Desktop mess (Gnome + Xfce)

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1

I decided to give Xfce a try and downloaded it. Now something weird is happening. I am an amateur linux user and so I apologize for the lack of clarity:

When I login as usual but selecting an Xfce session, the desktop seems xfce, but it has kept features from Gnome, for example, if I right click on the desktop, instead of getting the main menu, as is normal I think under xfce, I get the Gnome menu (Change desktop background, etc).

Another thing that doesn’t seem normal is that if I use the xfce file manager and navigate to, say, my desktop, I see different files with different (gnome) layouts than if I navigate to the desktop by double-clicking on my home folder.

The ‘My Computer’ icon in the desktop displays “The URL “sysinfo:/” is not supported.” when I double click on it.

As soon as I installed xfce the desktop seemed xfce, but I noticed two trash cans. I double-clicked one of them, and then suddenly the desktop reverted to the gnome desktop, with a mix between xfce and gnome features and layouts.

So, it seems to me that there was clearly an error during the installation, but wanted to know if someone has any suggestions on what might be wrong.

Can it be that I am installing desktops using root powers but then log in as normal user and so desktops get mixed somehow?

I installed from 'Patterns" in Yast, using Gnome under OS 11.0, on a 64bit Gateway laptop. My default installation was gnome. Something similar happened with kde some months ago, but I didn’t care because kde is not for me. Xfce seems alright and I’d like to try it properly. But now I have a mixture of all 3 desktops in one session.

Thanks,

2

monoRhesus wrote:

> So, it seems to me that there was clearly an error during the
> installation, but wanted to know if someone has any suggestions on what
> might be wrong.

Maybe your user profile is loading some applications from Gnome desktop at
startup (for instance, nautilus).

Try creating a fresh-new user and login with it into Xfce session and check
what happens here.

> Can it be that I am installing desktops using root powers but then log
> in as normal user and so desktops get mixed somehow?

Not quite possible because most of the updates/installs/upgrades have to be
made with the power of root :-).

There should be no problem in using several desktop environments but things
tend to mess up a bit while running xfce and executing any gnome
application.

> I installed from 'Patterns" in Yast, using Gnome under OS 11.0, on a
> 64bit Gateway laptop. My default installation was gnome. Something
> similar happened with kde some months ago, but I didn’t care because kde
> is not for me. Xfce seems alright and I’d like to try it properly. But
> now I have a mixture of all 3 desktops in one session.

Another thing you can try with your standard user is killing “nautilus”.
Open xterm and run:

killall nautilus

That will shutdown any nautilus (browser manager) instance running in
background and hopefully won’t come back again :wink:

Greetings,

–
Camaleón

3

I remember encountering similar (though less extreme) problems when trying Xfce some months ago. It’s been a while, but I also remember it had something to do with a well-known problem with Nautilus having a tendency to grab the session, and I’ve forgotten the solution but the good news is there is one and a google for “stop nautilus” and “xfce” should yield it!
I gave up on Xfce when the panel suddenly disappeared without warning and there didn’t seem to be an obvious way of getting it back. Also disliked the difficulty of configuring the right-click menu. But I liked the concept of Xfce, and since it’s rarely talked about here, I’d be curious to hear how you get on.

4

Thanks for your answers.

Not quite possible because most of the updates/installs/upgrades have to be made with the power of root :slight_smile:

I know that, but my computer was acting so weird that I had to think of alternative explanations :slight_smile:

@gminnerup, I agree, the xfce desktop has minor problems here and there, I also like it but these little problems have made me go back to the tender and known arms of gnome. Call me a softy but I’d like my desktop to work in a stable and non-problematic manner.

I really like xfce, looks great and has some neat ideas in terms of layout and structure but I will wait a little longer to guve it a serious try. I cannot spend time finding out for example how to install packages, since yast does not appear by that name in the menu, and some other minor stuff, other than the fact that my desktops are messed up.

I decided I wanted to reformat my hard drive, and installed both desktops from the installation dvd. Things work fine now. It is an extreme ‘solution’, and I’m sorry I can’t be of any further help for other people who might have this same problem.

Cheers,

5

I’ve just had this (or a very similar) problem.

Essentially, if one starts nautilus when in xfce to use as a file manager, nautilus decides that it should be managing the desktop for you.

If you have done this and want to stop it the run the command “nautilus --quit”. (Killing the running instance of nautilus doesn’t work as another instance just starts straight away.)

To start nautilus without it taking over the desktop, you need to start it with the --no-desktop option.

6

I’ve posted the solution here, Computer Watch: Securing XFCE’s Control over the desktop Against Nautilus

Nautilus, whether or not it has started, can be set not to draw/show the desktop; it’s inevitable in mixing DEs that at times software will call Nautilus on XFCE, so merely killing it repeatedly, or manually starting it with a switch every time, is a pain.

7

This is a problem with multiple DE’s and single user. If you install KDE and GNOME together like I did you will face the same problem… sometimes it is fine… sometime it is really annoying