How do I always show the launcher (i.e. disable the auto-hide functionality)?

Question

When I upgraded from 11.04 to 11.10, the setting remained. Now that I have done a clean install of 11.10, the CCSM option does NOT work anymore and I can't seem to find a solution. Also note that I am NOT talking about Unity 2D.

I've tried unity --reset and that does not help.
Logging out and back in doesn't help
Removing the hidden directories in my home directory doesn't help

Did you get all latest packages updates? I think it was a bug of Oneiric beta 2, on my PC it was solved with today updates. — Stefano, Oct 08 '11 at 20:52
You might try resetting your settings: http://askubuntu.com/questions/17610/how-do-i-reset-my-unity-configuration — Jorge Castro, Oct 08 '11 at 21:02
I tried to duplicate your problem, but deactivating the authide function works fine. Have you gotten the latest updates for the unity packages? — Ewald, Oct 08 '11 at 22:23
Confirmed - I downloaded and installed Ubuntu 11.10 today, and I have this problem. — Tomas Aschan, Oct 18 '11 at 16:03
ALso, resetting unity settings with unity --reset does not help. — Tomas Aschan, Oct 18 '11 at 17:01
sounds like bug to me, maybe something specific to your hardware? You do have the unity option inside CCSM? I upgraded over the weekend, and had no issue like this (auto-hide now disabled) — Sean Houlihane, Oct 18 '11 at 21:56
For the case that this is hardware related: I'm experiencing these problems. I have the unity plugin configured and enabled in CCSM, and I'm running Ubuntu 11.10 on an ASUS N53. (It doesn't seem to be only this setting - Unity doesn't seem to honor any settings specified in CCSM... =/) — Tomas Aschan, Oct 18 '11 at 22:02
I think what you can do is wipe out your compiz configuration from home directory hidden in cache, config and gconf and then use ccsm to change launcher from dodge windows to Never as many have suggested. Then if compiz doesnot restart do Alt+F2 and run compiz --replace — sagarchalise, Oct 19 '11 at 05:25
I've uploaded the output of lshw on my machine, in case this is hardware related. — Tomas Aschan, Oct 26 '11 at 21:51
What to do with questions that describe known bugs? this has been reported on Launchpad and as such is now closed. — Marco Ceppi, Dec 18 '11 at 00:47
Please see http://askubuntu.com/q/155305/37991 (it works for Unity - don't go by the SCHEMA name Unity2d) — Sri, Jun 24 '12 at 07:11

Luis Alvarado · Answer 1 · 2011-10-24T00:54:34.223

4

In my case what I did was this:

Install CompizConfig Settings Manager:
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
or
sudo aptitude compizconfig-settings-manager
or GUI tools like Software Center / Synaptic
Open CCSM with dash menu (Press SUPER to open Dash):

enter image description here 3. Select UNITY plugin:

enter image description here 4. DISABLE AUTO-HIDE

Now you HAVE TO log out or reboot the computer for this to work. Same goes when changing the icon size in the launcher. It does not take effect the first time you change it. Only after rebooting will it work. At least for me.

enter image description here

NOTE - Stopping the Auto-Hide will save some trouble with some windows like the Back Button of Firefox been underneath the Launcher when it "auto-appears". It is VERY IMPORTANT you update the system (Check for updates with the Update Manager and apply all of them). Reboot and then do this answer. This way you save yourself some other troubles that have been fixed already with this minor updates.

As you can see in all the images the Launcher stays there in a fixed position. Saving me some seconds each time I need to search for something.

NOTE2 - Using unity --reset will only reset you to the default config it has after installing 11.10. Same goes for the default icons if you use unity --reset-icons.

edited Oct 24 '11 at 00:54

answered Oct 24 '11 at 00:49

Luis Alvarado

211,503

Thank you for taking the time to generate all these screenshots. However, this is exactly what I'm trying, and it isn't working, because Unity apparently doesn't care what settings I enter in CCSM. – Tomas Aschan Oct 24 '11 at 01:09
I see you have tried a lot of options but just in case, did you try other resolutions?. I mean after a fresh install of Ubuntu 11.10. Did you per chance change the resolution to another smaller one to test how the launcher reacts. – Luis Alvarado Oct 24 '11 at 02:08
I hadn't thought of that before, but I've now tried a multitude of both high and low resolutions with ratios from 4:3 to 16:10 (I have a 16:9 display) with no success in either of them. – Tomas Aschan Oct 24 '11 at 21:31
Can you add to your question a link to a file that contains the ouput of lshw so we know the hardware you have and might help a little bit more with this. – Luis Alvarado Oct 24 '11 at 23:49
Here you go: lshw output – Tomas Aschan Oct 26 '11 at 21:52
Well I do not see anything that might cause that issue. Can I ask how did you execute the fresh install. I know is a dumb question but just to make know how you did it, what steps you took and if they hard drive was wiped clean before doing it. – Luis Alvarado Oct 26 '11 at 22:06
I've reinstalled Ubuntu so many times over the past couple of days (due to other errors of mine), sometimes by wiping it all out and starting anew, sometimes by "upgrading" to the same version. This issue has always been there regardless. In other words, if I would wipe my hard drive clean and install Ubuntu 11.10 from a CD the regular 64-bit image from ubuntu.com, this issue would show up (most likely - I'm not going to actually do it, again...). – Tomas Aschan Oct 26 '11 at 22:27
16.04 doesn't have auto dodge :\ – Mich. Gio. Nov 26 '17 at 08:44

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 19 '11 at 00:12

1

Try this:

Reinstall the CompizConfig Settings Manager

sudo apt-get autoremove compizconfig-settings-manager
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Then, search for it in the Dash, go to Unity Plugin (or something like that), and in the Experimental tab, you can change its configuration.

