3

How do I set the default desktop environment on 18.04 (Bionic)?

does not work in 20.04.1 LTS

/var/lib/AccountsService/users/root contains:

[com.canonical.indicator.sound.AccountsService]
PlayerName=''
Timestamp=0
Title=''
Artist=''
Album=''
ArtUrl=''
PlayerIcon=<('themed', <['application-default-icon', 'application-default', 'application', 'application-default-icon-symbolic', 'application-default-symbolic', 'application-symbolic']>)>

[User]
Session=gnome-flashback-metacity
XSession=gnome-flashback-metacity
Icon=/root/.face
SystemAccount=true


[InputSource0]
xkb=us

However, whenever I login to the GUI splash screen as root, the "gear" shows the default as Ubuntu, not gnome flashback classic, forcing me to manually select this choice. I want this choice ONLY for root, not for my regular user account (MATE that does not properly work for root). How do I make the "gear" show all the choices, but with gnome classic as the default for root, and MATE as the default for myself?

Yasha Karant
  • 961
  • Looks too difficult. What are the contents of ~/.dmrc for both users? – N0rbert Nov 19 '20 at 07:21
  • There was no .dmrc . I just added:-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 43 Nov 19 11:20 .dmrc to ~/root with contents: [Desktop] Session=gnome-flashback-metacity When I did a switch user to root, no effect -- the "gear" still showed Ubuntu as the default, although both MATE and gnome classic were shown as options. Upon selecting gnome classic, the proper window manager environment activated. – Yasha Karant Nov 19 '20 at 19:24

1 Answers1

1

https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/upgraded-to-20-04-and-the-menu-keeps-closing/21781/13

from: saivinoba Quality Assurance Tester

I found this issue (#871) on MATE's GitHub, discussing caja desktop behavior under root login. The solution is to have a local caja.desktop file for root user with --force-desktop option. It also states why desktop icons are disabled for root user. It is a good read.

As root (or sudo) do, cp /usr/share/applications/caja.desktop /root/.local/share/applications/ and then append the Exec line as, Exec=/usr/bin/caja --force-desktop . Re-login and you will have desktop icons and application shortcuts.

After doing this, I (not the response above) noted:

I just did the above cp, edit of the .local version of caja.desktop , and then did a GUI switch user to root . Not only did this solve the desktop problem, it also solved the "brisk" MATE menu (standard current MATE upper panel user left end Menu drop-down) -- these no longer keep closing. As with other applications/environments, the Ubuntu implementation is designed to limit the functionality of root per se (not sudo that has other limitations); however, there are configuration file changes (as explained above for this case) to "restore" operational functionality. I just pinned Thunderbird to the root GUI desktop -- this allows me to switch user to root, invoke developer production Thunderbird without using the menu (not distro Thunderbird), and update (in place, not a full download of the tar.gz file) Thunderbird to production current. I then logout root and return to my enduser desktop (and account), with Thunderbird updated to developer production current. End my response on the MATE fora. Evidently, the --force-desktop switch (command line modifier) enables all of the expected functionality on a root GUI account use of MATE.

Yasha Karant
  • 961