Desktop launchers/shortcuts opening with Mousepad. [Solved]

[exeterdad]

I don't know where I went wrong so I haven't a clue where to start in resolving this.
On my desktop, in Xfce, my Shortcuts are now using the plain text icons rather then the icon that is in the .desktop file. When clicking on them, instead of launching the expected application, it just opens in Mousepad.

I tried searching the forums and Google.  But I can't seem to find the right keywords to get anything helpful.
Any thoughts?

Thanks, Lee

[uelsk8s]

xfdesktop handles the .desktop files.
check to see if its running. It uses dbus, dbus-glib, libexo, and thunar-vfs.
if xfdesktop is running you may want to try killing it and then running it from a terminal to see if it reports errors

HTH

[exeterdad]

Thanks Uel,
It was running:

leeh:$ ps aux | grep xfdesktop
leeh      4355  0.1  1.6  53608 17016 ?        Sl   10:40   0:10 xfdesktop --sm-client-id 117f000001000120793968600000034940003 --display :0.0

I killed it, and executed xfdesktop without any arguments and got this:

** (xfdesktop:6385): CRITICAL **: settings_register_callback: assertion `cb && user_data && mcs_client' failed

And my desktop is up, but .desktops are just text files.

It's Greek to me.


Hmmmm.  Don't know if this means anything, but I noticed Thunar was using a different --sm-client-id number then xfdesktop.  So I relaunched using the Thunar --sm-client-id and no error was reported.  But still text files on the desktop.

[uelsk8s]

try creating a new user and see if that login has the same problem.

[exeterdad]

Okay, will do.  But uploading a bunch of goodies to testing as "me", so it will have to wait

[exeterdad]

I'm not having a good day I guess.  I created "test" user with vasm.  I can't login with kdm with that user.  I can log in in text mode, but X won't start.  Some sort of "timeout" and "lockfile" message.

I'll have to dink with it later.

[exeterdad]

Okay, I'm logged in as "test" and I still see text files instead of pretty icons on my desktop.  Me thinks something Global happened.

[rbistolfi]

Check if xfce-mcs-manager is running.

[exeterdad]

Yes it is.  I've included a grep of xfce* to show what all xfce related is running:

Code:

leeh:$ ps aux | grep xfce   
leeh      3666  0.0  0.1   3192  1584 ?        Ss   15:56   0:00 /bin/sh /etc/xfce/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc
leeh      3698  0.0  1.1  22472 11944 ?        S    15:56   0:00 /usr/bin/xfce4-session
leeh      3701  0.0  0.7  23880  7576 ?        Ss   15:56   0:00 xfce-mcs-manager
leeh      3711  0.2  1.2  23380 12884 ?        S    15:56   0:02 xfce4-panel --sm-client-id 117f000001000120793968500000034940001 --display :0.0
leeh      3712  0.0  0.9  21352  9908 ?        S    15:56   0:00 /usr/libexec/xfce4/panel-plugins/xfce4-menu-plugin socket_id 16777254 name xfce4-menu id 12096477460 display_name Xfce Menu size 36 screen_position 11
leeh      3713  0.0  0.9  29868  9840 ?        Sl   15:56   0:00 /usr/libexec/xfce4/panel-plugins/xfce4-mailwatch-plugin socket_id 16777270 name mailwatch id 12105584710 display_name Mail Watcher size 36 screen_position 11
leeh      3714  0.0  1.2  23880 12264 ?        S    15:56   0:00 /usr/libexec/xfce4/panel-plugins/xfce4-mixer-plugin socket_id 16777271 name xfce4-mixer id 12096479602 display_name Volume Control size 36 screen_position 11
leeh      3715  0.2  1.0  20976 10764 ?        S    15:56   0:01 /usr/libexec/xfce4/panel-plugins/xfce4-battery-plugin socket_id 16777272 name battmon id 12096478991 display_name Battery Monitor size 36 screen_position 11
leeh      3716  0.2  0.5  12560  5816 ?        S    15:56   0:01 /usr/libexec/xfce4/panel-plugins/xfce4-wavelan-plugin socket_id 16777273 name wavelan id 12079443270 display_name Wavelan size 36 screen_position 11
leeh      3717  0.0  0.5  13748  6100 ?        S    15:56   0:00 /usr/libexec/xfce4/panel-plugins/xfce4-mount-plugin socket_id 16777274 name xfce4-mount-plugin id 11597476590 display_name Mount devices size 36 screen_position 11
leeh      3968  0.0  0.0   2004   652 pts/5    S+   16:09   0:00 grep xfce

[overthere]

not that this helps but did you try creating a new icon to see if it is also effected and did you cold boot..curious about what happened and thought it may be something
cheers

[exeterdad]

not that this helps but did you try creating a new icon to see if it is also effected and did you cold boot..curious about what happened and thought it may be something
cheers

Yes I have tried all those things.  But whether the icon shows or not, it should still launch.  When right clicking I get the usual choice for whatever application I'd like to open text files with.

[overthere]

out of curiosity I looked at mine..I am not useing a networked laptop with mail watch but did notice my menu id is "5" and you list "12096477460" but you did change the sm client id

I may be wise to stop pretending I am help and get out of the way..hope you find solution
cheers
---------
leeh      3711  0.2  1.2  23380 12884 ?        S    15:56   0:02 xfce4-panel --sm-client-id 117f000001000120793968500000034940001 --display :0.0
leeh      3712  0.0  0.9  21352  9908 ?        S    15:56   0:00 /usr/libexec/xfce4/panel-plugins/xfce4-menu-plugin socket_id 16777254 name xfce4-menu id 12096477460 display_name Xfce Menu size 36 screen_position 11
---------------
luser   11554  2.9  2.7  17568 10304 ?        S    07:50   0:01 /usr/libexec/xfce4/panel-plugins/xfce4-menu-plugin socket_id 16777248 name xfce4-menu id 5 display_name Xfce Menu size 24 screen_position 11
---------------------
ps: by create new icon I meant create a new desktop launcher for a program with an icon on the desktop thinking the existing ones may be corrupted and newones may function for some reason..like I said I would be wise to let help..help

[exeterdad]

Lightbulb came on today, I knew it had to be something simple.
Fixed by running these two commands as root:

/usr/bin/update-desktop-database -q /usr/share/applications

/usr/bin/update-mime-database /usr/share/mime

Duh! 

Now I'm going to spend the remainder of the month wondering how it got messed up in the first place.