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How do I reset my Xfce panels to the default settings that Xubuntu uses?

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up vote 73 down vote accepted

XFCE stores it's configuration for the running session in xfconfd. Feel free to back up the files you're going to delete first.

  1. Shut down the panel first, xfce4-panel --quit
  2. Kill the xfce4 configuration daemon, pkill xfconfd
  3. First delete settings for the panel, rm -rf ~/.config/xfce4/panel
  4. Clear out the settings for xfconfd, rm -rf ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-panel.xml
  5. Restart the panel, run xfce4-panel. This will respawn xfconfd automatically. Note if you need or want to restart xfconfd manually know that on my installation it was in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/xfconf/xfconfd which was outside of $PATH.

This clears it for the running session, regenerates the files, and sets up the default for future sessions.

Want it in one line?

xfce4-panel --quit ; pkill xfconfd ; rm -rf ~/.config/xfce4/panel ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-panel.xml ; xfce4-panel;
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4  
I suggest using the mv command or at least suggesting to copy the folder elsewhere before deleting anything. – Mateo Nov 30 '12 at 22:05
    
I wouldn't suggest that. This is a simple reset to defaults. In no paradigm does a Reset to Defaults → Apply provide for an Undo. I take it the users understand this, as I could not think of anything that would lead them to expect anything else. – Evan Carroll Nov 30 '12 at 23:14
2  
except that using rm -rf can be dangerous if you miss-type, If you accidentally move something else, you can simply move it back. – Mateo Nov 30 '12 at 23:51
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THANK YOU! my panel disappeared and I was having trouble finding a way to restore it with my old (backed up) settings without logging out, this worked! – weronika Dec 20 '12 at 5:22
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@EvanCarroll I did back when I made that comment - apparently it got some downvotes as well. – weronika Mar 26 '13 at 21:04
up vote 6 down vote

The only thing I can say that would make it easier to just run:

rm -r ~/.config/xfce4

Then simply log out and back in. This will just reset xfce4 back to default. I'd recommend avoiding the -f flag unless necessary especially if you are using the sudo command which is not an issue here but anyway. Using only the minimal force necessary is always a good idea.

This also limits the commands a user has to enter, you can also open up your file manager and select view hidden files and go into the .config folder and right click and delete the xfce4 folder and then log out and back in. No commands necessary.

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You could just as easily do it in one line, pkill xfconfd; rm -rf ~/.config/xfce4/panel ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-panel.xml; xfec4-panel, which would stop you from having to logout, and not nuke other potentially useful settings in ~/.config/xfce4. – Evan Carroll Dec 23 '13 at 18:18
    
The other answer did not work for me on xfce 4.12 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, but this answer worked great. Just thought I would give a heads up for anyone reading this. – Ken Aug 6 '17 at 7:36

protected by Community♦ Jan 22 '14 at 1:23

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