Kubuntu 12.04 won't remember my desktop settings such as icons and background

[subsonik]

So first post here. I would like to say that I do like this operating system and desktop environment very much. I just switched over from win7 for the first time and am learning a lot. So here's my issue:

Everytime I restart or reboot kubuntu doesn't seem to remember my desktop settings, yes I am using folder view. My icons (which are really short cuts pointing to folders on a data only partition on my windows HDD, and my background which is also a picture on my windows drive. Even if I move the picture for my background on the Kubuntu drive it still doesn't remember it. Also, sometimes (maybe every third or fourth reboot) I have this weird desktop scroll bar (is it a panel?) on the desktop at the right. I never put it there, it's just there randomely. Any help is greatly appreciated. I look forward to becoming a part of this community and learning lots here. Thank you!

[arochester]

How is it installed? Are you just using it from a CD?

[subsonik]

It's fully installed on the HDD, installed from ISO.

[claydoh]

From the symptoms, one possible cause for this could be file permission/ownership problems for your KDE config files. If they can't be written to, any changes you make can't be saved.

To fix this, you can try this in a terminal:

sudo chown -Rv username:username /home/username

This will go through all your files in your/home directory and make sure your files belong to your user account.

If permissions are the problem, a common cause for this is running gui programs using sudo instead of kdesudo , such as system settings or dolphin.

Sent from my Droid DNA using Tapatalk.

[subsonik]

From the symptoms, one possible cause for this could be file permission/ownership problems for your KDE config files. If they can't be written to, any changes you make can't be saved.

To fix this, you can try this in a terminal:

sudo chown -Rv username:username /home/username

This will go through all your files in your/home directory and make sure your files belong to your user account.

If permissions are the problem, a common cause for this is running gui programs using sudo instead of kdesudo , such as system settings or dolphin.

Sent from my Droid DNA using Tapatalk.

Well everything seems to be retained as my username. Could it be with the icons since they point to a separate hdd, that they just don't load right away until the hdd if mounted? It seems like if I navigate to the hdd in dolphin, they refresh. Until then my system doesn't know what to do with them and asks me which program I would like to use to open them or simply doesn't diplay them at all. I believe the hdd auto mounts, but I'm not really sure.

[oshunluvr]

Well everything seems to be retained as my username. Could it be with the icons since they point to a separate hdd, that they just don't load right away until the hdd if mounted? It seems like if I navigate to the hdd in dolphin, they refresh. Until then my system doesn't know what to do with them and asks me which program I would like to use to open them or simply doesn't diplay them at all. I believe the hdd auto mounts, but I'm not really sure.

It may not be that it is or isn't automounted, but rather when it's mounted. Any file system you need at log in time should be mounted at boot using /etc/fstab or it may not be available when your desktop is opened.

Take a screen shot of the weird scroll bar on your desktop. Lets have a look...

[jlittle]

It seems like if I navigate to the hdd in dolphin, they refresh.

I've been bitten by this. Dolphin mounts file systems as needed, which confused me when I used dolphin to see stuff. Clearly your icons are not available when you log on.

Regards, John Little

[Miki800]

when it IS mounted (you know its mounted when you can use dolphin to access it)
look up the hdd in /etc/mtab <-- its a dynamic file that updates according to what is actually currently mounted
find the line of your hdd,
figure out the tiny formatting tweaks and changes needed
and copy that line according to fstab formatting, to the file /etc/fstab

that way your hdd won't automount-as-needed again, it will just be mounted at boot.
[edit]just so you should know, when it IS at /etc/fstab, if it is not connected to your computer (like external hd)
your boot screen might be upset and say {can not complete mounting bla bla please press "S" to skip or "M" to enter a shell and manually mount bla bla}
and it will be blocked untill you do something about it, contrary to automounting the hdd as needed as it seemingly IS right now..
[/edit]



as for the scroll bar, which "kde-activity-view" is your desktop at?
the "Desktop" view? or the "Desktop-icons" view?
"Desktop-icons" gives you a classic windows-like desktop
"Desktop" gives you a new-kde-style desktop without any icons on the desktop itself,
if you want to see the desktop folder while watching the "Desktop" you would have to add it as a "kde-desktop-widget".

maybe the latter is the case, and you already have that desktop-folder widget and hence the scroll-bar...

what type of shortcuts are you using? Hard Links? Symbolic Links? or ".desktop" shortcut files?