up vote 43 down vote favorite
12

The top panel and Unity launcher have disappeared in Ubuntu 14.04. Also cannot access the terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T.
I have tried every solution for this issue that I can find, from re-installing unity and compiz to resetting Unity and everything. I've gone into the compiz manager and reactivated Unity.
Nothing has worked.
When trying to reset Unity, or do anything with it really, I get this message 

(process:6332): dconf-WARNING **: failed to commit changes to dconf: Could not connect: Connection refused



EDIT: Installed 14.04 a day ago. The issue happened after a reboot. After installing virtual Box

share|improve this question
    
The exact same thing happened to me. Afraid to attempt re-installing virtualbox. Ever figure out why this happened? – Jay Soyer Oct 25 '14 at 3:26
2  
Running export DISPLAY=:0 on a separate tty, following the procedure outlined in askubuntu.com/questions/457016/… to set the DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS variable and finally running dconf reset -f /org/compiz/ did the trick for me. – Janaka Bandara Nov 27 '14 at 1:13
    
I'm also missing the launcher & menu bar, software-center is uninstalled, and I cannot open a terminal either through Ctrl-Alt-T nor Ctrl-Alt-F1-6. By booting into single-user mode (rEFInd), I automatically became root (without needing a password). This allowed me to create a new user and add them to the sudo group. I've now logged into the new account (where the GUI is fine) and have used su to get into my original account. I'm wondering if its possible to copy the GUI setup from the new user to my old one? If so, what should I copy? – gone Jul 31 '15 at 17:18
3  
Same problem after installing Virtual Box... Solution export DISPLAY=:0 sudo dconf reset -f /org/compiz/ setsid unity – Djomla Oct 19 '15 at 9:39
    
@JanakaBandara how did you run the script in your link? What source do I have to specify? – Arch Stanton Dec 24 '15 at 12:40
up vote 38 down vote

Enter the following commands:- Ctrl+Alt+F1 login there by user name and password

WARNING! THE FOLLOWING COMMAND WILL TERMINATE YOUR ACTIVE SESSION!

try sudo service lightdm restart

If lightdm fails to get back at normal :-

then Enter:- sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop
sudo apt-get install unity
share|improve this answer
12  
Warning! This terminates the session. – Dror Feb 17 '15 at 12:30
5  
I read the warning too late, god damn :D – red Apr 1 '15 at 7:55
    
Same problem as OP, but when I C-A-F1 (-F6) I get a blank screen. (No terminal.) What other options do I have? – gone Jul 31 '15 at 15:23
1  
Ha, ha... Yeah, too late, it terminated my session, though my VPN connection is up. So, it does not free everything. – nephewtom Oct 5 '15 at 8:58
1  
Same issue occurred on 16.04 and restarting lightdm service worked for me. – d a i s y Apr 22 '16 at 9:02
up vote 1 down vote

Hold down Alt-F2, which will bring up a dialog to enter terminal commands. There, type the command cinnamon-launcher and hit enter. That should restore the panel.

I am using Ubuntu 14.04

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

I have similar issue with gnome panels. Instead of restarting lightdm which kills the session and closes the apps. I solve the issue by:

  1. Minimizing all the apps;
  2. Pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del (you might need to do it a couple of times);
  3. After 2. a popup asking to logout appears - close it or it would log you out.

The panels are back again. This trick always helps me when gnome panels disappear.

share|improve this answer
    
Not getting any popup in step 2....? – LoveToCode Aug 20 '16 at 8:38

protected by Community♦ Aug 29 '14 at 11:50

Thank you for your interest in this question. Because it has attracted low-quality or spam answers that had to be removed, posting an answer now requires 10 reputation on this site (the association bonus does not count).

Would you like to answer one of these unanswered questions instead?

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.