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Having successfully installed Ubuntu 11.04 I decided to look into improving look and feel of the unity desktop. I could find no option to introduce any nice effects with the standard install, but a google session suggested Compiz would do the job. I installed this and selected the "Wobbly windows" option and this worked fine.

After a while I thought I'd try some of the other available effects (can't remember which but may have been cube desktop) but this resulted in no windows showing at all. I now have just blank wall paper with no icons or menus. There are no error messages and right clicking the desktop produces a small context menu but nothing else. Rebooting brings me back to a blank desktop with just wallpaper.

I do not know where to start.

Bruno Pereira
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Mark
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1 Answers1

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Try following commands in terminal (CTRL+ALT+T)

unity --reset
unity --replace

or instead of second command just reboot your box.

Be carefull with Compiz. Some of the features are not really working well with Unity ie. Cube plugin.

Jorge Castro
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Wojciech
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  • Thank for the reply. CTRL+ALT+T does nothing. No errors, just nothing but a brief flash as if a window was about to appear but then just the wallpaper again. I can change the desktop background and create documents using the right click menu so I don't think its completely broken! – Mark Sep 06 '11 at 20:04
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    Try to right click on a desktop and create launcher for terminal. In command field write gnome-desktop. Then launch terminal and follow the answer above. You might need to reenable wall plugin in Compiz when you restart. – Wojciech Sep 06 '11 at 20:06
  • Many thanks - All working again now after a reboot. – Mark Sep 06 '11 at 20:18
  • Command I ment was gnome-terminal not gnome-desktop, sorry for that. – Wojciech Sep 06 '11 at 20:19
  • No problem - now all sorted. BTW Is there a better / more stable app I should use rather than compiz? – Mark Sep 06 '11 at 20:23
  • You can try this link http://askubuntu.com/questions/41009/is-there-an-alternative-to-compiz but Unity is plugin for Compiz so there isn't a good alternative. – Wojciech Sep 06 '11 at 20:43