Dell i3 laptop has no desktop folders or icons

1

Hi folks, I am hoping someone can steer me. I’ve installed Budgie Desktop over the top of Ubuntu 24.04 and menus, taskbar etc working nicely, but I’ve got no folders or icons on the desktop. It is blank.

I tried various fixes from toggling icon display in settings to trying both lightdm and gdm3 as the desktop manager, but I just seem to get msg another desktop manager is already running. Most recently, I tried installing Gnome desktop extension but no joy.

I got my earlier problem sorted thanks to the help from here so I hope you guys can point me on this issue now. Thanks very much! Martin

2

hi @Natphilsoc!

Just a question: which Budgie packages have you installed?

apt list budgie* | grep installed

3

Hi @jlb Great, thanks. The packages I have got listed are:

budgie-applications-menu-applet/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-appmenu-applet/noble,now 0.7.6+dfsg1-4build4 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-backgrounds/noble,noble,now 3.0-1 all [installed,automatic]
budgie-control-center-data/noble,noble,now 1.4.0-2build3 all [installed,automatic]
budgie-control-center/noble,now 1.4.0-2build3 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-core/noble,now 10.9.1-3ubuntu4 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-desktop/noble,noble,now 10.9.1-3ubuntu4 all [installed,automatic]
budgie-dropby-applet/noble,noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 all [installed,automatic]
budgie-extras-common/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-extras-daemon/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-hotcorners-applet/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-indicator-applet/noble,now 0.7.2-3build2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-keyboard-autoswitch-applet/noble,noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 all [installed,automatic]
budgie-lightdm-theme-base/noble,noble,now 0.19.0 all [installed,automatic]
budgie-lightdm-theme/noble,noble,now 0.19.0 all [installed,automatic]
budgie-network-manager-applet/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-previews/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-quicknote-applet/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-recentlyused-applet/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-rotation-lock-applet/noble,noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 all [installed,automatic]
budgie-session/noble-updates,now 0.9.1-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-showtime-applet/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-trash-applet/noble,noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 all [installed,automatic]
budgie-visualspace-applet/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-wallpapers-noble/noble,noble,now 24.04 all [installed,automatic]
budgie-wallpapers/noble,noble,now 24.04 all [installed,automatic]
budgie-weathershow-applet/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64 [installed,automatic]
budgie-window-shuffler/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64 [installed,automatic]

Martin

4

Here’s what I have on my Ubuntu Budgie 24.04:

apt list budgie* | grep installé | grep -v applet

budgie-backgrounds/noble,noble,now 3.0-1 all  [installé]
* budgie-browser-profile-launcher/noble,now 2.1.2-0ubuntu1+build1~groovy amd64  [installé]
budgie-control-center-data/now 1.4.0+202408121747~ubuntu24.04.1 all  [installé, local]
budgie-control-center/now 1.4.0+202408121747~ubuntu24.04.1 amd64  [installé, local]
budgie-core/noble,now 10.9.1-3ubuntu4 amd64  [installé, automatique]
* budgie-desktop-environment/noble,noble,now 0.20.13 all  [installé]
budgie-desktop/noble,noble,now 10.9.1-3ubuntu4 all  [installé]
budgie-extras-common/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64  [installé, automatique]
budgie-extras-daemon/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64  [installé]
budgie-lightdm-theme-base/noble,noble,now 0.19.0 all  [installé, automatique]
budgie-lightdm-theme/noble,noble,now 0.19.0 all  [installé]
budgie-previews/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64  [installé]
* budgie-quickchar/noble,noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 all  [installé]
budgie-session/noble-updates,now 0.9.1-1ubuntu1 amd64  [installé, automatique]
budgie-wallpapers-noble/noble,noble,now 24.04 all  [installé, automatique]
budgie-wallpapers/noble,noble,now 24.04 all  [installé]
budgie-window-shuffler/noble,now 1.8.0-1build3 amd64  [installé]

The package that seems to make the difference is budgie-desktop-environment.
Install it and see what happens.

