[SOLVED] Debian Squeeze -- No Desktop Icons

[MercuryStar]

Re-installing the gnome package has indeed solved my problem. Thanks!

I will be more careful about using apt-get dist-upgrade in the testing branch in future, and look out for similar problems.

[rokytnji]

In case you users want to back up your Gnome Settings in /home

Yet Another Technology Site: Back up Your Gnome Desktop and all Settings in Gnome.

[jguthart]

Finally Resolved!

Somehow I lost my desktop icons using Debian Squeeze after doing an update. To get them back I did the following:

1. Open Nautilus -- note that you must have this open before going to the next step.
2. Open Configuration Editor -- go to /apps/nautilus/preferences and make sure that "show desktop" is checked.
3. Open Startup Applications (via System - Preferences menu) click on the "Options" tab and select "Remember Currently Running Application".
4. Log out then log back in.

Note that at this point you should have Nautilus opening up with the icons finally showing up. I didn't like having Nautilus automatically opening up when I logged on even though I had to do this to get icons to show up initially. So I then did the following:

1. Close Nautilus
2. Open Startup Applications (via System - Preferences menu) click on the "Options" tab and select "Remember Currently Running Application".
3. Log out then log back in.

The whole thing seems a little convoluted but it worked for me. I'm pretty sure this is a bug that has somehow been introduced into Debian Squeeze.

Hope this helps someone else.