Desktop settings reset every login or restart [SOLVED]

Clownish

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Using Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS
Desktop Gnome
Desktop Settings that reset are taskbar favourites, they all set back to the defaults
Installed on hard drive

Edit: Extra internal HDDs need to be mounted every boot too. Not sure if these problems are related.
 
Last edited:


As the title says...

The title says practically nothing.

Are you running Linux? Which one? You don't say!

What desktop? XFCE? KDE? MATE? Cinnamon? You don't say!

Which desktop settings are reset? You don't say!

Did you install to hard drive? Or running off of USB or DVD? You don't say!

Sorry if this sounds rude, but please understand that we cannot drive in the dark with our eyes closed. At least open our eyes a little and tell us more of your story. You have told us nothing that can help us to help you.
 
The title says practically nothing.
I was just typing a reply with the same questions but worded differently but you beat me to it so no use in me posting a reply with the exact same questions.;)
 
The title says practically nothing.

Are you running Linux? Which one? You don't say!

What desktop? XFCE? KDE? MATE? Cinnamon? You don't say!

Which desktop settings are reset? You don't say!

Did you install to hard drive? Or running off of USB or DVD? You don't say!

Sorry if this sounds rude, but please understand that we cannot drive in the dark with our eyes closed. At least open our eyes a little and tell us more of your story. You have told us nothing that can help us to help you.
edited and apologies, I'm green as grass
 
edited and apologies, I'm green as grass
We understand... we were all green too. No harm, no foul. Hang with us, and hopefully we discover the trouble together.


Desktop Settings that reset are taskbar favourites, they all set back to the defaults
So let's flesh that out some more...

Do you mean that you have added programs to your taskbar, and that they disappear after reboot? Put another way, is the taskbar returning back to it's default apps and not saving your additions?

Or a different scenario: Is there an app on the taskbar that you make some setting changes to (like Firefox)... and then after reboot the app is still there, but that the setting changes to it were not saved?

How are you saving your new apps to the taskbar? Using drag-and-drop? Or right-click on a program and tell it to "Add to favorites?"

Be as specific as you can on this issue. What apps are giving you trouble? And/or what settings are you changing that are not saving?

In the meantime, I will spin up Ubuntu on a virtual machine to see if I can duplicate what you are doing. Ubuntu is not my normal distro, so it helps a lot if I can see more clearly and follow the same steps as you.
 
I added some programs to favourites on the dash to panel and removed some (atm I'm just trying with chromium to add and Firefox to remove) and if I log out or restart they all revert to the default programs when first installed. I've just reinstalled the OS, let it update, and it's still doing the same thing.
 
I added some programs to favourites on the dash to panel and removed some (atm I'm just trying with chromium to add and Firefox to remove) and if I log out or restart they all revert to the default programs when first installed. I've just reinstalled the OS, let it update, and it's still doing the same thing.
It is working correctly for me. I installed 20.04.2 and updated, installed Chromium, used "Add to favorites" to put it on the panel (the only way as drag-and-drop did not work), rebooted and Chromium was still there. I added Solitaire to the panel, and it was still there after reboot. Removed Firefox and rebooted... it was still gone. I made changes (added bookmarks to each browser) and tried again. Still working properly for me.

When you installed Ubuntu, did you allow it to finish "checking the disk" or did you use CTRL-C to abort that check? I'm just fishing with this question, but it might be a clue that your download has some corruption.
 
G'day @Clownish and welcome to linux.org :), G'day all.

Did you install to hard drive? Or running off of USB or DVD?

Please open Terminal (Ctrl-alt-t) and share with us the output of

Code:
df -h

and

lsblk

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
I added some programs to favourites on the dash to panel and removed some (atm I'm just trying with chromium to add and Firefox to remove) and if I log out or restart they all revert to the default programs when first installed. I've just reinstalled the OS, let it update, and it's still doing the same thing.

Did you check the integrity of the .iso file?
Your running the Gnome desktop environment?
 
It is working correctly for me. I installed 20.04.2 and updated, installed Chromium, used "Add to favorites" to put it on the panel (the only way as drag-and-drop did not work), rebooted and Chromium was still there. I added Solitaire to the panel, and it was still there after reboot. Removed Firefox and rebooted... it was still gone. I made changes (added bookmarks to each browser) and tried again. Still working properly for me.

When you installed Ubuntu, did you allow it to finish "checking the disk" or did you use CTRL-C to abort that check? I'm just fishing with this question, but it might be a clue that your download has some corruption.
I never skip checks. Seems like a silly thing to do on a first install.
 
