My desktop disappeared, how do I get it back? [duplicate]

I have Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. This morning when I logged into my Ubuntu, after login screen the complete desktop was empty, the only operation I could perform is right-click and open terminal.

What I've tried:

  1. Ctrl+Alt+F1 unity --reset : didn't work
  2. From terminal unity --reset : didn't work
  3. And from login screen selecting Ubuntu 2D and that also didn't solve the problem.

My laptop is Toshiba SA-60 onboard ATI graphic card with 1 GB RAM.

Please tell me how to solve this problem. I don't want to reinstall Ubuntu as whenever I install a I/O error pops up, forget about that. I don't want to reinstall Ubuntu. Please help.


Solution 1:

  • Install gnome-tweak-tool.
sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool
  • Go to Desktop list item. Make sure Have file manager handle the desktop is turned ON.

    enter image description here

Solution 2:

The answer is kind of weird. Because you have tried the right things to reset unity.

Lets try once again,

Press Alt+Ctrl+F1, login and then enter these commands one by one.

sudo lightdm stop

gconftool-2 --recursive-unset /apps/compiz-1

unity --reset-icons

unity --reset

Have you played with any config file, x org configuration last time?

sudo reboot now

Solution 3:

I had the same problem and I was unable to reset unity. I finally solved by reinstalling libgrail5:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall libgrail5