So. i been testing operating systems for quite some time. Loved Ubuntu and Ubuntu Mate. I used Ubuntu Mate for a few months. I used Wayland and Xorg mostly in Ubuntu Mate. But then changed to Ubuntu 24.04 for 2 months. When i came back to Ubuntu Mate 24.04 the little menu icon to change Desktop Session is gone. cant find it anymore. So i searched for a fix or a solve everywhere. Reddit, Ubuntu Mate, Ubuntu, And more. But i didnt found a answer. I did a few commands. but none worked. Then i kept downloading and changing the same operating system because i thought it could be a fake Ubuntu Mate. But it always was the same. Am i missing something? I didnt had this problem the first time i tried Ubuntu Mate. this my 3rd installation. Is this a bug? a error? a fake installation? Corrupted files? Im clueless here.
Welcome @Ventrix to the community!
Hi, @Ventrix 
You wrote:
Hmm...What do you mean by "the little menu icon to change Desktop Session"? If you're talking about a way to switch between users in Ubuntu MATE 24.04 LTS ("Noble Numbat"), you can find that in the "power" icon menu, located in the upper right corner. Here's a screenshot to make it a bit easier to find:
If it's not that that you want, but you're talking about a way / icon to switch the Desktop Environment session from MATE to, let's say, "GNOME Flashback" (previously known as "GNOME Fallback"), I believe that is (only?) available in "regular" Ubuntu but not in "Ubuntu MATE". The following article from the "UbuntuHandbook" - https://ubuntuhandbook.org/ shows how to do that in "regular" Ubuntu:
In that article - available at https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2024/02/gnome-classic-ubuntu/ - the author mentions the following:
"(...) As far as I know, there are 3 ways to get back the classic Gnome 2 layout. They include:
- Option 1:
gnome-flashback-traditional desktop session based on GNOME technologies.- Option 2:
gnome-shell-extensions– Classic Gnome 2 layout through some Gnome Shell extensions.- Option 3:
MATE Desktop– a free open-source fork and continuation of Gnome 2 Desktop.(...)"
... and then the author of that article proceeds to describe and explain (and illustrate with screenshots) the required steps to set up each one of those 3 Options in "regular" Ubuntu.
I hope this helps
No. there use to be a way to change Desktop Environment Session to change to Ubuntu. Xorg. Mate. When u turn on the pc u will be at login screen and there should be a small icon next to password to change Desktop Session. I changed back to Ubuntu 24.04 but soon im gonna put Ubuntu Mate 24.04 on my other pc. i dont know if this works but i dont think it would since i have tried these before. Gl
Hi, @Ventrix !
Clean installation shouldn't have it. Normally, Ubuntu MATE is coming with one session by default — MATE X11 session. If you install, for example, an additional desktop environment, your greeter will show some session sеlector, since LightDM supports multiple sessions.
Well, I have the same; no gear icon or something in the right-upper corner.
I did a fresh install on rasberry pi of ubuntu desktop by using the rasberry pi Imager. After that installed evrything with “mate” in its name.
Logged out and no icon etc on the screen to switch to mate
freerk55
Hi, @freerk55 and welcome to the Ubuntu MATE Community!
Thanks! Hope to find where I was searching for
The only time the Ubuntu installation will offer a choice of Desktop Managers is using the Icon you mentionned on the Login Screen, nowhere else.
Once you are logged into a session, you cannot flip to another Desktop Manager. It just doesn't work that way because there is no mechanism to perform a "baton handoff" from one Desktop Manager to another.
Each DM stands very much alone, and operates completely detached and unaware of any other DM installation that may co-exist, physically on disk, but they will NEVER co-exist operationally for a given user session, because the session is owned and uniquely-controlled by each Desktop Manager.
I hope that helps.
I just don't know where to tweak those choices, other than to simple install the full list DMs you want to be able to choose from, and allow the greeter logic to correctly configure and offer the choices via the previously-mentionned icon on the Login window.
If there is something configurable at login, that is dependant upon each greeter. The ones usually associated with UbuntuMATE are
- Arctica Greeter (the more recently adopted greeter)
- Slick Greeter (the older, traditional and well-loved greeter)
Check the documentation for each to see what they have available on that aspect of Login options presented by each greeter.
A somewhat associated issue was reported in the following post:
The issue documented in the following bug report may still exist:
You may be forced to replace Arctica-greeter with Slick-greeter if you are having that issue of no displayed choice icon for DM.
Maybe someone with more knowledge could confirm either way?