Unity Tweak Tool: Hiding desktop icons triggers bug (frozen login screen is shown as background picture)

[Marius Hofert]

Go to Unity Tweak Tool -> Desktop Icons -> and set Icons on desktop to OFF. Reboot and log in. The login screen freezes and is displayed as background image on the desktop. This bug is described in various reports (pretty much all marked as duplicates now) and can be found here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-settings-daemon/+bug/1115886

The solution is: dconf Editor -> org -> gnome -> settings-daemon -> plugins -> background -> check 'active'
However, this is quite tedious (and should happen automatically when desktop icons are hidden with Unity Tweak Tool)
to do manually if you want to hide/show the desktop icons temporarily (for example during a presentation).

Note: This is on Ubuntu 13.04

[George Karavasilev (kokoto-java)]

This bug is fixed in the PPA version (we nuked the ability to disable the desktop icons as it created funny results as the ones described above), so you just have to either wait for 0.0.5 to hit the Software Centre or use the PPA version.

[Barneedhar (barneedhar)]

Hey George, can we reconsider the decision to remove the option at all?

The bug description seems to provide a workaround and I would like to give that one a try before deciding on axing the option altogether.

[George Karavasilev (kokoto-java)]

Barneedhar, we could, but disabling nautilus handling the desktop also creates another two issues:
 - Makes unity panel shadowless
 - Disables right click on the desktop
And also feel like overkill to me - don't like desktop icons? Don't put icons on the desktop, simple as that.

[J Phani Mahesh (phanimahesh)]

Georgi,
 - Most users do not have an issue if the panel is shadowless. Most, like me, wouldn't even notice it.
 - Right clicking on desktop is handled by nautilus, so it is by design that you can not rightclick on desktop when you ask nautilus to not handle the desktop. If anyone complains, that will be our reply.

I would like to have files on desktop for quick access at times, but when I have an audience or when I connect to a projector, I prefer to hide my files to not reveal my plans for world domination. :P So, we have a use case. Let us reconsider this.

P.S : I am biased. This is one switch I love.

[George Karavasilev (kokoto-java)]

Phani, very well, that's a fair enough usecase, so if somebody can implement that without causing the bug in the report that would be ace.
Oh and I imagine combination like this:
Label: Switch
Toggle Toggle Toggle Toggle
might look weird, because the size different on the label and text compared to the the toggles, we might have to revert to the old 4 vertical checkboxes.