Saidul Hassan

Digital Marketing Evangelist

Home / Linux Mint / Themes, Desktop background & Icons Not Working in Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon

Themes, Desktop background & Icons Not Working in Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon

By · Filed Under: Linux Mint

themes-desktop-icon-gnome
Problem:

  • Desktop theme and icons turned to 98ish look?
  • Desktop background isn’t working and turned to black?
    • desktop-background-not-working
  • Switching themes, icons, colors, cursors from Menu>Preference>System Settings isn’t reflecting the changes?

    • Possible Sources of the problem:

  • Using Dual Monitor?
  • Recently updated graphics driver?
  • Hybrid graphics, likely Intel with Nvidia?
  • Recently set Nvidia as default graphics driver using bumblebee config file?

    • You’ve tried so far:

  • Enabling/disabling/switching propitery graphics driver.
  • $ sudo apt-get install --uninstall nemo
  • Perhaps reboot the system, login/logout user, restarting x-server countless times.
  • Deleted ~/.config/nemo and ~/.config/cinnamon-session and rebooted system.
  • $ nemo -q and clicked File Manager icon from the panel. (This method works for some and doesn’t for the others. But this solution requires you to do the same with every boot).
  • Booting the system without the second monitor starts the theme and icons properly, and then adding the second monitor (HDMI) works normally until rebooted.
  • (The most unfortunate one) Even fresh installed Linux Mint couple times?
  • Searched and read a lot on google from askubuntu forum, linixmint forum, stackexchange and got all the garbage about using Nemo, Cinnamon on Ubuntu, or how Nautilus or Thunar file manager was installed with another app and removing/purging Nautilus/Thunar saved the day. Or maybe a little bit about how to install/upgrade to latest Cinnamon? C’mon! we are using the latest (17.1) Linux Mint already!

    • Frustrated already? Don’t be. Here is what works like a charm:

    Go to ~/.config and find the culprit monitors.xml file and delete. Now reboot. Voila!! See? Easy.
    home-dot-config
    Delete the monitors.xml file

    Now this is how it looks after the reboot! 🙂

    fixed-desktop-theme-and-icons

    Here is the Terminal solution for the insane 😉

    
$ cd .config
$ ls -A
$ rm monitors.xml
    terminal-command-to-delete-monitor.xml-file
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    Saidul Hassan

    Managing Partner at Up Arrow Consulting
    COO at Up Arrow Consulting, MCC manager, & Technical SEO consultant. Certified Google Partners and Microsoft Bing Ads Accredited Professional, Python enthusiast, wannabe SysAdmin. Graduated from School of Management & Business Administration (SOMBA), Khulna University.