Cannot change desktop appearance

I’m currently running openSuse 11.1

After installing some software and rebooted my system, I noticed that my desktop settings have changed. When I tried to change it back using Control Center>Appearance, I got the following message:

Unable to start the settings manager ‘gnome-settings-daemon’. Without the GNOME settings manager running, some preferences may not take effect. This could indicate a problem with Bonobo, or a non-GNOME (e.g. KDE) settings manager may already be active and conflicting with the GNOME settings manager.

$ uname -a
Linux myhost 2.6.27.25-0.1-pae #1 SMP 2009-07-01 15:37:09 +0200 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

ps -ely

S UID PID PPID C PRI NI RSS SZ WCHAN TTY TIME CMD
S 0 1 0 0 80 0 360 252 - ? 00:00:01 init
S 0 2 0 0 75 -5 0 0 kthrea ? 00:00:00 kthreadd
S 0 3 2 0 -40 - 0 0 migrat ? 00:00:00 migration/0
S 0 4 2 0 75 -5 0 0 ksofti ? 00:00:00 ksoftirqd/0
S 0 5 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 events/0
S 0 6 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 khelper
S 0 7 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kintegrityd/0
S 0 8 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kblockd/0
S 0 9 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kacpid
S 0 10 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kacpi_notify
S 0 11 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 cqueue
S 0 12 2 0 75 -5 0 0 serio_ ? 00:00:00 kseriod
S 0 13 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kondemand/0
S 0 14 2 0 80 0 0 0 pdflus ? 00:00:00 pdflush
S 0 15 2 0 80 0 0 0 pdflus ? 00:00:00 pdflush
S 0 16 2 0 75 -5 0 0 kswapd ? 00:00:00 kswapd0
S 0 17 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 aio/0
S 0 18 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kpsmoused
S 0 54 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 ata/0
S 0 55 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 ata_aux
S 0 57 2 0 75 -5 0 0 scsi_e ? 00:00:00 scsi_eh_0
S 0 58 2 0 75 -5 0 0 scsi_e ? 00:00:00 scsi_eh_1
S 0 75 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kstriped
S 0 82 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 ksnapd
S 0 195 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 ksuspend_usbd
S 0 196 2 0 75 -5 0 0 hub_th ? 00:00:00 khubd
S 0 551 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kdmflush
S 0 559 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kdmflush
S 0 567 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 kdmflush
S 0 601 2 0 75 -5 0 0 kjourn ? 00:00:00 kjournald
S 0 680 1 0 76 -4 1208 699 - ? 00:00:00 udevd
S 0 1390 2 0 75 -5 0 0 pccard ? 00:00:00 pccardd
S 0 1406 2 0 75 -5 0 0 pccard ? 00:00:00 pccardd
S 0 1474 2 0 75 -5 0 0 kaudit ? 00:00:00 kauditd
S 0 1557 2 0 75 -5 0 0 kjourn ? 00:00:00 kjournald
S 0 1558 2 0 75 -5 0 0 kjourn ? 00:00:00 kjournald
S 0 1566 1 0 80 0 944 964 fuse_d ? 00:00:00 mount.ntfs-3g
