Ubuntu – Ubuntu 14.04 – No Unity in user account, but in guest account

14.04compizlightdmunityxserver

Yesterday I switched back from Linux Mint to Ubuntu 14.04 and after installation I faced the following problem:
When I login with my user account Unity isn't loading. I can see no desktop elements – all I have are the desktop icons in some kind of GNOME-scheme.
But when I login as a guest on the guest account, Unity is working fine.
I read and tried alot yesterday as Ubuntu 14.04 seems to have plenty of issues with lightdm, compiz, … but nothing worked for me.
I have two asumptions:

Because the guest account works, it seems to be an user specific problem.
Because the guest account works, there seems so be no problem with graphic driver etc.

To 1:
Are there user specific configurations? Maybe in xorg.conf? Any other explanations why the guest account works fine and my user account does not?

To 2:
I have a Nvidia GEFORCE 520M running. I tried the nvidia-driver, but then no desktop appeared, neither in guest account nor in my user account. So I removed them.

I tried so many things yesterday, so that I absolutely lost track on more possible solutions. Anyone an idea?

Best Answer

Open the terminal using (ctrl+alt+T), and try to reset compiz and unity by:

sudo apt-get install dconf-tools    
dconf reset -f /org/compiz/       
unity-reset
setsid unity

If you are still facing it, then open terminal again and reinstall desktop and unity

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop
sudo apt-get install unity

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Ubuntu – Ubuntu 13.10 Unity doesn’t load after upgrade

I had the same thing, and i press CRTL-Alt-T, to have a terminal. after that i enter ccsm to have compiz configurator. To the left, under all categories, i selected Preferences,and on the new screen i selected unity profil. Wait a few seconds and normally the launcher appers.

Ubuntu – Guest account works, but regular account does not

Warning: Take your time reading this first sentence:

Before typing the following keystroke, remember that Ctrl+Alt+F7 is your friend. This is the keystroke to type to get back to where you are right now. (probably your guest session) OK? Remember? Sure?

OK! Now press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to go to TTY1, which is a full screen terminal (and only a terminal: no mouse, no dash, no nothing). Try to log in there.

It does show your user name when you type it after the login: prompt, but does not show anything when you type your password! Oh, and you have to type Enter after you typed your user name and before it shows you the password prompt.

Now type the following commands: (assuming user is your old user name)

sudo adduser user2

and follow the instructions on-screen. If you're not on a US keyboard, don't use any "special" characters like £ à ŷ ü nor any numbers unless they're from your keypad.

Now type the following commands:

sudo adduser user2 adm 
sudo adduser user2 cdrom
sudo adduser user2 sudo
sudo adduser user2 dip
sudo adduser user2 plugdev
sudo adduser user2 lpadmin
sudo adduser user2 sambashare

(If any of the above gives an error like group not found, don't worry: I'm trying to be thorough)

Now, log out of the guest session and log in as "user2" and come back here to this site

Ah you're back! ;-) Please test now if you still have your problem... No? OK!

Now,

Open the file manager
Browse to the /home/user directory
Copy (don't move!) all the files from Downloads to /home/user2/Downloads
Check you did a good job.
Now delete /home/user/Downloads
Go back to step 3 and repeat for Documents, Videos, ...
In a terminal type the following command: deluser user --remove-home

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – Ubuntu 13.10 Unity doesn’t load after upgrade

Ubuntu – Guest account works, but regular account does not

Done!

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