Dom0 GUI window manager broken

User Support
1

All windows in my Qubes 4.1.2 system (Qube Manager, updates, individual Qube windows) all launch and are stuck to the upper left corner of the screen (drawn on top of the application menu Q) and cannot be moved nor resized. Fast window switching (alt-tab) and other keyboard shortcuts also no longer work.

This error has now occurred on multiple machines with integrated video adapters (a Q270-based desktop and two different Lenovo c. 2020/2021 Thinkpads) for unknown reasons (not immediately following a kernel or other Dom0 upgrade) apparently randomly, and (in my hands) irreversibly.

Any troubleshooting suggestions? I can’t seem to find any reference to this issue anywhere.

Much appreciated,

-qc

2

Don’t assume that it’s Qubes OS related. Use a search engine to look if others had the same issue with e.g. XFCE.

https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=6575

2 Likes
3

XFCE is quite easy to break, even using its GUI settings. I did it several times, unfortunately.

You can restore config files of xfce from backup of dom0 and it will probably be fixed. This process should be done without xfce running, to prevent replaced configs being overwritten on shutdown.