S 0 1979 1 0 80 0 796 649 321352 ? 00:00:00 syslog-ng
S 0 1982 1 0 80 0 544 478 syslog ? 00:00:00 klogd
S 102 1997 1 0 80 0 1336 766 - ? 00:00:00 dbus-daemon
S 0 2009 1 0 80 0 576 444 399872 ? 00:00:00 acpid
S 106 2066 1 0 80 0 4672 1778 - ? 00:00:01 hald
S 0 2069 1 0 80 0 2588 4172 64 ? 00:00:00 console-kit-dae
S 0 2132 2066 0 80 0 1144 882 398057 ? 00:00:00 hald-runner
S 0 2170 2132 0 80 0 1092 912 397684 ? 00:00:00 hald-addon-inpu
S 0 2210 2132 0 80 0 1060 911 - ? 00:00:00 hald-addon-gene
S 0 2213 2132 0 80 0 1064 911 - ? 00:00:00 hald-addon-gene
S 0 2231 2132 0 80 0 1096 913 323805 ? 00:00:00 hald-addon-stor
S 0 2236 2132 0 80 0 1100 913 - ? 00:00:00 hald-addon-stor
S 0 2237 2132 0 80 0 1076 916 399015 ? 00:00:00 hald-addon-cpuf
S 106 2238 2132 0 80 0 1076 844 - ? 00:00:00 hald-addon-acpi
S 0 2246 2132 0 80 0 984 786 399860 ? 00:00:07 hald-addon-acpi
S 0 2350 1 0 80 0 2388 1665 - ? 00:00:00 gdm
S 0 2352 2350 0 80 0 2840 1794 socket ? 00:00:00 gdm-simple-slav
S 0 2359 1 0 80 0 428 444 - ? 00:00:00 startpar
R 0 2360 2352 3 80 0 22096 7713 - tty7 00:00:55 X
S 0 2397 1 0 80 0 628 579 udpv6_ ? 00:00:00 rpcbind
S 0 2740 1 0 76 -4 788 2677 - ? 00:00:00 auditd
S 0 2752 2740 0 72 -8 692 2536 futex_ ? 00:00:00 audispd
S 109 2768 1 0 80 0 760 894 - ? 00:00:00 dbus-launch
S 103 2774 1 0 80 0 1588 772 - ? 00:00:00 avahi-daemon
S 0 2943 1 0 80 0 2644 1850 - ? 00:00:00 cupsd
S 0 3087 1 0 80 0 1152 35453 - ? 00:00:00 nscd
S 0 3092 1 0 80 0 2600 3779 - ? 00:00:00 NetworkManager
S 0 3103 1 0 80 0 1780 967 - ? 00:00:00 modem-manager
S 0 3105 1 0 80 0 1140 1056 - ? 00:00:00 wpa_supplicant
S 0 3107 1 0 80 0 3028 1821 - ? 00:00:00 nm-system-setti
S 0 3127 3092 0 80 0 896 612 - ? 00:00:00 dhclient
S 0 3160 1 0 80 0 1788 1761 - ? 00:00:00 master
S 0 3172 2352 0 80 0 2532 1609 383863 ? 00:00:00 gdm-session-wor
S 51 3186 3160 0 80 0 1696 1711 - ? 00:00:00 pickup
S 51 3187 3160 0 80 0 1732 1722 - ? 00:00:00 qmgr
S 0 3188 1 0 80 0 592 580 - ? 00:00:00 cron
S 0 3221 1 0 80 0 708 886 - ? 00:00:00 smartd
S 0 3378 1 0 80 0 860 1396 - ? 00:00:00 smpppd
S 0 3393 1 0 80 0 1036 1643 - ? 00:00:00 sshd
S 0 3664 1 0 80 0 864 783 - ? 00:00:00 xinetd
S 1000 3942 1 0 80 0 2112 5533 399818 ? 00:00:00 gnome-keyring-d
S 1000 3956 3172 0 80 0 8496 9350 - ? 00:00:00 gnome-session
S 0 4107 1 0 80 0 664 567 - tty1 00:00:00 mingetty
S 0 4109 1 0 80 0 660 567 - tty2 00:00:00 mingetty
S 0 4113 1 0 80 0 636 567 - tty3 00:00:00 mingetty
S 0 4114 1 0 80 0 640 567 - tty4 00:00:00 mingetty
S 0 4115 1 0 80 0 640 567 - tty5 00:00:00 mingetty
S 0 4118 1 0 80 0 640 567 - tty6 00:00:00 mingetty
S 1000 4180 3956 0 80 0 476 1004 - ? 00:00:00 gpg-agent
S 1000 4190 1 0 80 0 728 890 - ? 00:00:00 dbus-launch
S 1000 4191 1 0 80 0 1328 825 - ? 00:00:00 dbus-daemon
S 1000 4194 1 0 80 0 14160 4401 - ? 00:00:03 gconfd-2
S 1000 4197 3956 0 80 0 3572 3831 401969 ? 00:00:00 gnome-keyring-d
