Vanished start menu And cant open even after reset

[ashen tusk]

I accidentally deleted the Menu applet and now it doesnt pop up. I've restarted my laptop a couple times and tried to solve this issue but I have no idea why it doesnt show up anymore

[stray needle]

hit the plus sign

from within Applets.

[ashen tusk]

I did

[stray needle]

then it will have added to the far right

[ashen tusk]

it just disappears for some reason

[stray needle]

right click panel, put into edit mode. then u should see it, and drag it

[ashen tusk]

I just added it

and there's nothing on the far right

[stray needle]

is there only one panel, currently?

[ashen tusk]

yes

[stray needle]

let me have a closer look

[ashen tusk]

whenever I press the super key. The menu pops up but with no applications deeming it practically useless

and it pops up at a random place. Sometimes my primairy or 2nd-airy monitor

[stray needle]

well idk why it went like that lol

in Applets window, highlight the Menu applet, and hit the info "i" button, u should see a little flash on the panel of where it is

[ashen tusk]

this?

[stray needle]

ok nvm . when u click between applets , it should flash each

[ashen tusk]

what do you mean by that?

[stray needle]

like each one u click in the window, should twinkle in the main panel

I think

not sure if edit mode has to be on or not

also try click the gear icon next to the the menu applet in the applets window. adjust settings. maybe it's for some silly reason being 1 pixel wide

[ashen tusk]

lemme try

[stray needle]

or add an image icon to it if missing

in addition, it could be due to the dual monitor thing, so press Alt-F2 to get a run box,

type cinnamon-settings

then go to Displays, and disable the non-primary monitor outright.

also if u see three displays listed in DISPLAYS setting, and you only have two, that has to be addressed.

[ashen tusk]

lemme see rq

[ashen tusk]

only 2 monitors are displayed. Issue still hasnt been resolved

[stray needle]

ok so u disabled one fully right?

[ashen tusk]

yep

[stray needle]

ok do a reboot now

[ashen tusk]

ight brb

[ashen tusk]

I've done all of the steps but still no result

does the video even load 💀

[stray needle]

hang on. i gotta d/l it

[ashen tusk]

whenever I click the Super/Windows key

the thing pops up but with no applications nor any icons

[stray needle]

interesting

[ashen tusk]

never seen something like this b4?

[stray needle]

what happens when u click all applications?

[ashen tusk]

nothing

[stray needle]

nothing??

[ashen tusk]

it's not even clickable

[stray needle]

ok put some text on its label at least u should be able to see it right?

[ashen tusk]

nope

[stray needle]

create a new panel at the top

then right click that panel> applets> add mint menu

[ashen tusk]

now the menu shows up at the top

but still no icons

[ashen tusk]

it's confusing to say the least

[stray needle]

open file manager, go to /usr/share/applications

do u see all apps there?

[ashen tusk]

yes

[stray needle]

well that's a start

[ashen tusk]

indeed

[stray needle]

look up in Applets> get more: a different menu. like Cinnamenu

add that for time being

[ashen tusk]

will do

[ashen tusk]

dang even that doesnt work

[stray needle]

and ur still only on one monitor enabled?

[ashen tusk]

o nah I enabled the 2nd monitor

since It had no effect whatsoever

[stray needle]

the other monitor shows a panel or no?

[ashen tusk]

nope I disabled that

[ashen tusk]

I found this

[stray needle]

idk ur cinnamon de seems to have gotten very corrupted

rollback a week or whatever with a Timeshift save, or reinstall the desktop from TTY at the pretty login screen. (ctrl-alt-f1)

login, then sudo apt install --reinstall cinammon-desktop

[ashen tusk]

this is brutally frustrating

I just did that reinstall cinnamon desktop thing and yet it still tells me that some extensions are failed 2 load

I suppose this means I should browse thruh my terminal and thruh Alt+ F2 from now on

[stray needle]

well u gotta figure out what change took place to cause the menu or applet system to bork

[ashen tusk]

nothing for as much as I remember. All I did was remove Menu from taskbar and ever since I couldnt add it back

[stray needle]

can u configure the "empty" one?

like add categories, favourites, etc

[ashen tusk]

where's that?

