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I haven't managed to figure out the logic but most of the day I have Netbeans running to develop programs. Since 15.04 it has been happening fairly frequently that my desktop shortcuts to programs disappear from the desktop.

If I look in Nautilus, under Desktop, I can clearly see them. However on the desktop itself they are gone. If I log out and then back in, they reappear as expected. It is as if I need some sort of refresh on Unity. There is no right click on the open area of the desktop so it isn't clear how I could refresh Unity.

Of course if I knew what was causing the icons to disappear in the first place, that would be even better. The log out/in is a bit annoying but it is guaranteed to fix the problem. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Ilan

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  • Do you by any chance have a second monitor, with different vertical resolution? Jun 8, 2015 at 16:32

5 Answers 5

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This is at least a partial answer to my question. It turns out that I have dropbox in use (for some years now). Since 15.04 if I click on dropbox and click "Open Dropbox folder", it will reproducibly remove the shortcuts on my desktop.

I have been using this click for a long time and only since 15.04 has the problem appeared. I think I need to report the bug both to Ubuntu and Dropbox because I have no way of knowing which side is causing the problem.

At least now I know what to avoid doing to prevent my desktop shortcuts from being removed.

Thanks to Ask Ubuntu for having a place to ask questions. In this case no one was able to help me, but it is very helpful to at least be able to ask. It sure beats banging your head against the wall....

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  • Workaround to at least help bring your icons back: From Terminal: pkill nautilus Then, press the super key (aka Windows key) then type Nautilus and press Enter. This is the quick and easy way for the moments you forget. As for the dropbox issue (which is what brought me here in the first place) - this is a known bug that's being tracked here on Ubuntu's official bug tracker site if you want to keep an eye on it for further solutions: bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus-dropbox/+bug/1453655 Aug 24, 2017 at 13:30
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To show desktop icons again, run this command in your terminal:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons true
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  • 1
    @Downvoter It's better to tell him why you downvoted
    – Maythux
    Jun 8, 2015 at 16:28
  • What is your Ubuntu Version? Anyway your answer is not related to the question. Please reread again
    – Maythux
    Jun 8, 2015 at 16:29
  • I don't think downvoting an answer from newbie will make him stay here. :/
    – user45853
    Jun 9, 2015 at 7:19
  • In the meantime I filed a bug report bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus-dropbox/+bug/1453655. The bug was confirmed and the cause was determined.
    – Ilan
    Jun 9, 2015 at 18:15
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Pretty easy solution I found in dropboxforum.com. Worked like a charm.

R P., June 28, 2015 05:05

They fixed the problem, but the solution isn't fully released. However, the solution is available in the 'vivid-proposed'. In Synaptic > Settings > Repositories > Updates, enable the Updates for "Pre-released updated (vivid-proposed)" or the equivalent for your version. Reload the package information. Search for "nautilus", right click on the nautilus packages, and select Mark to Upgrade. You want the new 9.1 version of nautilus. I marked all the related nautilus upgrades as well. Then install the new 1:3.14-2-0ubuntu9.1 (9.1 version) of nautilus. After it installs, you can go back and disable the pre-released updates since you only needed the nautilus updated. Otherwise your update manager will hassle you with all the proposed updates.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus-dropbox/+bug/1453655

Hope it works for you as smoothly as it worked for me. The problem was really annoying. All the best.

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Try Settings/display and turn off the monitors not in use (click the monitor and then click off).

If necessary boot in recovery mode.

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I wrote iconic to solve this problem by repainting icons on the desktop at any time. Additionally it will:

  • Allow you to move icons to any of three monitors
  • Not suffer the "lost icon syndrome" that occurs when monitors of multiple resolutions are used
  • Sort icons alphabetically, alphabetically with "Link to" prefix ignored, sort by modified date ascending or date descending
  • Allow different grid size (columns x rows) depending on monitor, EG more on 4K monitor than 2K monitor
  • Instant Test button for quick experimentation on column x row changes or reserved space changes for monitor left, top, right or bottom areas
  • Test button will last for x seconds defined by you, clear all windows before test and restore them after test
  • Bash script for easy modifications

You can get the script on github.

Here's the main screen:

iconic main menu.png

Visit the github page for iconic to see all the other screens, explanations and a copy of the script.

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