Comment 45 for bug 1335492

I work around this problem (crudely) with a script and an autostart entry:

In ~/.config/autostart, place a file "fixicons.desktop" containing (something like):

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=FixIcons
Comment=Workaround bug 1335492
Exec=~/bin/fixicons
OnlyShowIn=XFCE;
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Hidden=false

And create the file "fixicons" in ~/bin, containing:

#!/bin/bash
# YMMV!
mkdir ~/iconTemp
cp ~/.config/xfce4/desktop/*.rc ~/iconTemp
sleep 20
cp ~/iconTemp/*.rc ~/.config/xfce4/desktop
# xfdesktop --restart - This doesn't work. Just press F5 with the desktop in focus.

Press F5 with the desktop in focus, and your icons should return to their regularly scheduled places. This works on startup / login, but doesn't work for situations where a full-screen application crashes and causes a logout.