Windows won't resize

[arist]

I'm running Kubuntu 13.10. Something is wrong with the window manager. In most applications I can no longer resize the window. The resizing arrows don't show up when the cursor is on the margin, and in the window menu "Resize", "Move" and "Maximize" are grayed out. Double-clicking on the titlebar has no effect. The maximize button has never worked on this installation of Kubuntu. This started happening weeks ago with LibreOffice, and now it's spread to Kate, FileZilla, and Audacious. Firefox,Thunderbird, and Okular can still be resized. I assume the window manager is kwin, but I don't know how to find out. Any ideas?

[SteveRiley]

Please go to System Settings | Workspace Appearance | Window Decorations. Click Configure Buttons. Take a screenshot and post it here -- let's have a look.

[arist]

Here you go. I see nothing amiss.

One thing I forgot to mention. On dialogue windows, like the above, the maximize button works, even if it doesn't in the main window in the same application.

[SteveRiley]

OK. Next idea.

Log out of KDE. When the login screen appears, press Ctrl+Alt+F2 to switch to a TTY. Log in with your normal user ID and password. Run:

rm ~/.kde/share/config/kwinrc

exit

Press Ctrl+Alt+F7 to return to the login screen. Log in normally. Does KWin now behave as you'd expect?

[arist]

How do I log out of KDE? When I log out of Kubuntu, pressing Ctrl+F2 at the login screen does nothing. No combination of Ctrl+Fkey has any effect. I remember being able to login to a TTY in the past, but I no longer know how. Choosing Recovery Mode in the grub menu allows me to get a prompt in root, but I know it's bad to mess with user config files while in root.

[Snowhog]

K > Leave > Logout

[SteveRiley]

My mistake. The proper key combination is Ctrl+Alt+F2. I omitted the Alt. I'll fix my earlier post, too.

[arist]

Thanks for the correction.

It doesn't make any difference. I lost my virtual desktops, and the window theme has been replaced with the default, but I still can't resize the window in Kate.

Instead of deleting the kwinrc file, I renamed it (using mv). So I restored my desktops and window theme. Shouldn't make any difference, right?

[Snowhog]

Are you using by chance, a Notebook?

[arist]

No, a desktop (HP 6200 Pro). I don't have these problems with my netbook, probably because it still has Raring on it.

[SteveRiley]

This is weird. If you go to System Settings | Window Behavior | Window Rules, do you see anything listed?

If not, then here's another thing to try. While KDE is running, open a console window. Type

killall -9 kwin && kwin &

I saw a very old bug about window sizing problems that was fixed by killing KWin and restarting it. Does this work for you?

[arist]

This is weird. If you go to System Settings | Window Behavior | Window Rules, do you see anything listed?

A lot. There were about 30 rules, both window and application settings, most of them duplicates. Mainly size and position. The apps were more or less evenly divided between those that misbehave and those that don't. I deleted the duplicates. I deleted the rule for Kate, logged out and in, and then I could resize Kate. I did the same for LibreOffice Writer, and I can resize it.

The reason I had all those rules is, kwin would keep opening apps in windows that were too small. So I changed the settings in the window menu to force them to open at the right size. I suppose I'll have to trust kwin not to do that in the future, since deleting the window rules restores the resizing function.

By the way, the maximize button still doesn't work in any main window, in all applications.

[SteveRiley]

Did you use Remember or Force in these rules? I have a few windows with Remember rules, and the ability to resize doesn't go away. That could be the difference between these two settings.

Busted maximize is weird. Go to System Settings | Shortcuts and Gestures | Global Keyboard Shortcuts. Select "KWin" from the KDE component dropdown. Assign a shortcut to "Maximize Window." Does this work?

[arist]

Well, Writer doesn't resize today even though there's no rule for it in Window Behavior. I tried Force, Remember, and Apply initially, for the Size rule, but nothing worked. So I deleted the rule, and still no go.

Maybe it's a problem with LibreOffice 4.1.2.3. It's been acting flaky in other ways.

Another mystery. For the first time in Saucy, the maximize button works...except in LibreOffice. Looks like time to investigate other office suites.