Right I'm away from the grindstone and dead set on trying to help you guys help me!
as requested

Code:
df -h
df: /run/user/1000/doc: Operation not permitted
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            7.8G     0  7.8G   0% /dev
tmpfs           1.6G  3.6M  1.6G   1% /run
/dev/sda5       219G   19G  189G  10% /
tmpfs           7.9G   25M  7.8G   1% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           7.9G     0  7.9G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/loop1      138M  138M     0 100% /snap/chromium/1479
/dev/loop0       55M   55M     0 100% /snap/core18/1880
/dev/loop2       56M   56M     0 100% /snap/core18/1988
/dev/loop3      163M  163M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/145
/dev/loop5       30M   30M     0 100% /snap/snapd/8542
/dev/loop4       50M   50M     0 100% /snap/snap-store/467
/dev/loop6       65M   65M     0 100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/1514
/dev/loop7      256M  256M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/36
/dev/loop8       63M   63M     0 100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/1506
/dev/loop9       52M   52M     0 100% /snap/snap-store/518
/dev/loop10     219M  219M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/66
/dev/loop11      32M   32M     0 100% /snap/snapd/11036
/dev/sda2       512M  4.0K  512M   1% /boot/efi
/dev/loop12     138M  138M     0 100% /snap/chromium/1497
tmpfs           1.6G   44K  1.6G   1% /run/user/1000

Code:
lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0    7:0    0    55M  1 loop /snap/core18/1880
loop1    7:1    0 137.2M  1 loop /snap/chromium/1479
loop2    7:2    0  55.5M  1 loop /snap/core18/1988
loop3    7:3    0 162.9M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/145
loop4    7:4    0  49.8M  1 loop /snap/snap-store/467
loop5    7:5    0  29.9M  1 loop /snap/snapd/8542
loop6    7:6    0  64.8M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1514
loop7    7:7    0 255.6M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/36
loop8    7:8    0  62.1M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1506
loop9    7:9    0    51M  1 loop /snap/snap-store/518
loop10   7:10   0   219M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/66
loop11   7:11   0  31.1M  1 loop /snap/snapd/11036
loop12   7:12   0 137.2M  1 loop /snap/chromium/1497
sda      8:0    0 223.6G  0 disk
├─sda1   8:1    0   512M  0 part
├─sda2   8:2    0   513M  0 part /boot/efi
├─sda3   8:3    0     1K  0 part
└─sda5   8:5    0 222.6G  0 part /
sdb      8:16   0 698.7G  0 disk
├─sdb1   8:17   0   200M  0 part
└─sdb2   8:18   0 698.5G  0 part
sdc      8:32   0 931.5G  0 disk
└─sdc4   8:36   0 930.9G  0 part
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom
 
I've been thinking about this and watching the thread's progress.

I don't have any help for you directly, but I may have a clue that can help someone else help you.

Let's say I actually wanted to reset the icons and layout, the pinned apps and all that. If I wanted to do that, I'd run this command:

Code:
dconf reset -f /

I don't suppose you've added that line somewhere where it happens at boot?

If I wanted to cause the behavior you're seeing, I'd use one of the many ways to add that to the boot (or login) processes.
 
I've been thinking about this and watching the thread's progress.

I don't have any help for you directly, but I may have a clue that can help someone else help you.

Let's say I actually wanted to reset the icons and layout, the pinned apps and all that. If I wanted to do that, I'd run this command:

Code:
dconf reset -f /

I don't suppose you've added that line somewhere where it happens at boot?

If I wanted to cause the behavior you're seeing, I'd use one of the many ways to add that to the boot (or login) processes.
I've been thinking about this and watching the thread's progress.

I don't have any help for you directly, but I may have a clue that can help someone else help you.

Let's say I actually wanted to reset the icons and layout, the pinned apps and all that. If I wanted to do that, I'd run this command:

Code:
dconf reset -f /

I don't suppose you've added that line somewhere where it happens at boot?

If I wanted to cause the behavior you're seeing, I'd use one of the many ways to add that to the boot (or login) processes.
I don't believe so. How would I get my boot info up? I'll keep searching but if you can bosh it to me here that'd be cool
 
You could have added it to a number of places. Use a search engine to find ways to autostart applications and scripts, or to schedule them, and then check the corresponding spots on your OS.
 
I've just reinstalled the OS, let it update, and it's still doing the same thing.
This should prevent any weird startup scripts, but that was a good thought. And my fresh install to VM does not misbehave the same way. I wonder what angle @wizardfromoz is looking at with hard drive partitions? My VM also has a pair of loop devices for Chromium that exactly match the OP's mountpoints, but I have different loop numbers. His are loops 1 and 12, mine are 0 and 1. I don't normally use snap, so these are unfamiliar to me, and especially why they need pairs of entries.

@Clownish, did you install ANY other software besides Chromium?
 
This should prevent any weird startup scripts, but that was a good thought. And my fresh install to VM does not misbehave the same way. I wonder what angle @wizardfromoz is looking at with hard drive partitions? My VM also has a pair of loop devices for Chromium that exactly match the OP's mountpoints, but I have different loop numbers. His are loops 1 and 12, mine are 0 and 1. I don't normally use snap, so these are unfamiliar to me, and especially why they need pairs of entries.

@Clownish, did you install ANY other software besides Chromium?
To begin with I did install a few other bits. VLC, Audacity, and Steam. Since the clean install I tried using only Chromium as a test but the problem persists. To make matters worse I just had a power cut and its now booting in the default Gnome DE. I have since sorted that out and it's all good practice I guess but I'm downloading another ISO file and creating a new boot disk in anticipation as to what @wizardfromoz says
 

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