Ubuntu – Ubuntu 14.04 No Dash No Menu on an User Account

You need to disable the ccsm "window decoration" as it conflicts with the newest unity plugin.

Also, you need to enable the unity plugin in ccsm.

When using unity, all you need to do is click and drag down from the top panel to grab a window to move it.

I have found that alt button1 is a good option for the move plugin that works. Just press alt and hold down left click to move a window.

I have stumbled upon the exact same issue! I upgraded from 14.04LTS to 16.04LTS about a month ago, and everything went very well. Recently, however, no dash or window border anymore!

I have tried, as suggested in several posts, to reset config:

dconf reset -f /org/compiz/
setsid unity

I tried to reinstall unity and compiz,

sudo apt-get autoremove --purge ubuntu-desktop compiz* unity*
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop compiz unity

I have tried to remove config files from local user hidden dirs,

sudo service lightdm stop
rm ~/.config/dconf/user
rm -fr ~/.cache/compizconfig-1
rm -fr ~/.compiz
rm -fr ~/.Xauthority
rm -fr ~/.config/autostart
sudo service lightdm start

Similarly, I enabled the Unity plugin in CCSM but this is not permanent since, when re-opening CCSM, the Unity plugin appears unchecked, even when opened with admin. rights.

Sadly, all of these attempts failed in restoring dash and window borders. I guess this is an issue with compiz, the window manager, but I have no idea how to fix it. Any ideas welcome ;)