virtualbox.org

VirtualBox 4.2.10
Host: WinXP3, 32-bit
Guest: Linux Mint 14, 64-bit + Xfce 4.10

Symptoms:

• No window titlebars.
• Windows have southeast sizer only.
• No window borders.
• No wallpaper.

This happened as soon as I loaded the Guest Extensions.

What I did:

1. I purged the VBox stuff that came with Linux Mint 14, thus:

   mark@Iris ~ $ sudo apt-get purge virtualbox*

   as suggested by Perry. It completed okay, removing 3 packages.
2. I installed the Guest Extensions

   mark@Iris ~ $ cd /media/mark/VBOXADDITIONS_4.2.10_84104
   mark@Iris ~ $ sudo ./$d/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

   It completed fine, no errors.
3. I rebooted the VM.
4. The symptoms appeared.
5. I tried to refresh the Xfce desktop

   mark@Iris ~ $ sudo xfdesktop --reload

   No improvement.
6. I quit the Xfce desktop

   mark@Iris ~ $ sudo xfdesktop --quit

7. I loaded the Xfce desktop

   mark@Iris ~ $ sudo xfdesktop
   (xfdesktop:1989): GLib-WARNING **: (/build/buildd/glib2.0-2.34.1/./glib/gerror.c:390):g_error_new_valist: runtime check failed: (domain != 0)
   Failed to connect to session manager: Failed to connect to the session manager: SESSION_MANAGER environment variable not defined
   ^C
   
   mark@Iris ~ $ env
   SSH_AGENT_PID=1469
   SHELL=/bin/bash
   TERM=xterm
   DESKTOP_STARTUP_ID=
   XDG_SESSION_COOKIE=461c99289f676f26ea71a04851573843-1364856588.640122-2035899341
   WINDOWID=67108868
   USER=mark
   SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/tmp/ssh-kyxq5Ln8dsjX/agent.1286
   USERNAME=mark
   SESSION_MANAGER=local/Iris:@/tmp/.ICE-unix/1286,unix/Iris:/tmp/.ICE-unix/1286
   DEFAULTS_PATH=/usr/share/gconf/default.default.path
   XDG_CONFIG_DIRS=/etc/xdg/xdg-default:/etc/xdg
   PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games
   DESKTOP_SESSION=default
   PWD=/home/mark
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   MANDATORY_PATH=/usr/share/gconf/default.mandatory.path
   MDM_XSERVER_LOCATION=local
   SHLVL=1
   HOME=/home/mark
   LOGNAME=mark
   XDG_DATA_DIRS=/usr/share/default:/usr/local/share/:/usr/share/:/usr/share/mdm/
   DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:abstract=/tmp/dbus-vG1t5NaAH1,guid=ee64635a0443742637ad463a515a0f15
   MDMSESSION=default
   WINDOWPATH=8
   DISPLAY=:0.0
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/mark
   MDM_LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   XAUTHORITY=/home/mark/.Xauthority
   COLORTERM=Terminal
   _=/usr/bin/env
   mark@Iris ~ $

Update

Just after I posted I thought about SESSION_MANAGER environment variable not defined and realized that when I launched xfdesktop after quitting it, the environment was mine but the command is root's. So I did the following (and looked what happened!)

mark@Iris ~ $ su
Password:
Iris mark # xfdesktop
xfdesktop[1997] is already running; assuming --reload
Iris mark # xfdesktop --quit
Iris mark # xfdesktop

(xfdesktop:2005): GLib-WARNING **: (/build/buildd/glib2.0-2.34.1/./glib/gerror.c:390):g_error_new_valist: runtime check failed: (domain != 0)
Failed to connect to session manager: Failed to connect to the session manager: Authentication Rejected, reason : None of the authentication protocols specified are supported and host-based authentication failed

** (xfdesktop:2005): WARNING **: xfdesktop: unable to connect to settings daemon: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.. Defaults will be used

** (xfdesktop:2005): CRITICAL **: xfce_desktop_new: assertion `channel && property_prefix' failed

(xfdesktop:2005): Gtk-CRITICAL **: IA__gtk_widget_add_events: assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(xfdesktop:2005): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: invalid (NULL) pointer instance

(xfdesktop:2005): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_signal_connect_data: assertion `G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed

(xfdesktop:2005): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: invalid (NULL) pointer instance

(xfdesktop:2005): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_signal_connect_data: assertion `G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed

(xfdesktop:2005): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: invalid (NULL) pointer instance

(xfdesktop:2005): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_signal_connect_data: assertion `G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed

(xfdesktop:2005): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: invalid (NULL) pointer instance

(xfdesktop:2005): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_signal_connect_data: assertion `G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed

(xfdesktop:2005): Gtk-CRITICAL **: IA__gtk_widget_show: assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
Segmentation fault
Iris mark #

Help, Mister Wizard!

Symptoms:

No window titlebars.
Windows have southeast sizer only.
No window borders.
No wallpaper.

Most of this usually means you are in scaled mode. Use the host+C toggle to make sure you are not. As for some if not all the commands you are using you should not need to be su root to do them. The user has control of their desktop so you should have run them as you. There is another thing I find unusual and that is the command "mark@Iris ~ $ sudo ./$d/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run" which really does not make sense to me at all. Is this the actual command or a typo?

Note: by design (on debian OSes) you should stick with sudo. Root does not really have a desktop and the user that installs the OS is usually in the sudoers list. If not use visudo and add yourself.

Note: If you have more issues I would suggest re-installing as it is going to be hard to recover unless you really know what you are doing.

Perryg wrote:Most of this usually means you are in scaled mode. Use the host+C toggle to make sure you are not.

The symptoms are for windows inside the VM, not for the VM window. I did as you asked. It was not in scaled mode.

Perryg wrote:The user has control of their desktop so you should have run them as you.

Just following the advice of folks in the Linux list who have rows of stars after their names.

Perryg wrote:sudo ./$d/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run" which really does not make sense to me at all.

Why not, Perry?

Perryg wrote:Is this the actual command or a typo?

No, this is not the way I did it because that didn't work - problem with the environment. Instead, I ran a file manager as 'root', right clicked on 'VBoxLinuxAdditions.run', and chose 'Execute'.

Perryg wrote:Note: by design (on debian OSes) you should stick with sudo. Root does not really have a desktop and the user that installs the OS is usually in the sudoers list. If not use visudo and add yourself.

In a previous life I used to use 'vi', but what's 'visudo'?

Perryg wrote:Note: If you have more issues I would suggest re-installing as it is going to be hard to recover unless you really know what you are doing.

Hahahahahahahahahaha.... If I knew what I was doing, I wouldn't be here!

Thanks Perry. What should I re-install?