Unity not working after upgrade Ubuntu 13.04 to 14.04

Question

The problem is basically that Unity seems broken after an upgrade from 13.04 to 14.04 LTS on x64, so here goes:

1) The Unity logon screen looks strange - e.g. the user names are hardly legible due to poor contrast - but I can still use the screen to log on. The problem described below affects all users.

2) After logging on, the standard Ubuntu wallpaper appears "blank" with no panel and no launcher. There is simply "Ubuntu 14.04 LTS" in the bottom left, apparently carried over from the logon screen.

3) I can switch to the text terminal with Ctrl+Alt+F1.

4) There I did a series of fixes found online, such as:

rm -rf .compiz-1
dconf reset -f /org/compiz
setsid unity
unity-tweak-tool --reset-unity
export DISPLAY=:0
dconf reset -f /org/compiz
unity --reset-icons &disown

I also run ccsm and made sure the Unity plug-in and OpenGL are activated.

5) I can now start unity for the current session by entering the command unity, but I have to switch to the text terminal and enter unity every time I log on now.

6) The output from the "unity" command is as follows:

WARNING: no DISPLAY variable set, setting it to :0

stop: unknown job unity-panel-service

start: unknown job unity-panel-service

compiz (core) - Info: Loading plugin: core

compiz (core) - Info: Starting plugin: core

compiz (core) - Info: Loading plugin: ccp

compiz (core) - Info: Starting plugin: ccp

compigconfig - Info: Backend: gsettings

compigconfig - Info: Integration: true

compigconfig - Info: Profile: unity

compiz (core) - Info: Loading plugin: composite

compiz (core) - Info: Starting plugin: composite

compiz (core) - Info: Loading plugin: openg1

compiz (core) - Info: Starting plugin: openg1

compiz (core) - Info: Unity is full supported by your hardware

compiz (core) - Info: Unity is full supported by your hardware

compiz (core) - Info: Starting plugin: openg1

7) With Ctrl+Alt+F7 I can switch to the Unity session, where the launcher now works and the standard application icons appear down the left side. But the panel is completely empty. The windows all look kind of "old style" to me (I think).

Any help much appreciated!

Answer 1

Try a clean install:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get remove unity unity-2d unity-2d-panel unity-2d-spread unity-asset-pool unity-services unity-lens-files unity-lens-music unity-lens-applications gir1.2-unity-5.0 unity-common indicator-sound indicator-power indicator-appmenu libindicator7 indicator-application indicator-datetime indicator-messages libnux-2.0-0 nux-tools libunity-misc4 unity-2d-common

sudo apt-get autoremove

sudo apt-get autoclean

sudo apt-get install unity unity-2d unity-2d-panel unity-2d-spread unity-asset-pool unity-services unity-lens-files unity-lens-music unity-lens-applications gir1.2-unity-5.0 unity-common indicator-sound indicator-power indicator-appmenu libindicator7 indicator-application indicator-datetime indicator-messages libnux-2.0-0 nux-tools libunity-misc4 unity-2d-common

sudo apt-get upgrade

I was able to fix a similar issue in the past like this.