[SOLVED] Gray Desktop | Linux Mint Community🍵 | Page 1

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:20 PM

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Title:
Gray Desktop hiding wallpaper

Description:
The desktop turned gray at random when using my laptop. I don't know what caused it but I was in GPU Screen Recorder when it happened (New UI). Changing the desktop icon behavior displays the wallpaper breifly before graying back out

Steps to Reproduce:
Unknown

Expected Behavior:
Desktop showing image

Actual Behavior:
Desktop grayed out

Additional Information:
See posted video file

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:24 PM

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change the wallpaper, and set to fill or stretch

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and choose soemthing COLOURFUL so it's easy to distinguish

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pro tip: Use VokoscreenNG as an easy-to-use, easy-to-get (in the repos) Screen Recorder, without any BS issues

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:26 PM

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I see, ill install it right now

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:26 PM

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weary viper I see, ill install it right now

do ctrl-alt-backspace first

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:27 PM

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Did that, logged in. Wallpaper was good until the fade ended, back to gray

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:28 PM

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ensure no funny business app is launching in the Autostart applications

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:29 PM

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digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 9:29 PM

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It looks like high contrast option from accessibility

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:29 PM

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Killing xapp sn switcher in task manager did nothing

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:30 PM

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digital dust It looks like high contrast option from accessibility

high contrast is off

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:30 PM

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scroll down the list incase more hiding

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:30 PM

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Thats all

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:31 PM

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what exactly was installed or messed with before this problem?

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:32 PM

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I believe nothing during the session

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:33 PM

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try a full reboot

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:33 PM

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Ive tried that three times

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one after fully updating

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:33 PM

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though it doesn't look good, judging just by the relog

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:33 PM

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😫

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:34 PM

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u mentioned GPU screenrecorder.

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:34 PM

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yes

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:34 PM

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that already raises suspicion

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:34 PM

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mm

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:34 PM

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check / show result of inxi -SGxxx

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:34 PM

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LinuxMint% inxi -SGxxx
System:
Host: LinuxMint Kernel: 6.14.0-35-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64
compiler: gcc v: 13.3.0 clocksource: tsc
Desktop: Cinnamon v: 6.4.8 tk: GTK v: 3.24.41 wm: Muffin v: 6.4.1 vt: 7
dm: LightDM v: 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 22.2 Zara base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel GeminiLake [UHD Graphics 605] vendor: Dell driver: i915
v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0
chip-ID: 8086:3184 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: Realtek Integrated Webcam driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-4:2 chip-ID: 0bda:5689 class-ID: 0e02
serial: 0x0001
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X:
loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0
screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.21x7.99")
s-diag: 414mm (16.31")
Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: AU Optronics 0x405c res: 1366x768 hz: 60 dpi: 136
size: 256x144mm (10.08x5.67") diag: 294mm (11.6") modes: 1366x768
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris platforms: device: 0 drv: iris
device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: iris surfaceless: drv: iris x11: drv: iris
inactive: wayland
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa
v: 25.0.7-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa
Intel UHD Graphics 605 (GLK 3) device-ID: 8086:3184
LinuxMint%

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:35 PM

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weary viper

disable this Nvidia Prime app

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:36 PM

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restart?

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:36 PM

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seems some overlay is in play. except the panel which shows fine

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u can ctrl-alt-backspace.

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could also be the theme chosen.

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it may be wonky

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:38 PM

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shitting myself

digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 9:39 PM

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Show us settings - themes window

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:40 PM

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switched to all the Mints and still wack

digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 9:41 PM

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Change it to mity-y

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:41 PM

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did gpu screen recorder mess up everything😔

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Mint-Y Still has the same issue

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:44 PM

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check system monitor, in its Processes tab

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from its menu: "show all processes/ from all users"

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sort alphabetically, then comb through it

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if some gpu-related thing is showing, terminate it

digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 9:45 PM

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Also you can turn high contrast on and then off, maybe it glitched

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And try restarting cinnamon too. Right click on the empty spot on the panel - troubleshooting - restart cinnamon

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:46 PM

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searched through gpu, screen, record, intel, amd, and nvidia and made sure to kill any that showed up

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Restarting cinnamon didnt work aswell as the accessability option

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ill try uninstalling gpu screen recorder and see if that fixes it

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:49 PM

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Did that, logged in. Wallpaper was good until the fade ended, back to gray

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something is starting up at that moment, to ruin things

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:50 PM

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mm

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:50 PM

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make an alternate user.