5

Thanks @jlb, I’ve done that and it is appearing in my package listing now, but the desktop files and folders are still not showing up. I did get an error on the install due to very old package conflict as happened on my last install of budgie, but I just removed the very old package like last time. Maybe I need to live with it as there are no errors to clue us in? Many thanks, Martin.

6

Remember to logout and login. Desktop icons is provided by nemo-desktop - you need to have nemo installed. To enable it look at budgie-desktop-settings - and ensure that the desktop icons toggle is ticked.

7

Thanks @fossfreedom Yep, I believe Nemo is installed as sudo apt install nemo gives nothing to do. I've done the logout alongside a full restart but no change.Ah ha! And I just tried toggling the desktop icons and lo and behold they appear! Terrific, thanks a million @fossfreedom and @jlb both! :slightly_smiling_face:

8

Hhmm! This is disappointing. After a restart the desktop has gone back to blank again. No error and nothing I can think of to try brings back the icons and folders. Is it practical to reopen the problem please?

9

Good grief… :roll_eyes:

We’re assuming that Nemo is already installed:

apt list nemo


Which file manager opens when you enter this command: Nautilus or Nemo?

xdg-open ~


If it’s Nautilus, enter this command to prevent it from managing the display of desktop icons:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons false

Then enter this one to switch to nemo-desktop:

xdg-mime default nemo.desktop inode/directory application/x-gnome-saved-search

Then reboot.


If the icons still don’t appear, enter this command:

gsettings set org.nemo.desktop show-desktop-icons true

That should do the trick.

10

Thanks again @jlb . Yes, Nemo is installed OK and it is Nemo not Nautilus that opens OK. I applied the gsettings command, then the usual things:logout, which gives no change, reboot which gives no change, finally toggle the icons on/off in budgie, but even that still gives no change.

Sorry, good grief is right! :slight_smile:

11

Perhaps I should completely uninstall and reinstall budgie from scratch? Just to check I did not manage to do something silly then that is making it go screwy now?

12

Too bad…

To be honest, I also tried installing Budgie on Ubuntu 24.04.

But I found the result to be very disappointing in the end, just like on other distributions that offer Budgie: I only keep an Arch Budgie system to follow the desktop’s developments as closely as possible.

I’m pretty sure that’s where your problem stems from.

Is there a specific reason why you simply don’t install Ubuntu Budgie?

13

No, not really, just lack of confidence as I really don’t want to lose my existing user data.

Can you point me to a URL with trustworthy instructions for a step-by-step. I agree it would be good to try that next.

Many thanks @jlb

14

But you know, @Natphilsoc Ubuntu Budgie combines the security of Ubuntu with Budgie already built in, plus all sorts of handy widgets that Solus’s vanilla Budgie doesn’t have — not to mention its relative lightness compared to the GNOME desktop that Ubuntu includes, which makes it possible to run Ubuntu Budgie on older computers or those with somewhat limited specs.

Arch Linux is reliable, but its bleeding-edge nature can cause a few minor issues.

I didn’t install it via the terminal, but using this installer — so I won’t be showing off by casually mentioning, “BTW, I use Arch”. :sweat_smile:


15

Understood. Many thanks @jlb . I will drop back to Gnome to see my icons and then plan the Budgie install for the next step. Great to get your help with this. All best wishes, Martin.

16

was wondering how would I get list output in a /Budgie_applist.txt file

tried this . . .

apt list budgie* | grep installed | gedit /Budgie_applist.txt

got a file but was empty :sweat_smile:

regards

17

Hi @yellowsnakes!

Yes you can, but you may not pipe the output to gedit — it’s a separate step. You first need to create the file by redirecting the terminal output.

Try this command, to which I’ve added a little extra to hide the warning:

apt list budgie* 2> /dev/null | grep install > ~/Desktop/Budgie_applist.txt; gedit ~/Desktop/Budgie_applist.txt

Cheers!

18

thank you for your help

have a nice day :slightly_smiling_face: