Theme not applied on startup

[quartex]

Hi
After upgrading from 9.04 to 9.10, gnome set theme is not applied on startup but another one

I have to launch gnome-appearance-properties to fix partially this issue (nautilus still remains with wrong theme) and then if I logout/login problem is solved

This is very annoying.

Any workaround or fix?

Thanks

[quartex (quartex73)]

Adding: I suspect this issue born after customizing gdm using 'gksudo -u gdm dbus-launch gnome-appearance-properties'

[Pablo180 (paultait22)]

Same problem on 9.10, as far as I know I haven't done any customising (other than adding new themes) and it seems to happen regardless of theme.

It's driving me nuts as I have to log back out after logging in at start up, and then log back in, every day to get rid of the 1990s theme. I don't do anything other than log out and back in again, but that seems to fix it, until next boot!

As above re-selecting the theme in appearance fixes it, but leaves nautilus on the default Gnome theme.

[quartex (quartex73)]

A workaround is to launch twice gnome-settings-daemon at startup
because the first time it dies

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

this might be a gnome-settings-daemon issue, are you still facing it after latest updates? it's probably crashing could you enable apport and check? Thanks in advance.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to New. Thanks again!.

[Pablo180 (paultait22)]

Hasn't happened to me in several weeks, so I guess it is fixed now, the theme loads as normal on startup now.

However Docky still loads up with the ugly old theme icons until it is restarted, but that is a lot easier than logging out and in again.

[Zeppe (giuseppe-passino)]

I'm reopening this bug, it has been with me for ages, I decided to investigate it recently, I enabled apport but it didn't intercept any crash (I suspect so at least, since it didn't pop-up as it usually does). As noted above, the problem should be related to gnome-settings-daemon, last time I experienced the bug (5 min ago) the process wasn't running, and launching it again solved the problem (i.e., the theme got loaded).

May it be that gnome-settings-daemon crashes before apport gets started? How can I work around this?

Thank you for the suggestions.

Zeppe

[mehor (mehor)]

This happens to me too, but not only on startup. From time to time, theme gets broken (gnome-settings-daemon dies) when I close an application (not certain app, but seems to be random). I also have modified gdm with 'gksudo -u gdm dbus-launch gnome-appearance-properties', if that matters. Also, restarting gnome-settings-daemon isn't enough, but nautilus must be restarted too for the theme to be fully recovered.

[Pablo180 (paultait22)]

Having the same problem as above, not at start up anymore but just randomly the theme will revert back to some old style-less theme. When I open Appearance from the menu it goes back to normal, but I have to kill nautilus to get that back too.

Odd and annoying, as I thought that this problem was over.

[mehor (mehor)]

Is there any other way to hunt down this issue except with apport (since, as Zeppe said and I can confirm, it obviously doesn't detect gnome-settings-daemon crash)?

[mehor (mehor)]

Apport finally catched the crash during the work (not at startup/login). Since I'm not sure if those issues are the same, I reported gnome-settings-daemon crash as a new Bug #596367.

[thorstenmz (th-guenther)]

I do have the same problems with Ubuntu 10.04.

My settings are:

Theme: User Defined

Window Contents: Inverted
Window Frame: New Wave
Symbols: GNOME

Frequently after booting up, and sometimes at random when closing an application, the theme is changed to:

Raleigh

When I open System - Preferences - Appearance, my settings are automatically restored for all windows except Nautilus. Nautilus keeps Raleigh (including button click sound). I have to kill Nautilus manually to make it use my settings.

This is very annoying. If you need any more info, just contact me, I'll glady provide everything you need.

[Tobias (tobias-j)]

Same here an two notebooks. How can I help to solve this problem?

[thorstenmz (th-guenther)]

What version do you use?

After my upgrade to 10.10, this happens a lot less frequent, but still does from time to time.

[Alejandro Quintanar (alejandro-quihel)]

Distro: Ubuntu 10.10 netbook remix
Theme: personal
Desktop: ubuntu-desktop
Problem: When I work with battery the gnome theme is'n applyed
Solution:
1 Go To:
    System -> Prefrences -> Startup Applications Preferences
2 Create New:
    Add a new with this command "gnome-settings-daemon"
3 Restartn

[Tobias (tobias-j)]

I'm using Ubuntu 10.10

[Tobias (tobias-j)]

@Alejandro Quintanar
That works for me only for for the window decoration but not for the icons.

[Martin Schröder (martinschroeder)]

For me it seems, that this bug happens, when running on battery power.
Also I'm using the proprietary NVIDIA driver (like some other people who get the bug).

[Tobias (tobias-j)]

Just as additional info, I have an Intel card.

[thorstenmz (th-guenther)]

My desktop PC also shows this bug. (No battery power there.) I'm using the proprietary NVIDIA driver, too.

[Csonka Bálint (balint777)]

It comes up for me as well from time to time after a few weeks of a fresh install. Though it seems to start the theme after a couple of seconds, however nautilus remains at the broken theme.

The problem seems to be that 'gnome-settings-daemon' crashes, and nautilus starts before it's up again.
It can be fixed with 'nautilus -q' once 'gnome-settings-daemon' is running stable. I'll post the crash report as soon as i catch it. But apart from gnome-settings-daemon being crashed, it should force nautilus also to reload.
Cheers

[Patrik Nilsson (nipatriknilsson)]

I have reported a similar issue (bug 345558) and have only seen it on netbooks with SSD. Are you using SSD when you experience this issue?

After I reported my issue I have had two netbooks with normal harddisks and my issue has never happened with those ones.

[Tobias (tobias-j)]

I have seen this on two notebooks with normal harddisks.

[Matthew Woerly (nattgew)]

I just upgraded to 11.04 and have been having this issue. When I first log in after boot, the theme is wrong. I have to log out and back in for the correct theme to be applied.
I'm using a laptop, normal HD.

[swl (weezel-van)]

I have the same problem. I use the Netbook versions of 10.10 on a MSi Wind U-100 with a normal hard disk. I now added the gnome-settings-daemon to the start up applications to see whether this helps.

[thorstenmz (th-guenther)]

After my upgrade to 11.04 the bug re-appeared once yesterday.

[Michał J. Gajda (mgajda)]

I have a similar problem after upgrade to 11.04: gnome-settings-daemon still runs, and there is no indication of any crash in logs.
However all programs fail to apply GNOME themes, until gnome-settings-daemon is killed and started again.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

That might be a crash in the g-s-d could somebody please enable apport and report a bug if you're able to reproduce it again? Also please attach your ~/.xsession-errors file to the report, thanks a lot.

[Thomas Novin (thomasn80)]

Ok have enabled apport. Will report as soon as I see it again.

[Thomas Novin (thomasn80)]

There isn't any crash, the process that "doesn't work" just doesn't do what it's supposed to.

I'm not sure if this bug is a better match for me:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-settings-daemon/+bug/574296

[alex (aarw2)]

This bug has affected me since 9.04 on two different computers. It now affects me in 11.04. I used a script that fixed it. Now a workaround has been described to fix the bug in Ubunut and Mint http://www.webupd8.org/2011/06/fix-ubuntu-linux-mint-theme-changing-to.html#more

So it is not solved as it says on the ubuntu page. There is an OS bug that there are workarounds for. But it is not solved.