Tuesday, January 15, 2013

When Xfce Desktop Icons Disappear

Xfce has a problem from time to time where all the icons on the desktop disappear. This will happen if you try to delete tens of thousands of files, get tired of waiting after a couple hours, and restart the computer. In that case, you can log back in to a perfectly blank desktop without your icons.

The preferred way to delete tens of thousands of files is to use the command line; the GUI likes to crash all the time.

The optimal fix for the disappearing icons in Xfce is to enter xfdesktop at the command line. Then hit Ctrl-C and exit. Your desktop icons should be restored.

If it doesn't work: you must trick Xfce to let you have your icons back. Go to Settings -> Desktop and change the background of the desktop to something different--a different wallpaper. Then enter xfdesktop at the command line.Post a Comment
by igor 04:20 4 replies by igor 09:32 0 comments

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks man you made my day. In my case I lost the desktop due to changing the directory of many many ( 60-70 GB ) of data.

Anonymous said...

What I did was to write "xfdesktop &" in the Terminal and it came back. =]

igor said...

Thanks you guys for enriching the blog with information.

Anonymous said...

iam new to linux just installed linux mint 15 kde but there no icons showing in the desktop

igor said...

That may be a normal condition in KDE. Add the icons you want, or put them in the bottom panel, like I usually do in KDE. KDE makes it easy to customize your desktop however you see fit. I used to keep my icons on the desktop, but nowadays I prefer keeping them in the bottom panel. But to each his own.

Anonymous said...

Running xfdesktop Worked! Thanks - made my day also... 'Alan

cooljc said...

Running Mint 17 'Qiana' Xfce. Not sure but I think my desktop stopped loading after some updates. Then the xfdesktop Worked for me as well! - Thanks!

jashue said...

Piva

Anonymous said...

still relevant in 2020, thank you very much

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