Robert Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 My Mom has a Dell 530 desktop with the Ubuntu 14.04 default install with unity. A few months ago the menu bars disappeared so I reinstalled the OS. Now it's done it again. I'd rather fix it than reinstall. I've tried many of the command line solutions I found using google but none worked. Some of them only work with older version of Ubuntu. When I sign-in to the guest account the side and top menu are there. Is it possible to find and copy the file that works in the guest account and copy it over to the main account where apparently it is corrupted? It just uses the default on-board graphics, no fancy cards or nvidia drivers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Perhaps: https://askubuntu.com/questions/475296/unity-launcher-and-menu-bar-disappeared-in-14-04 https://askubuntu.com/questions/511382/ubuntu-14-04-top-taskbar-missing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted December 24, 2015 Author Share Posted December 24, 2015 After many hours of trying different ideas in threads with others having the same problem, nothing worked. So I reinstalled Ubuntu, saving the home directory. It gave me no indication it was going to save it, but I made the right guesses after all the threads I could find on the internet did not match the install screens I had. Very frustrating to see Ubuntu changing so much for the worse the least few years and helpful advice is depreciated because the OS has been changed so much. So finally it finishes the install and after the reboot the problem remains. So, reinstalled OS, Home directory and account saved, but I still don't have the top menu bar or side bar with icons unless I sign into the Guest account. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted December 24, 2015 Author Share Posted December 24, 2015 I'm going ahead with a reformat now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I'm also using Ubuntu 14.04 and have it installed on numerous machines in my home & business. I have never experienced your issue, nor even heard of it until now, so I'm not sure how much help I'll be. But the thing that really catches my eye and makes me scratch my head is that your Guest user appears fine, while your regular User account experiences these issues. That would suggest to me that your issue is local to the USER, not within the Ubuntu OS itself. Is it possible that the Launcher (icon bar on the left) is set for "autohide" and only revealed on mouse-over of the left edge where the Launcher should appear? I've got nothing for the top menu bar though...that should be present at all times...it never goes away. So we're back to a configuration setting... If you reinstalled your system, then copied your Home directory back onto your system, you likely copied your corrupted ~./config file back onto your system. Which might explain why your main USER account experiences this issue, but the Guest account does not. If it isn't too late in the process, save yourself some time and try this before you reformat: http://itsfoss.com/how-to-fix-no-unity-no-launcher-no-dash-in-ubuntu-12-10-quick-tip/ If you've already reformatted, delete the ~./config file from your backed up Home directory BEFORE you reinstall your Home directory to your machine. If you've already reinstalled your backed up Home directory to your machine, follow the instructions in the link. I suspect you are fixing your issue, then re-introducing the corrupted file when you restore your data. Good luck and let us know how you make out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 So the links I gave above didn't help any? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 So the links I gave above didn't help any? I'll wait to hear back from Robert, but I suspect your links are helpful in fixing his issues. But I also suspect that after your links fix the issue, he's copying back a corrupted ./config file when he restores his data to home directory. Rowing in circles is my prediction... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 So the links I gave above didn't help any? I'll wait to hear back from Robert, but I suspect your links are helpful in fixing his issues. But I also suspect that after your links fix the issue, he's copying back a corrupted ./config file when he restores his data to home directory. Rowing in circles is my prediction... Good deal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted December 24, 2015 Author Share Posted December 24, 2015 If it isn't too late in the process, save yourself some time and try this before you reformat: http://itsfoss.com/h...2-10-quick-tip/ Thanks. I tried those commands during the 10 hours or so I spend with that computer over several days. Reinstalled Unity several times, in several different ways with no change. I figured it must be something do with the user account but could not find any info on what file could cause it. I've already reformatted and reinstalled, then I copied all the hidden configuration files in the home directory in case that is where the problem was. That way if the problem occurs a third time I may be able to fix it by coping those files back. While I was working on it I setup my old Mini Mac for my Mom to use. I put the Dock on the left side of the screen and it was close enough to Ubuntu for her. It a slower computer but she said it seemed the same to her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 Including this part? If the above solution did not work for you, try removing everything from config using the command below: rm -rf ~/.config This will reset everything and your Ubuntu system will resemble to the looks of a fresh install. Installed applications will be untouched. I'm fairly certain that your hidden ./config file is where your issues are. Delete that file, and all it's contents, and your config file should get rebuilt from scratch, using the same template that the guest account is built from. Not that I look at that terminal command, the syntax is wrong. Try this in the terminal to completely delete your config file: rm -rf ~./config Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted December 25, 2015 Author Share Posted December 25, 2015 That looks familiar, but I don't remember for certain now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 Same time happened again. I'm trying a new hard drive in case the drive was the problem. I'll try a few fixes on the old drive to see if I can figure out if it is just a bad file somewhere. After I finish and get some sleep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 I spent about 4 hours trying the old commands and a few newer ones I found on Google, but nothing worked. Tried reinstalling unity and compiz too. Finally tried to delete the account, which worked, but when I tried to make a new account with the same old name it would only flash the screen when I tried to log on. I'm going to try an install of Fedora on this drive and possibly keep it as a backup to the new drive on which I already installed Ubuntu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 It's so odd that it disappears and then ends up reappearing. Normally if you remove the config files, it would reset everything and you would have to reconfigure it. Wait... did you set it up the same way as before? Perhaps its a configuration thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 I wonder if the drive, which is a Samsung SSD, was scrambling up a file somewhere. I deleted everything in the home file that looked like it might be connected with no change. But in a second account I made the top bar and side launcher appeared fine. I have wasted so much time on this that if the new Intel SSD ever has the same problem I'll drop Ubuntu on my Mom's computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted July 10, 2016 Author Share Posted July 10, 2016 Same thing happened again this morning with the Intell SSD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted July 10, 2016 Author Share Posted July 10, 2016 Deleted the .config file, rebooted, and the bars came back!!! I don't know why it worked this time and not before. Maybe I goofed it up before. Thanks for all the help everyone. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted July 10, 2016 Share Posted July 10, 2016 Good deal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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