Description of problem: upon login to user account, desktop background is not displayed and there are no visible icons -- "home", trash, Computer, and three SMB links are missing. if i open the Home directory, through an icon i added to a top panel earlier, i see the three SMB link icons. Right-click on the background returns nothing - no menu, no other response whatsoever. 'drag & drop' to the desktop does not allow me to add an icon. if i open 'System - Preferences - Desktop Background' through the top panel, the default background is then displayed, but there no other icons displayed and i cannot open a menu with a right-click on the background. none of the top panel display properties, that were set earlier, are displayed properly until i choose 'System - Preferences - Desktop Background', as above. for the root account, the background and desktop icons are displayed normally. a right-click on the desktop background returns a menu, "Create Folder", "Create Launcher", and so on. all permission values for user's Desktop directory are set correctly. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): nautilus-2.14.1-1.fc5.1 How reproducible: always Steps to Reproduce: 1. log in to user account 2. 3. Actual results: blank desktop Expected results: Default Fedora Bubble PNG image, with "<user>;s Home", "Computer", "Trash", and three SMB links displayed. Additional info:
curiouser and curiouser... i let the machine sit for a while to see whether this was simply slow response to some other internal activity. no change, after several minutes. i clicked on 'trash', in the bottom panel, right side, and desktop functionality is suddenly restored. i log-out, log back in, and now the desktop is behaving normally. i have no idea why that last action would make a difference.
It sounds like nautilus somehow disappeared from you session. Very strange. I'm closing, reopen if you see this again.