After that, restart your session, it should work fine, I just did it.

answered Oct 19 '11 at 00:12

Mauricio

59

Nope. Launcher still dodges even though "hide launcher" is set to "never"... – Tomas Aschan Oct 19 '11 at 21:40

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 08 '11 at 10:41

1

I wrote a bug report about this.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/887203

Sometimes the problem can be fixed with this:

gconftool-2 --type int --set "/apps/compiz-1/plugins/unityshell/screen0/options`/launcher_hide_mode" 1
sleep 2
gconftool-2 --type int --set "/apps/compiz-1/plugins/unityshell/screen0/options/launcher_hide_mode" 0

This does not work always.

answered Nov 08 '11 at 10:41

Timo

11

Didn't work for me =( – Tomas Aschan Nov 11 '11 at 00:45
By the way, you did see my bug report since earlier, right? – Tomas Aschan Nov 11 '11 at 00:46
I did not see your bug report. A marked mine as duplicate. – Timo Nov 14 '11 at 13:19

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

I was having this exact same problem. After reading through one of the bug reports linked to above, and then following one of the links in there, I found this question: Geforce Go 7300/7400 Blacklisted, Can I Still Run Unity?

It turns out that the video card (in my case a nVidia 7300) was blacklisted, and even though I was logging into "Unity" and not "Unity 2D", it was still falling back to 2D mode because the card is blacklisted.

There is a workaround there about installing the nVidia 173 drivers and forcing Unity mode, and it works for me. I also tried it with the latest drivers, hoping the compatibility issues has been fixed, but the system locked up as soon as I logged in, so I had to go back to the nVidia 173 drivers.

The important parts from the link I posted:

Run /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p. If you get a red "no" next to "Not blacklisted", then you've got this issue. Once you install the nVidia 173 driver, you can edit /etc/environment and add the following line:

UNITY_FORCE_START=1

Log out and back in, and you should be set. You now have to re-apply the settings in CompizConfig, but this time they should be respected.

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

0

(total guess, but update your question with what happens).

Log out, and log in via a tty by hitting Ctrl-Alt-F1.

Reset your Unity configuration by doing a unity --reset
Let's move compiz's settings out of the way in case they're messed up: mv .compiz .compiz-backup
Ctrl-Alt-F7, then log in.
Now try to set the settings via CCSM
Log out and back in.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

Community

1

answered Oct 19 '11 at 00:17

Jorge Castro

71,754

No success - nothing changes... – Tomas Aschan Oct 19 '11 at 22:17

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

0

The "Hide Launcher" setting in CCSM wasn't working for me after updating to 11.10 but I found if I changed the setting to what I wanted and restarted X, it ended up working. Have you by change restarted X after changing the setting?

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

Community

1

answered Oct 19 '11 at 02:05

Luke Hoersten

646

"restarted X"? I'm afraid I don't understand... – Tomas Aschan Oct 19 '11 at 13:55
X is what renders your desktop. I just mean log out and log back in. Normally CCSM settings should apply right away but apparently there's a bug where you have to log out and in again. – Luke Hoersten Oct 19 '11 at 14:29
That doesn't work for me - the settings still show up correctly in CCSM (i.e. hide launcher set to "never") even after a full system reset, but the launcher still doges windows. – Tomas Aschan Oct 19 '11 at 21:21

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 20 '11 at 19:20

You can install gconf-editor and then change the setting by going to:

apps > compiz > plugins > unityshell > screen0 > options

Edit the following option:

launcher_hide_mode

Your options are:

Make the launcher hide automatically after some time of inactivity: always or just when the focussed window is not over the launcher (0 = Never, 1 = Autohide, 2 = Dodge Windows, 3 = Dodge Active Window)

I believe the option you are looking for is 0

It's set to 0, but the launcher doesn't honor it. – Tomas Aschan Oct 20 '11 at 21:44 — Tomas Aschan, Oct 20 '11 at 21:44

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 21 '11 at 06:09

0

Alt + f2 then type compiz --replace

Restart and try to change the Hide Launcher property on CCSM again.

Try to set it from Never to Autohide, and then Never again.

answered Oct 21 '11 at 06:09

414v32

224

Nope, not working here... – Tomas Aschan Oct 24 '11 at 01:15

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Oct 31 '11 at 01:43

0

apparently 11.10 is no longer listening to what gconf has to say.

I had to install dconf and use it instead

answered Oct 31 '11 at 01:43

Joe

1

sorry forgot to mention that the setting is under
com/canonical/unity-2d/launcher

it took me some resizing of the window on my side to get it to show the setting properly, but I got it now.

just check the box, then hit your super key. launcher comes up, but doesn't hide :D:D:D:D
– Joe Oct 31 '11 at 01:43
Doing this just makes the launcher disappear for me. Again the OP is asking for the non-2d solution to this problem. – Dave Nov 04 '11 at 04:14

How do I always show the launcher (i.e. disable the auto-hide functionality)?

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