Ubuntu1510 - Desktop Background Not Changable

[n00b42]

• I recently did a fresh install of Ubuntu 15.10.
• I changed my background to be grey and after some other setup (like more recent nvidia drivers) I installed cinnamon.
• Restarted and then selected cinnamon upon login.
• Everything fine except some icon issues which I could fix by installing some gnome icon pack.
• Icons on desktop are hard to read and as there is no option to change that text I tried to change the background.
• Using the "backgrounds" dialog no action has any concequence, neither selecting an image nor defining a desktop gradient or anything else.

cinnamon: Version: 2.6.13-1ubuntu2

[dralley]

Could you test whether this occurs with the latest version of Cinnamon, v2.8?

You will have to install this PPA as Ubuntu's repositories only contain the old version ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-nightly

[n00b42]

Updated but issue(s) still persist.
Currently, I assume it is not only cinnamon but also related to nemo and some driver stuff....

[rpbaptist]

I am experiencing the same issue. Also on an Ubuntu 15.10 install I did last weekend. Funny enough it was working okay, but I changed a few more settings (using lightdm-gtk-greeter instead of unity-greeter) and now my lock screen will have only a grey background instead of my current wallpaper.

When my screen times out and locks, I see a partially transparant background around the time, but the rest remains grey.

My current wallpaper is one from the folder I set up to use as a slideshow, but it won't change and I cannot select any other.

I am using Cinnamon 2.8.6 from this PPA: https://launchpad.net/~moorkai/+archive/ubuntu/cinnamon

[rpbaptist]

Well, I figured out at least part of the problem. I used gnome-tweak-tool. It set the background which was selected at that point. No I am unable to change it. It seems the tool locked it.

[mtwebster]

Try seeing if nautilus is installed - if you're not using it (assuming you're using nemo instead), remove it - it could be interfering with trying to draw the desktop.

[rpbaptist]

I did remove nautilus, but there is one component still there: nautilus-data. This in turn depends on other packages.

I did find I have several gnome components which I suspect may interfere with cinnamon, but I am not certain I can safely remove them:

> sudo apt-get remove gnome-settings-daemon
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libfcitx-config4 libtimezonemap-data libtimezonemap1 libunity-settings-daemon1 unity-control-center
  unity-settings-daemon
Suggested packages:
  fcitx gnome-screensaver xscreensaver
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  gdm gnome-control-center gnome-session gnome-settings-daemon gnome-shell gnome-tweak-tool
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libfcitx-config4 libtimezonemap-data libtimezonemap1 libunity-settings-daemon1 unity-control-center
  unity-settings-daemon

I am not sure why it wants to install unity components. (I completely removed them). Since I wish to use Cinnamon, is it safe to remove these?

[mtwebster]

You can safely leave nautilus-data installed if you want, to keep from messing with all those dependencies. Removing the nautilus package gets rid of the actual program, which is all we really want here.

I'm honestly not sure why it wants to install unity components when you remove gnome stuff.

[rpbaptist]

Well I removed what I could. I noticed something else. When I log in, I briefly see the cinnamon background. Same when I log out. It is being drawn over, probably by gnome settings.

I did a `dconf dump / | grep ' yet no results. I have no idea where this is being stored now.

[rpbaptist]

Okay, my bad. I have two background images in the folder with very similar names.

I did find it under /org/gnome/desktop/background

In dconf-editor I set it back to default. I saw the default one. Now I changed it in Cinnamon configuration and it is back to normal.

[rpbaptist]

And after a reboot it is again drawing over the cinnamon background, but now with a blue single color. I would love to find a way to have cinnamon take precedence over gnome in this.

[rpbaptist]

Installed gnome-tweak-tool again, it came with a ton of dependencies. Removed it and we're good again. Even after a reboot. Issue solved for me now at least.

[rpbaptist]

And the show goes on. I solved it by removing the schema file and reloading. But that in turn broke Nemo.

Considering doing a whole new install next weekend and never touching gnome-tweak-tool. Although I believe it was necessary for getting my laptop to suspend and lock properly.

[mtwebster]

The only PPA that can be considered 'official' is the nightly ppa (https://launchpad.net/~gwendal-lebihan-dev/+archive/ubuntu/cinnamon-nightly) - it can be unstable for sure, but I can actually walk you through troubleshooting it. I can't vouch for, nor do I know what, if any, modifications are done in these other PPAs, nor the trickled-down (obsolete) packages that make their way to Ubuntu by way of Debian.

[ManIVIctorious]

Is this still an issue to you with cinnamon 3.0?