Guake disappears randomly on Ubuntu 13.10

Solution 1:

There's an even better workaround in that thread that lets you get the running guake back without restarting it, by mbondfusion:

1) Use xwininfo to find your root window ID

xwininfo -name 'Guake!' -int -tree

xwininfo: Window id: 60817461 "Guake!"

Root window id: 143 (the root window) (has no name)
Parent window id: 143 (the root window) (has no name)
1 child:
60817462 (has no name): () 1x1+-1+-1 +64+23

2) Use xdotool to reparent the Guake window:

xdotool search --name 'Guake!' windowreparent 143

Solution 2:

The problem comes from the show desktop button which is a confirmed Guake bug. I never use the show desktop button from the sidebar, but realized later on that accidentally selecting show desktop while alt-tabbing is very easy to do (more so if you're unaccustomed to the alt-tab behavior brought about in 12.04).

I found a temporary fix as outlined by Stibbons by using "Hide on lose focus" in preferences. Keep in mind this will only prevent the alt-tabbing show desktop bug, and isn't ideal if you require a static terminal on a separate monitor. (I've disabled the sidebar button in settings > appearance > behavior - just in case!)

Stibbons said 19 days ago "I'll try to fix it asap," and as I was losing current tabs every few hours this temporary fix is HUGE timesaver.