Running 13.2 64 bit with KDE desktop. In trying to install a cpu temperature monitor widget I have totally munged my system tray and now only have a clock, in the wrong place and an activity manager which I dont particularly want. Gone is network manager, hidden icon arrow and other stuff. The result is I get an error message when starting to the effect that there is no system tray. How may I restore the default which is installed from the outset please.
To create a default panel: right-click on an empty space of the desktop and choose “Add Panel”->“Default Panel”.
You can remove a panel by left-clicking on the corresponding toolbox icon on the right edge and then clicking on “More settings”.
To reset the whole desktop to the defaults, delete the file ~/.kde4/share/config/plasma-desktoprc outside of KDE.
Hi Wolfi323,
Got it. Many thanks.
Budge
For future quick-fix, once you have your panel (and desktop) set up the way you want it, you can use Dolphin and browse to the following location:
~/.kde4/share/config/
(for any newcomers who do not know this yet, ~/ in a path means your home directory, aka /home/your_username/)
In there, find the file plasma-desktop-appletsrc
Make a backup of that file: for example, plasma-desktop-appletsrcbak
Next time you blow away the panel, or lose some of the changes you made to it, simply go back to that location and copy the backup file back over top of the original config file.
In the above example, you would copy plasma-desktop-appletsrcbak over top of plasma-desktop-appletsrc and say yes to the overwrite file dialogue.
You do not need to log out of the GUI/KDE to make the backup copy, and you can also use Dolphin within KDE to copy the backup back.
To get it to kick in after restoring from the backup, log out & log back in.
Just remember, if you do any additional tweaking to the panel or desktop, you will need to update the backup file by copying the latest config file over the older backup file.
Caveat to my previous post about backing up & restoring plasma-desktop-appletsrc:
I have only tested this in openSUSE 13.1 and 13.2 in KDE4. I cannot say if it works in Leap or Tumbleweed with Plasma5.
Many thanks for the detailed advice. I shall try it in due course on LEAP system. I am on 13.2 as I type.
Regards,
Budgie.
In Plasma5 it is ~/.config/plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc .
Thank you for that, wolfi. When I install Leap for testing, I will have to test whether my backup method works the same there. Might be some kind of change that may mean doing the restore copy from outside of the GUI, or some other minor change in the implementation?
Well, you should always do that while Plasma is not running, also in KDE4.
Otherwise your changes might get overwritten again by the running Plasma (which might not notice that the config file has changed).
You don’t necessarily need to logout though, just run “kquitapp plasmashell” (for KDE4: “kquitapp plasma-desktop”) and start it again afterwards.
Hi Wolfi323,
From the above advice I have been able to restore my panel which is a relief and I am back to KDE5 desktop. Unfortunately in my messing around with desktops I have lost the default Desktop Folder which is there when KDE5 is installed. The one with Firefox, Kinfocentre, Office, On-Line help and openSUSE logos.
How do I restore this please? All I have at present is a grey Desktop Folder with Home and Wastebin logos!!!
Well you can set things back to day one or you can simply add a folder widget and point it where you like.
So first unlock widgets - Right clcik desktop select unlock widgets
Next shoes available widgets- right click desktop select add widgets.This will show all available widgets
Find folder - find the folder widget drag to desktop resize and point to the folder/directory you want to display.
Lock widgets to stop accidental removal- right click desktop and select lock widgets
I think I am missing something here. None of the widgets are the icons which were in the grey rectangular box occupying top left corner of my original screen and entitled “Desktop Folder” It is this that I am trying to restore, not the panel.
Well I don’t know what you have since I can not see it.
Ok these things are widgets and you unlock the widgets and you should be able to move it and resize it and set it up to point to a given directory or delete it.
If you can 't do this then something is seriously broken in the config files. Since you were randomly pounding on things it is not a bit of a surprise .
If you can not remove the widget and replace it with a working one you need to take things back to day one and re do your desktop.
All config for KDE4 are in ~/.kde4/share/config remove or rename this directory and all will be back like new out of the bod default. Trick is you need to do this as root or yourself logged into a terminal session not as yourself logged in the GUI since the GUI uses those files it may not like you messing with them while it has them open
Do you need detailed instructions how to do this?
Hi and thanks for being so patient. First I am in a new installation of LEAP 42.1 with KDE desktop which I understand is kde5.
What is strange is that even though during installation I forced the formatting of both / and /home partitions before installing system, the screen is not the same as a virgin new installation.
Will follow instructions above for KDE5 and seek help if all else fails.
Many thanks for your help.
Budgie2
That’s a “Folderview” widget, just add it via “Add Widgets”.
Or delete ~/.config/plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc to restore the Plasma setup as already written.
PS: having the folderview by default is an openSUSE addition. So check that you have plasma5-workspace-branding-openSUSE installed. With the upstream branding, the desktop will be empty on a fresh user account.
Hi Wolfi323,
Restoring the Folderview widget worked fine but the contents were not. I quit plasma and deleted the file indicated above and restarted the plasma-desktop but received rather a lot of error messages. I do have the branding you mention but there may be other issues.
I think I have munged my system as it picked up some of the unwanted features even after a new installation with formatting of / and /home.
Now, rather than waste you time further I shall rebuild the array and start over with hopefully a clean drive. No problem as it is a new machine not yet put to work. Will get back to you if there is still a problem, meanwhile many thanks once more.
Budgie2
The folderview just displays the content of your ~/Desktop folder, or whatever folder is configured, like ever.
You can configure what folder should be displayed by right-clicking on the folderview and choose “Configure Folderview”.
The default should be the “Desktop” folder (as set in “Configure Desktop”->“Applications”->“Locations”) though.
If the files are not in this folder, they will not be displayed of course.
Add the icons you want e.g. by dragging them from the application menu.
openSUSE’s Plasma5 packages do not add any files to ~/Desktop/ as was done in previous versions by the KDE4 packages (on first login on a new user account).
The default is now to only have a link to your home directory and the trash.
A fresh installation will not change that either.
Now I see the light!!! Makes more sense now and reassures me that what I had was working as it should. No idea why the default installation options did not appear on the new installation though. Usually the desktop on a new installation is populated as I indicated above.
Thanks again and sorry I was so dense.
The "desktop"is simply a directory in your home. If nothing is there nothing shows in the widget and you can point the Folder widget or even multiple Folder widgets to other directories.