1.service' is not named after the D-Bus name 'org.freedesktop.FileManager1'.
Oct 26 12:42:01 mycomputer dbus-broker-launch[963]: Service file '/usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.xfce.Tumbler.Cache1.service' is not named after the D-Bus name 'org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Cache1'.
Oct 26 12:42:01 mycomputer dbus-broker-launch[963]: Policy to allow eavesdropping in /usr/share/dbus-1/session.conf +31: Eavesdropping is deprecated and ignored
Oct 26 12:42:01 mycomputer dbus-broker-launch[963]: Policy to allow eavesdropping in /usr/share/dbus-1/session.conf +33: Eavesdropping is deprecated and ignored
Oct 26 12:42:01 mycomputer dbus-broker-launch[963]: Service file '/usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.xfce.Tumbler.Manager1.service' is not named after the D-Bus name 'org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Manager1'.
Oct 26 12:42:01 mycomputer dbus-broker-launch[963]: Service file '/usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.xfce.Tumbler.Thumbnailer1.service' is not named after the D-Bus name 'org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1'.
Oct 26 12:42:01 mycomputer dbus-broker-launch[963]: Service file '/usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.xfce.xfce4-notifyd.Notifications.service' is not named after the D-Bus name 'org.freedesktop.Notifications'.
Oct 26 12:42:01 mycomputer dbus-broker-launch[963]: Service file '/usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.xfce.xfce4-notifyd.Notifyd.service' is not named after the D-Bus name 'org.xfce.Notifyd'.
Oct 26 12:42:01 mycomputer systemd[848]: Started D-Bus User Message Bus.
Oct 26 12:42:01 mycomputer dbus-broker-launch[963]: Ready
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer systemd[848]: Starting Virtual filesystem service...
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer systemd[848]: Started Virtual filesystem service.
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer systemd[848]: Starting Accessibility services bus...
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer systemd[848]: Started Accessibility services bus.
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer dbus-broker-launch[992]: Ready
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer systemd[848]: Created slice Slice /app/dbus-:1.2-org.xfce.Xfconf.
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer systemd[848]: Started dbus-:1.2-org.xfce.Xfconf@0.service.
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer systemd[848]: Created slice Slice /app/dbus-:1.9-org.a11y.atspi.Registry.
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer systemd[848]: Started dbus-:1.9-org.a11y.atspi.Registry@0.service.
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer at-spi2-registryd[1000]: SpiRegistry daemon is running with well-known name - org.a11y.atspi.Registry
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer systemd[848]: Started GnuPG cryptographic agent and passphrase cache.
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer gpg-agent[1010]: gpg-agent (GnuPG) 2.4.5 starting in supervised mode.
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer gpg-agent[1010]: using fd 3 for std socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent)
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer gpg-agent[1010]: using fd 4 for ssh socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent.ssh)
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer gpg-agent[1010]: using fd 5 for browser socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent.browser)
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer gpg-agent[1010]: using fd 6 for extra socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent.extra)
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer gpg-agent[1010]: listening on: std=3 extra=6 browser=5 ssh=4
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer systemd[848]: Started GnuPG cryptographic agent and passphrase cache.
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer gpg-agent[1014]: gpg-agent (GnuPG) 2.4.5 starting in supervised mode.
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer gpg-agent[1014]: using fd 3 for std socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent)
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer gpg-agent[1014]: using fd 4 for ssh socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent.ssh)
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer gpg-agent[1014]: using fd 5 for browser socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent.browser)
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer gpg-agent[1014]: using fd 6 for extra socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent.extra)
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer gpg-agent[1014]: listening on: std=3 extra=6 browser=5 ssh=4
Oct 26 12:42:02 mycomputer systemd[848]: Starting Sound Service...
Oct 26 12:42:03 mycomputer systemd[848]: Starting XFCE notifications service...
Oct 26 12:42:03 mycomputer systemd[848]: Started XFCE notifications service.
Oct 26 12:42:03 mycomputer systemd[848]: Started Sound Service.
Oct 26 12:42:03 mycomputer pkexec[1154]: pam_unix(polkit-1:session): session opened for user root(uid=0) by myuser(uid=1000)
Oct 26 12:50:36 mycomputer systemd[848]: Started dbus-:1.2-org.xfce.Xfconf@1.service.
Oct 26 13:11:57 mycomputer systemd[848]: Started dbus-:1.2-org.xfce.Xfconf@2.service.

Thank you for your help!