MATE desktop seems to have been ruined

Support & Help Requests
1

I recently installed the ubuntu-unity-desktop and ubuntu-budgie-desktop but didn't like them. So I deleted them using sudo apt purge and sudo apt autoremove. After doing this, my PC still shows the ubuntu unity logo while booting and shutting down. Also, I still have the option to change desktop environments while logging in and when I log into MATE my panel is all messed up and doesn't even fix when I reset all panels.

1 Like
2

I guess it would be fair to say that although some may suggest certain things that you should do, the damage has already been done [and it's likely gonna take an eternity dealing with that]. If I were you, I'll make my life easier by backing my files up and reinstalling.

That's my two cents. I don't like dealing with multiple desktops in a single setup either. If you didn't like that, maybe we can both wait for someone else. I'm similarly keen on what they may have to offer.

6 Likes
3

Could you show us the output of:

sudo apt update
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get install -fy
sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo apt-get autoremove --purge -y
sudo apt full-upgrade -y
1 Like
4

Do you think that reinstalling ubuntu-mate-desktop (not definitely) may fix broken parts?

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5

You mean I should boot into recovery mode, remove it then install it again ?

6

Well, I think removing it is not mandatory. Just apt reinstall ... would suffice if the problem can be fixed that way.

2 Likes
7

Unfortunately, that hasn't fixed anything

8 
Hit:1 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble InRelease
Hit:2 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates InRelease              
Hit:3 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-security InRelease               
Hit:4 https://deb.opera.com/opera-stable stable InRelease                      
Hit:5 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports InRelease            
Hit:6 https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu noble InRelease                 
Hit:7 https://tvd-packages.tradingview.com/ubuntu/stable jammy InRelease       
Hit:8 https://repo.steampowered.com/steam stable InRelease                     
Hit:9 https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease       
Hit:10 https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
1 package can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see it.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 1 not to upgrade.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 1 not to upgrade.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
Get more security updates through Ubuntu Pro with 'esm-apps' enabled:
  vlc-plugin-qt libvlc5 freerdp2-x11 vlc-data bettercap libvlccore9 vlc restic
  vlc-bin libwinpr2-2t64 vlc-l10n libcjson1 libavdevice60 ffmpeg libpostproc57
  vlc-plugin-samba libavcodec60 libavcodec60 vlc-plugin-notify libavutil58
  libavutil58 libswscale7 libfreerdp-client2-2t64 vlc-plugin-access-extra
  vlc-plugin-skins2 vlc-plugin-video-splitter libswresample4 libswresample4
  vlc-plugin-video-output libavformat60 libfreerdp2-2t64 libvlc-bin
  vlc-plugin-base vlc-plugin-visualization libavfilter9
Learn more about Ubuntu Pro at https://ubuntu.com/pro
The following upgrades have been deferred due to phasing:
  ubuntu-drivers-common
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 1 not to upgrade.
9

Bad lead.
At login screen, can you check if you can select the guest login? Don't select the guest and ensure you login to your user.

1 Like
10

Yes, I can select it.

11

You appear to be asking/complaining about seeing the plymouth screen for a removed flavor, that is really just a wallpaper and isn't removed when you purge the package, as if you had no others available you'd be getting an error; thus all metapackages tend to skip that, rather than have specially coded logic that detects if it can be removed (ie. others exist on your file-system; users would likely see that as invading privacy anyway; so code isn't there)..

You just select another plymouth screen to be used; that occurs automatically when you install new ones, but just kick that process off yourself. Does a wasted few hundred KB (maybe a MB) of disk space for a picture/text file really worry you? You can just manually remove those files without issue too.

This maybe rough; gotta depart now

4 Likes
12

Does everything else work ?

1 Like
13

Go to /usr/share/xsessions/ and remove redundant launchers.

3 Likes
14

At a guess: there's some leftover material in /usr/share/plymouth/themes/. You can look at where the default is pointing via:

sudo update-alternatives --query default.plymouth

The line

Value: /usr/share/plymouth/themes/ubuntu-mate-logo/ubuntu-mate-logo.plymouth

tells you, essentially, what theme it is using (in my example, MATE's).

Does this mean you can log in to other sessions still? I would expect not, and in this case, I'd do as @ironfoot suggested, and look for redundant entries in /usr/share/xsessions/.

You might be able to get the correct behaviour by fixing up the panel, then going to MATE Tweak -> "Panel" -> "Save as" - for a new custom configuration.

It might seem annoying, but I find it a lot easier to test different desktops in a virtual machine (virt-manager makes this relatively easy) rather than risk messing up my day-to-day OS.

4 Likes