XFCE Desktop disappears (becomes grey)

I would like to pick up on this conversation. A few days ago Dom0 desktop has crashed as per this screenshot.

The background and desktop icons and files no longer appear. Right click does not work (no menu). Rebooting doesn’t solve it. This is sometimes the prelude to the system becoming unusable as I had described above in this conversation. This sort of crashing happens to me every few months on my Thinkpad.

Does this happen to anyone else? Is there a fix?

I see. So this is the issue where the window borders also disappear?

Also, I think this looks like your issue:

If you confirm it’s your issue, I’d suggest you following it up there as there the devopers can give you better diagnosing guidance.

I also found this in-depth article about this issue, which may help:

Thanks @deeplow for your fast responses. I tried the solution @marmarek suggested earlier on this thread and here:xfwm4 --replace in Dom0 Terminal. It did not solve the problem. This is what it showed me after running it a couple of times.

For reference, I get the following when running t xfwm4 --replace:

[user@dom0 ~]$ xfwm4 --replace
Waiting for current window manager (Xfwm4) on screen :0.0 to exit: Done

(xfwm4:11803): xfwm4-WARNING **: Unmanaged net_wm_state (window 0xa00004, atom "_NET_WM_STATE_FOCUSED")

Interestingly enough I was able to make the window boards go away and show that ..... Failed by running multiple times the xfwm4 --replace:

[user@dom0 ~]$ xfwm4 --replace
Waiting for current window manager (Xfwm4) on screen :0.0 to exit: Done

(xfwm4:11803): xfwm4-WARNING **: Unmanaged net_wm_state (window 0xa00004, atom "_NET_WM_STATE_FOCUSED")
core^C
(xfwm4:11803): GLib-CRITICAL **: Source ID 4994 was not found when attempting to remove it
[user@dom0 ~]$ xfwm4 --replace

(xfwm4:11856): xfwm4-WARNING **: Unmanaged net_wm_state (window 0xa00004, atom "_NET_WM_STATE_FOCUSED")
^C
(xfwm4:11856): GLib-CRITICAL **: Source ID 300 was not found when attempting to remove it
[user@dom0 ~]$ xfwm4 --replace
Waiting for current window manager (Xfwm4) on screen :0.0 to exit:............... Failed

(xfwm4:11864): xfwm4-WARNING **: Previous window manager (Xfwm4) on screen :0.0 is not exiting

(xfwm4:11864): xfwm4-WARNING **: Could not find a screen to manage, exiting

What if you run xfdesktop? that one I think is responsible for the desktop

xfdesktop worked! And when I rebooted, the problem did not return. Thank you!

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Glad it worked :slight_smile:

So just to clarify did this time the window borders also disappear of was it just the desktop?

The problem that was fixed was only for the desktop. I have not encountered again, to-date, the problem that I described in my initial post.

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Ok thanks. I’ve moved this into another topic, then so the discussions stay separate.

This happened to me again. The desktop became grey. Solution: Run xfdesktop in Dom0 terminal. I’m mentioning this in case more people face this problem (after today’s update of Dom0?) and come to this forum for a solution.

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So I finally installed 4.1 but after 2 days of working normally, my desktop crashed and became grey in full as described above. Only this time running xfdesktop does not fix it. Running xfwm4 --replace brings back the desktop but without the top bar and menus. My Qubes OS has become unusable! Help!

Ok! I fixed it by running xfce4-panel after I read this. But in my case it was only possible after running xfwm4 --replace

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Glad you’ve found the solution :pray: