I have the latest Kubuntu intalled. At first all worked fine, but for the last few months whenever I switch virtual desktops, it resets the background to black and shows my dedktop links with their object (?) name such as “vmware-workstation.desktop” When I right-click on one of these objects and select properties, I can see the properties but cannot change them. Same for right-click on the desktop.
If I go to System-Settings/Appearance and re-apply one of the themes, everything goes back to normal until I switch desktops.
I have beat my head against this long enoungh to realize I ain’t going to figure it out.
Any help is GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks
hi, welcome.
that definitively does not sound normal.
does this happen with a new user account as well or just your current profile?
if you could also share your system info in a markdown code block, that would help narrow down the suspects.
Thanks for responding. Great idea, I should have thought of it.
I created two new users; one regular, one admin.
I then logged in as each of them, allowed the system to go through the audio system reset request that popped up, created 3 additional virtual desktops, switched from one desktop to the next. Same results. Background is wiped to black on switch and icons get weird names with properties I cannot change. Note that when I switch between desktops, the original desktop graphics and icons are there for a moment, and then the background goes immediately black, and icons change. I can then go into system settings, apply my preferred Appearance (Breeze) and everything is back to normal until I switch desktops.
Regarding “system info in a markdown code block”; Please explain.
If you open the Info Center app and click “Copy Details” on the first page, that puts a block of information in your clipboard with a quick rundown of your major OS and hardware components - for example, this is from my current device:
Operating System: Fedora Linux 42
KDE Plasma Version: 6.4.80
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.16.0
Qt Version: 6.9.1
Kernel Version: 6.14.11-300.fc42.x86_64 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 16 × AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 8-Core Processor
Memory: 32 GiB of RAM (30.4 GiB usable)
Graphics Processor 1: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER
Graphics Processor 2: AMD Radeon Graphics
Manufacturer: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.
Product Name: MS-7D78
System Version: 1.0
I also wonder, if you check the Crashed Processes Viewer, is the plasmashell process crashing when this occurs? If so, it might be an instance of a reported bug, which turned out to be the same underlying cause as this one: 491699 – Occasional crash in QQmlDelegateModelItem::destroyObject() when clicking on task manager icons
Info Center->About this System:
Operating System: Kubuntu 24.04
KDE Plasma Version: 5.27.12
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.115.0
Qt Version: 5.15.13
Kernel Version: 6.8.0-60-generic (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 16 × AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 8-Core Processor
Memory: 93.5 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: AMD Radeon Graphics
Manufacturer: ASUS
Cannot find the :Crashed Proccesses Viewer" on my kubuntu system. However, in System Settings → Personalization → Applicatiions → Diagnostics, I was able to find previous crash reeports that were sent to Ubuntu.
Only 1 rpt for Plasma: " 2024-11-14 10:11 [2024-11-16 18:11 UTC Crash plasma-discover"
i would switch to the HWE kernel for better h/w support, currently at 6.11.0-26
# to ensure all the correct updates are received
sudo apt install --install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-24.04
and make sure i had enough swap space enabled.
swapon
Hmm - another way of checking for past crashed could be to use the coredumpctl command-line tool. If you run coredumpctl --reverse, does that show any plasmashell crashes when you’re seeing this issue?
And one note just for reference - it looks like you have the latest “long-term support” release of Kubuntu installed, but Ubuntu and its flavors also have “interim” releases every six months that typically contain newer versions of upstream software. This makes a pretty notable difference for KDE in particular, since Plasma 6, Frameworks 6, and all the Qt6-based KDE software didn’t get included in a Kubuntu release until Kubuntu 24.10.
i have the kubuntu 24.04 LTS with the HWE kernel after a fresh install… don’t know why some ppl get the older kernel out of the box.
could be related to some setting in my /home folder from way back in 22.04 when i added the HWE then, i’m just not sure.
but you don’t need to jump off the LTS track to get the newer kernel, is my point.
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Yep, that’s a good point - I tend to forget sometimes just how many different things can be affected by the kernel!