[stray needle]

just right click it

[ashen tusk]

rightclick what? I've got no clue wytb

[stray needle]

there's also a menu editor,

[ashen tusk]

hmm? yea what bout i?

[stray needle]

right click that semi-invisible start menu

or click the gear icon beside the name of it in APPLETS window

[ashen tusk]

ohhhhhh that

[stray needle]

u might be able to get to the menu editor "program" by going into /usr/share/applications and looking for it

[ashen tusk]

I also realised even when the Menu applet is disabled

I can still click on the Windows/Super key

[stray needle]

u dont have a Timeshift backup?

[ashen tusk]

not that I know of

Lemme try that rq

[ashen tusk]

it seems that I have not made a backup previously

[stray needle]

make a new user account from Users n Groups in the Settings

do not delete existing user!

give new user sudo privileges.

then login to that. see if u get a stable new desktop layout

[ashen tusk]

no clue why but after doing something.. My screen flashed and it gave me my homescreen back

but the layout does look fairly odd. Doesnt look the same

it's called ''the MATE Panel'' or some sh like that

[stray needle]

that's a different desktop environment's panel

[ashen tusk]

I got a notification saying ''Sorry, Linux Mint 22 has experienced an internal error''

[stray needle]

do u have neofetch installed?

check in terminal

just type that name

then show image

[ashen tusk]

I was just about to mention. There's no terminal option

[stray needle]

press ctrl-alt-T

[ashen tusk]

doesnt work

[stray needle]

alt-f2

gnome-terminal

neofetch

[ashen tusk]

there's something really wrong with this

O

got it

it says it's linux Mint 22

[stray needle]

yeah and ur on Cinnamon desktop

strangely now with a Mate panel that's fully transparent

see if u can access the screenshot tool from it.

[ashen tusk]

I logged out. Clicked on that icon next to my name and saw that there's no ''mate'' option installed

[ashen tusk]

I rightclicked in the blank space in my file explorer and opened terminal from there

I'm also back to normal Cinnamon with the same issue regarding my Menu bar

[stray needle]

ok can u put screenshot tool onto the desktop please?

[ashen tusk]

my screenshot tool?

im just using kazam

[stray needle]

yes. then launch that, set a time delay on it for about 5 seconds, then open the menu before it snaps a pic

or take a vid idc

show menu.

[stray needle]

when you search in that search bar of that bare menu, like for calculator , or disks, does anything come up?

[ashen tusk]

nothing

[stray needle]

https://tenor.com/view/daaaaamn-gif-25554009

[ashen tusk]

it's alright I suppose

I'll try to reinstall the cinnamon default thing from software manager

[stray needle]

not sure if u can while IN the environment

[ashen tusk]

then I'll change to a diff cinnamon environment

[stray needle]

prob have to do it from TTY

logout now

[ashen tusk]

and then?

how do I logout from terminal?

[stray needle]

then all that

[ashen tusk]

oh that

[stray needle]

ctrl-alt-backspace should get u to login manager

[ashen tusk]

I did that and it asked me to specify the cinnamon I wanna install

ubuntucinnamon-desktop
or ubutucinnamon-desktop-minimal

or something like that

[stray needle]

nah that's not it

[ashen tusk]

if I only type cinnamon-desktop

it wont give me anything

[stray needle]

look up what it's called in synaptic

[ashen tusk]

I just realised something crutial

this was not installed.. I just installed it

[stray needle]

that's not it

u just saw in neofetch ur on 6.2 somethign

[stray needle]

here.