S 1000 4201 3956 0 80 0 12244 24924 sync_r ? 00:00:06 metacity
S 1000 4206 3956 0 80 0 25708 62803 securi ? 00:00:12 gnome-panel
S 1000 4208 1 0 80 0 2136 1516 - ? 00:00:00 gvfsd
S 1000 4214 1 0 80 0 2072 7365 futex_ ? 00:00:00 gvfs-fuse-daemo
S 1000 4221 3956 0 80 0 29860 69172 autore ? 00:00:11 nautilus
S 1000 4223 1 0 80 0 3452 10283 - ? 00:00:00 bonobo-activati
S 1000 4229 1 0 80 0 7084 31665 379257 ? 00:00:01 pulseaudio
S 1000 4253 4229 0 80 0 2492 2045 write_ ? 00:00:00 gconf-helper
S 1000 4272 3956 0 80 0 10872 10365 1 ? 00:00:00 gpk-update-icon
S 1000 4273 3956 0 80 0 6928 5117 - ? 00:00:00 bluetooth-apple
S 1000 4278 3956 0 80 0 9540 7378 379402 ? 00:00:04 vino-server
S 1000 4286 3956 0 80 0 13832 31255 1 ? 00:00:00 padevchooser
S 0 4300 1 0 80 0 1604 908 379572 ? 00:00:00 bluetoothd
S 1000 4305 3956 0 80 0 13696 45960 2 ? 00:00:01 nm-applet
S 0 4306 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 btaddconn
S 0 4307 2 0 75 -5 0 0 worker ? 00:00:00 btdelconn
S 1000 4317 3956 0 80 0 14720 8173 64 ? 00:00:00 python
S 0 4323 2 0 70 -10 0 0 rfcomm ? 00:00:00 krfcommd
S 1000 4347 1 0 80 0 2664 1556 socket ? 00:00:00 gvfs-hal-volume
S 1000 4375 1 0 80 0 2200 1463 - ? 00:00:00 gvfs-gphoto2-vo
S 1000 4397 1 0 80 0 2612 5727 370923 ? 00:00:00 gvfsd-trash
S 1000 4408 1 0 80 0 20488 60392 323803 ? 00:00:13 main-menu
S 1000 4411 1 0 80 0 26076 18140 - ? 00:00:02 tomboy
S 1000 4432 1 0 80 0 2144 1569 - ? 00:00:00 gvfsd-burn
S 1000 4479 1 0 80 0 12172 7466 1 ? 00:00:00 mini_commander_
S 1000 4492 1 0 80 0 32932 53484 autore ? 00:00:08 deskbar-applet
S 1000 4495 1 0 80 0 13732 7905 359042 ? 00:00:01 gnome-dictionar
S 1000 4506 1 0 80 0 3948 2807 dequeu ? 00:00:00 gnome-vfs-daemo
S 1000 4867 1 0 80 0 19960 53390 - ? 00:00:05 gnome-terminal
S 1000 4869 4867 0 80 0 572 800 - ? 00:00:00 gnome-pty-helpe
S 1000 4972 4867 0 80 0 2264 1298 wait pts/2 00:00:00 bash
S 0 4980 4972 0 80 0 1540 1148 wait pts/2 00:00:00 su
S 0 4983 4980 0 80 0 2244 1233 wait pts/2 00:00:00 bash
R 0 5215 4983 0 80 0 804 623 - pts/2 00:00:00 ps

If you have both kde3 and gnome installed you should be careful to only start the correct application for these settings.

The Control Centre is a kde3 application, so you should be running that in kde3. The same principle applies in gnome, only use the gnome settings manager in gnome (I’m not sure what it’s called as I don’t use gnome)

As far as I know, I am using gnome desktop and its Control Center to change the desktop appearance. I did not have KDE desktop related stuff installed during my openSuse 11.1 installation.

Perhaps some kde stuff got installed as a side effect of installing some applications from the repository.

Unfortunately, I do not know what processes currently running on my system makes use of KDE.

Would you have a particular strategy to follow so I can fix this issue?

Thanks in advance.

Hi,
you should try running the daemon from CLI,


sudo gnome-settings-daemon