Unity shows no tray icons anymore

[Alfred]

Binary package hint: unity

Unity suddenly stops to show any tray icons (like Skype, gapcmon, Quicksynergy, remmina, padevchooser, ...), if I remove an indicator panel (Keyboard, system-indicator, weather-indicator, ...). The icons will not show up again until I log out and in again, but a black space remains where the icons should be.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: unity 3.8.12-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-9.43-generic 2.6.38.4
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-9-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] Ist ein Verzeichnis: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 270.41.06 Mon Apr 18 14:53:56 PDT 2011
 GCC version: gcc version 4.5.2 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.5.2-8ubuntu4)
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,decor,move,snap,grid,compiztoolbox,gnomecompat,place,mousepoll,resize,imgpng,vpswitch,regex,session,unitymtgrabhandles,animation,wall,expo,ezoom,workarounds,staticswitcher,fade,scale,unityshell]
Date: Tue May 17 12:06:32 2011
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 fglrx, 8.840, 2.6.38-9-generic, x86_64: installed
 fglrx, 8.840, 2.6.38-8-generic, x86_64: installed
 nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.38-9-generic, x86_64: installed
 nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.38-8-generic, x86_64: installed
GraphicsCard: nVidia Corporation GF108 [GeForce GT 430] [10de:0de1] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Beta amd64 (20110413)
InstallationMedia_: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Beta amd64 (20110413)
InstallationMedia__: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Beta amd64 (20110413)
JockeyStatus: xorg:nvidia_current - Beschleunigter Grafiktreiber von NVIDIA (Proprietär, Aktiviert, Nicht in Benutzung)
MachineType: To Be Filled By O.E.M. To Be Filled By O.E.M.
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=de_AT:en
 LANG=de_AT.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-9-generic root=UUID=335c5536-e4ad-4387-b456-ce0b37839bff ro vga=792 splash quiet splash radeon.modeset=1 vt.handoff=7
ProcVersionSignature_: Ubuntu 2.6.38-9.43-generic 2.6.38.4
ProcVersionSignature__: Ubuntu 2.6.38-9.43-generic 2.6.38.4
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 12/15/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: P1.10
dmi.board.name: 939A790GMH
dmi.board.vendor: ASRock
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrP1.10:bd12/15/2010:svnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:rvnASRock:rn939A790GMH:rvr:cvnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.name: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.product.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs 20090808ubuntu13
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.23-1ubuntu6
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.0-0ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-4ubuntu7.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110107+b795ca6e-0ubuntu7

[Alfred (alfred-egger)]

I have added a screenshot of this behaviour. Interestingly, the quicksynergy symbol is shown in the screenshot (!!!), but it is not shown on my real desktop. Anyway, all other tray icons are not shown at all.

[Alfred (alfred-egger)]

On the screenshot, indicators like weather-indicator, dropbox, system-indicator, monitor-indicator, network are not shown either even thought they are shown and useable.

[Alfred (alfred-egger)]

A unity --replace helps too, but this shouldn't happen at all.

[exactt (giesbert)]

i think this is not a bug. I heard something about some kind of white-list where you have to add programs that are allowed to show up in the notification area...

[Alfred (alfred-egger)]

I am sorry not to mention it, but I applied

gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Panel systray-whitelist "['all']"

nearly from day 0 (time of installation) on. (Nearly) no tray icons is not an option as I need several of them (gapcmon, Remmina and so on)

I have added a screenshot the way it should look normally.

[Paraplegic Racehorse (paraplegic.racehorse)]

You should not have to add the whitelist, at all;

else there should be a GUI config panel for [dis]allowing apps in the notification area available from the general config panel;

else the default Gnome behavior of defaulting to 'visible' and then manually switching via right-click should have been retained.

[Bilal Akhtar (bilalakhtar)]

Try running gsettings set desktop.unity.panel systray-whitelist "['all']" . The key name seems different on my system.

[Alfred (alfred-egger)]

As this bug is obviously a bit tricky to understand, I made another screenshot showing the problem.

1. I have enabled gsettings set desktop.unity.panel systray-whitelist "['all']" shortly after installation, which is now a few months old. I am using Unity 3d on Natty 11.04 AMD64.
2. My tray icons are shown and work most of the time, but sometimes they disappear especially if I am switching between applications. I can see the tray icons if I press "Super" + S on all four desktops, but not if I switch to any one of them. The place where they should be is simply back and I if I click on it, the menus of the application behind are expanded (thought no text is shown). You can see that on the screenshot I have added.

[Marius B. Kotsbak (mariusko)]

Has anyone seen this in the two newest versions of Ubuntu?

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

Thanks for your bug report. Can you please test and let us know if it is still an issue in Ubuntu 12.04 with all updates applied.