[stray needle]

i did notice something extremely strange, and that's that Neofetch said Metacity. that's extremely weird

ok now it's saying mutter

metacity is something from ages ago

[ashen tusk]

my linux is haunted atp 💀

[stray needle]

yep

i'd just fresh reinstall it, and do Timeshift backups once a week from then on. and dont mess with other desktop environments or panels

[ashen tusk]

fresh install?

but what about all my programs and scripts and such?

[stray needle]

yes

u can save the scripts to some external storage, programs have to re-add

[ashen tusk]

aw man

I suppose that's the only way of fixing it huh

[stray needle]

or install xfce4 and be done with cinnamon. purge it

install xfce4 from TTY, not from anywhere else

[ashen tusk]

I don't really know the difference between xfce4 and connamin

🫡

[stray needle]

it's slightly diff menu and less hoggy, bit slimmer

[ashen tusk]

overall use still the same?

[stray needle]

does ctrl-alt-backspace take u out?

yeah it's similar in function

[ashen tusk]

just tested it

[stray needle]

not that there's anything wrong with cinnamon, it's just gotten screwed by some how

[ashen tusk]

and yes it does

[stray needle]

so u can have xfce, then purge all cinnamon stuff, fully, and utterly, then go back to tty, and install cinnamon fresh

[stray needle]

ctrl alt f1 from there

log in , in black screen mode

[ashen tusk]

s olike?

[stray needle]

do sudo apt update

[ashen tusk]

at the login screen I do Ctrl Alt F1?

[stray needle]

yah

[ashen tusk]

see I see

ight

[stray needle]

after it completes updating the packages list, do sudo apt install xfce4

actually hang on wait

it has a special name

i believe the name is xfce4-meta-mint

[ashen tusk]

I'll better do it tomorrow then so that I can use my phone with it

my phone is dead yk

[stray needle]

just try that now

[ashen tusk]

if you say so

[stray needle]

u can also do apt search xfce4-meta-mint or xfce4-mint-meta

til u get a valid result,

[ashen tusk]

what do I do tho? just update and install that

[stray needle]

then install that result

update first, search as shown, then install it

[ashen tusk]

and afterewards just reboot?

[stray needle]

yep, then pick it from the circle icon at login field

[ashen tusk]

nd how do I purge/delete cinnamon?

aint that also from the black screen

[stray needle]

do that tomorrow

[ashen tusk]

bet

[stray needle]

nah once ur in xfce, u can work from synaptic or whatever more easily to uninstall the old

[ashen tusk]

you're really a lifesaver man

[ashen tusk]

I see I see

alright time to install xfce4

[stray needle]

^^

[ashen tusk]

I've done the installation but I had to do it with the command sudo apt install xfce4

[stray needle]

k

[ashen tusk]

since if I specified the mint-meta it didnt work

[ashen tusk]

I do have 1 problem tho. the Superkey doesnt work

[stray needle]

u have a working menu?

[stray needle]

u have no menu cuz u just installled blindly xfce4

instead of the meta-package

[ashen tusk]

ah

[stray needle]

press alt-f2

synaptic

launch it

[ashen tusk]

I did

[stray needle]

search xfce4 whisker menu

[ashen tusk]

I foiund it

xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin

i can put it on ''mark for installation''

[stray needle]

then apply

then once done, add it to panel same as any applet

[ashen tusk]

anything else that needs to be installed?

[stray needle]

for now no

[ashen tusk]

you mean the Menu thing?

[stray needle]

ya

[ashen tusk]

do I need to restart?

[stray needle]

no

[ashen tusk]

great

it works.. But I cant move it 😭

[stray needle]

right click anywhere on panel

panel prefs.

then items tab

drag it in list

[ashen tusk]

ohh

I see I see. It's sorta different but the functoinalities are sorta simial

[stray needle]

yes, u can edit prefs to make opacity/transparency a bit diff, use diff colours,etc, height, width

now ur win key should pop the menu up

and hopefully u have a volume control if u roll mousewheel on it

in whisker menu, some gear icon will bring up the xfce Settings

in case u need to deal with stuff

u can purge cinnamon tomorrow if u want.

