Symptoms: A freshly created user does not have a .gtkrc file in her home directory. If she then tries to set a new GNOME desktop theme with the Theme Selector, it complains about failing to read the .gtkrc file and refuses the set the theme. (The try button will yield this message, the OK button does not get farther than an empty dialog.) Workaround: touch ~/.gtkrc
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 14953 ***