Ubuntu Desktop Icons Disappeared

I am running Ubuntu 8.10, and I was uploading some files with SFTP by using Nautilus (the default file manager for Ubuntu). For some reason, the file upload dialog box freaked out in the middle of the upload. I had no choice but to kill the Nautilus process. BUT, as soon as I did that all of the icons on my desktop disappeared!

At first I thought I just needed to log out and log back in, but that didn't do me any good. I then tried the old Ctrl+Alt+Backspace trick, but that didn't work either.

I did some Googling on the issue, but that didn't turn anything up that was applicable to my issue. Most of the results were talking about people where their entire desktop was screwed up... mine was just fine, everything looked good except for the missing icons. I finally clicked "Places" then "Desktop" and I couldn't see any icons there... and if I went the next folder up it showed that the folder was locked, like there was a permission error. So I right clicked on the Desktop icon and then clicked properties and then the permissions tab, and sure enough, they were really screwed up. Owner, group and others had no rights to the folder! To fix it I gave Owner (me) folder access to create and delete files.

As soon as I applied the change, all of my icons reappeared.

I really don't know why killing the process screwed up the permissions to only the Desktop folder, but now that I have it fixed I really don't care to look into it any further! If you have any ideas please let me know, I'd love to hear them.

Comments

[Ryan]

Try to reinstall Nautilus. I think I've read it does draws the desktop.

Sudo apt-get install -reinstall Nautilus

[Rob Steenwyk]

That wouldn't have fixed it Ryan, the permissions on the desktop we're all screwed up. But I have it all fixed up now, so nothing to worry about.

[Ryan]

>So I right clicked on the Desktop icon and then clicked properties and then the permissions tab, and sure enough, they were really screwed up. Owner, group and others had no rights to the folder! To fix it I gave Owner (me) folder access to create and delete files.

Missed that part :p

[Paul Bauer]

Glad to hear you got it working again :-)

[Lee]

Holy crap, maybe this *is* the year of the Linux desktop! With all of your tabs, right-clicking, and random malfunctions, it sounds just like Windows!

In all seriousness, though, just use SFTP from the shell. Like a *real* nerd.

[Rob Steenwyk]

lmao, I really don't want to do SFTP in a shell. There is a GUI for a reason, and there is a shell for a reason. I'll use the best tool for the job.

How well did that Vista install go for you again? Oh, riiight, you had to install XP just to get a functioning system.

[Al]

The same thing happened to me yesterday - out of the blue. In the middle of copying some files from the network to a USB storage device, I got an error message (which I didn't make note of) and the next thing I knew, everything on my desktop disappeared. When I looked at the permissions of Desktop, it was all messed up. FWIW, I'm using Ubuntu Hardy (8.04) on this PC.

In my case, I needed to change the permissions and use a shell (with midnight commander) to find everything that was missing (it was still in the Desktop folder, but not visible - so I moved everything to another location and then back again, which seemed to do the trick). All seems to be well now, but I've been running Linux for quite a few years (and this system since building it last spring) without running into this before.

Strange...

[Rob Steenwyk]

Yeah, definitely strange. I'd say that we should file a bug report, but I think the issue needs to be reproducible for them to even take a look at it.

[Known]

Well i got the same problem. I was just closing Firefox and it got some problems. I needed to kill it via task. As i've done this, for some reason my desktop-icons disappeared and i wasn't able to open my home folder or any folder on my pc. I needed some time before i got the clue. I were watching at my processing list and realized that nautilus for some reason i dont know got stopped. So i turned it back working and now's all fine. probably this post is worthless but i just wanted to post it. Maybe someone got the same problem and didn't looked at the list. ;)

[muruthegun]

Just start Nautilus again

Found solution here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=5334875&postcount=3

[isaac]

i have tried all the possible options to restore my desktop icons and enable right clicking but no joy yet.
am new to ubuntu but a quick lerner and like it coz has no virus problems.
i went through the terminal gconf-editor and clicked show desktop option but nothing.
even on the panel when i go to PLACES-DESKTOP it flashes once and dissapears same with ll my other folders i had on the esktop.
any help??????

[Greg Timmons]

Joy of joys! The restart nautilus trick worked like a water hose for me!!!

Thanks for the link, muruthegun!

[stealth-]

I have the same problem quite often. I think nautilus's integration with other instances of itself and the desktop and panel icons is great, but it's a *major* draw back when you consider slow connections. The connection between my desktop and laptop dies commonly (I have yet to find out why) and every time I'm using sshfs or anything involving nautilus and the connection breaks, *every* nautilus instance freezes, and I end up having to kill it along with severing any working connections I had and having to restart my desktop to get my icons back. It really is annoying, and I hope someone fixes it.

[Michelle]

I have the same problem. When I go to give the owner (me) permission and click apply it reverts back to no permission. Any ideas? I'm kind of a "newbie" so this could just be me screwing up. If anyone knows what I'm doing wrong I'd appreciate help. Thanks

[Rob Steenwyk]

I'm not sure Michelle, I no longer run Ubuntu on my desktop so unfortunately I'm not going to be much help. Have you given the Ubuntu forums a shot? Might want to register there and ask for help, there are some very smart and helpful people over there.

http://ubuntuforums.org/

[JPP]

Thanks. It worked for me.