[ashen tusk]

taht would be great since it's kinda late now

I installed some additional stuff since I can't really make screenshots for now. I'm really glad you were able to help me out sir. WHo knows maybe I'll main xfce4 eventho I gott aget used to it a lil

[stray needle]

u should have either gnome-screenshot from before (in the whisker menu)

[ashen tusk]

1 thing is for sure.. xfce4 uses less memory

[stray needle]

or u can install xfce4-screenshot from synaptic

or whatever it's called

screenshooter i forgot

[ashen tusk]

I alr installed the package in the syntax thingy

[ashen tusk]

xfce4-screenshooter was it

[stray needle]

kool

[ashen tusk]

1 thing is kinda weird tho. The settings menu is a lil odd

[stray needle]

u can set timed full screen screenshots with it, and capture the start menu open

[ashen tusk]

how do I even enable dark mode 😔

[stray needle]

appearance, and window manager.

2 places

[ashen tusk]

ahh

nvm

[stray needle]

yeh

[ashen tusk]

it's really different from what I'm used to but i'll manage

[stray needle]

u can also press win+p for display selection

[ashen tusk]

oh trust me. I'm aware 😭

nearly messed up my entire thing when I did tat

[stray needle]

u press it, then arrow over to the config of displays u want

[ashen tusk]

will try that 1 day

1 last question and then I'll let you be

how do I make it only ''icons''

instead of the long text thing

[stray needle]

panel prefs> items> edit that task thing to uncheck labels on buttons

[ashen tusk]

finally found it

I thank you abnormally so much for your help. You've helped me on 1 heck of a journey to figure this out

[stray needle]

heh was both insane and fun.

[ashen tusk]

REALL. My linux is haunted and nearly gave up on me 😭

[stray needle]

care to show a ss? do a timered one with the xfce menu open, and anything else minimized

[ashen tusk]

o wait

[stray needle]

no i meant with menu and only current desktop

[ashen tusk]

I didnt use the timered xfce thing

oop wait I messed smth up

ight fixed it

[stray needle]

...

[ashen tusk]

ngl I have no idea wytb

I always use the shift + PRNTSCRN to make a ss

the timered program I was using is caleld Kazam

[stray needle]

fire up the screenshot tool in Accessories

[ashen tusk]

YOU CAN DO THAT???

[stray needle]

it's a program like any other

u said u installed it

[ashen tusk]

u mean the kazam thing?

[stray needle]

either that, or the xfce4-screenshooter

[ashen tusk]

aint the xfce4-screenshooter just the hotkey I was using

[ashen tusk]

like in here?

[stray needle]

u can also adjust keyboard shortcuts so that prnscreen alone brings up the interactive screenshot tool where u can choose what u wanna really do. (much like the snipping tool in windows)

[ashen tusk]

hmmmm

[stray needle]

idrc what u use, i was just curious how the primary monitor looks with the menu

[ashen tusk]

I'd like the hotkey to be Super+shift+S ngl

[ashen tusk]

wait hwat? with which menu?

the kazam menu?

[stray needle]

the new start menu

[ashen tusk]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[ashen tusk]

looks great imo

[stray needle]

ah

yes

[ashen tusk]

barely any difference

o SHOOT

THE MENU IS ALSO TRANSPARANT?

YOOOOOOOOOOOO xfce is so much more customizable

[stray needle]

.

[ashen tusk]

I missed that part fr

anyhow my beloved stunner

[stray needle]

alright enjoy

[ashen tusk]

I'll let you rest and have your own 'me-time'

thank you so so so so much for your help. It was really worth it

time for me to also do some work instead of asking you to help me with everything

I'll see you around brother from another mother

[stray needle]

kk

[ashen tusk]

bye