Desktop icons/files gets mixed up and overlapped on boot from time to time

[forteller]

I have my desktop icons neatly placed in a grid, and mostly it stays that way. But from time to time, when I turn on my PC, they have changed places, most of them ending up on top of each other. Please see attached screenshot.

I'm using 12.10 x64 (fully updated), but this has also happened in 12.04. I don't know that I did anything special before turning off the PC before this happened, and I haven't noticed any pattern for when it happens.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Package: nautilus 1:3.5.90.really.3.4.2-0ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-17.27-generic 3.5.5
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-17-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Oct 8 03:19:16 2012
GsettingsChanges: b'org.gnome.nautilus.window-state' b'geometry' b"'806x550+49+24'"
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Alpha amd64 (20120905.2)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: nautilus
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Stéphane Guillou (stephane-guillou)]

This happens to me too, in particular when using an external monitor.

[Stéphane Guillou (stephane-guillou)]

Just to add to this, I am still having the problem with Nautilus on 12.10 i686, and replacing Nautilus by PCManFM as the default file manager (and tweaking it so it manages the desktop to, as described here: http://askubuntu.com/a/257456/29270) fixes the problem - PCManFM always reorganises the icons neatly when changing the screen resolution without any problem.

[Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa)]

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1063487

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

the desktop view got deprecated that resolves that issue