Comment 97 for bug 439448

Several users seem to be experiencing difficulties shutting down, rebooting or logging out in the absence of the panel icon's functionality. The following methods may help: -

If you want the functions for logging out, shutting down, etc., back in the System menu, right-click the power-button or "shut down" icon on the panel designed for this, which by default appears in the top-right corner, and select Remove From Panel. You may want to move the rest of the items to reclaim the empty space.

If you want to shut down or reboot, the traditional method is through the command shutdown -h now or shutdown -r now, but you can also press the Ctrl+Alt+Delete key combination.

If you want to shut down, reboot, log out, hibernate or suspend, you can use one of the commands gnome-session-save --logout, gnome-session-save --logout-dialog or gnome-session-save --shutdown-dialog. See man gnome-session-save for more information.

Press Alt+F2 and type the command in the window that appears if you do not wish to open the Terminal.

Also, as mentioned by f00fyf00fer, most functionality can be alternatively accessed from the main menu. However, some critical functions such as the Network Manager functions and the indication of battery state on a laptop cannot be so easily accessed in a GUI setting in the absence of the panel icons. Besides, the problem is not so much the use of textual commands as the forced use of such commands because of the malfunctioning of elementary GUI facilities. These are, it seems to me, the main reasons people are so angry here.

Saurav