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:52 PM

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I swear what did i do to deserve this😭

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well ima switch back and see if uninstalling did wondes

digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 9:53 PM

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Also to try, in the terminal

xgamma -gamma 1

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:54 PM

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-> Red 1.000, Green 1.000, Blue 1.000
<- Red 1.000, Green 1.000, Blue 1.000

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 9:54 PM

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weary viper I swear what did i do to deserve this😭

this is alternate user?

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:54 PM

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yes

digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 9:56 PM

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weary viper -> Red 1.000, Green 1.000, Blue 1.000 <- Red 1.000, Green 1.000, Blue 1.00...

after that restart cinnamon

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:56 PM

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im lowk stuck

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still nothin

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I honestly feel like atp i might aswell abuse the hell out of desklets to ignore the ugly gray

digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 9:58 PM

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just to check, what does

xrandr --verbose | grep -i gamma

say?

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:59 PM

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Gamma: 1.0:1.0:1.0

digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 9:59 PM

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ok, gamma's normal. What recorder did you use?

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 9:59 PM

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gpu screen recorder

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ive uninstalled it a few minutes ago

digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 10:00 PM

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this one?

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 10:01 PM

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yes

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I loved it on arch and i was hoping it could be as fast on mint😔

digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 10:02 PM

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New user seems fine, yes?

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 10:02 PM

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yes

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 10:02 PM

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maybe copy the xorg.conf file from new user to your own user's location

digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 10:03 PM

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If new user is fine, it's likely something in current user's settings, not global

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Try troubleshooting - reset all settings

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 10:04 PM

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holdon, ima try the xorg conf first if i can find it

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Mm i cant find it

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ill try resetting my settings

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damnit its still bugged hmmpepe

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 10:07 PM

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weary viper holdon, ima try the xorg conf first if i can find it

go into other user account. (fully log out)

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open home folder in file manager

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(of new userhome)

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press ctrl-h

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then ctrl-f

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and search xorg.conf

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 10:11 PM

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No results in nemo and find
find: ‘xorg.conf’: No such file or directory

digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 10:13 PM

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Ok, from the affected user, show us settings - color window

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 10:15 PM

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Being honest here, i dont think its color related. I haven't touched any color settings or so besides changing my themes

digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 10:18 PM

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Ok, from the terminal try

sudo apt install -y xcalib
xcalib -clear

and restart cinnamon

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 10:18 PM

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Still nothing

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ill see if its a recongnized issue with gpu-screen-recorder in their website

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seems like issues are reported via email

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which im not trying to make

digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 10:22 PM

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Ok, try these (one at a time)

gsettings reset-recursively org.cinnamon
gsettings reset-recursively org.gnome.desktop.interface
gsettings reset-recursively org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.color
gsettings reset-recursively org.gnome.mutter

and restart cinnamon

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I'm guessing did not work

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 10:24 PM

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nope

digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 10:24 PM

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then try these

dconf reset -f /org/gnome/desktop/color/
dconf reset -f /org/cinnamon/

and restart

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 10:26 PM

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honestly im tired atp

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im gonna sleep and reinstall mint later in the day

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[UNSOLVED] Gray Desktop

digital dust Nov 4, 2025, 10:28 PM

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Try

rm -rf ~/.cache/gsettings ~/.config/gtk-3.0 ~/.config/gtk-4.0

before you go

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 10:29 PM

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OH MY GOD

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[SOLVED] Gray Desktop

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 10:31 PM

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SHEEEIT

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 10:31 PM

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Well now i gotta retheme and setup everything😭

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ill miss gpu screen recorder, it had a nice popup-ui that made it quick to understand what i needed to do without much setup

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and it was so fast

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all i know that it works gpu wise

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 10:33 PM

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weary viper all i know that it works gpu wise

u could try doing a full timeshift save , which INCLUDES HIDDEN HOME files

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then reinstalling the recorder

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 10:34 PM

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I broke my mint install last time i used timeshift

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 10:34 PM

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or use voko

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 10:34 PM

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but ok

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-# how big can these snapshots get?

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 10:35 PM

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big.

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delete all browser caches

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if gonna do the hidden home one

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or put certain things in exemptions

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 10:36 PM

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yeah ill just be doing hidden home files

hard spear Nov 4, 2025, 10:37 PM

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digital dust Try rm -rf ~/.cache/gsettings ~/.config/gtk-3.0 ~/.config/gtk-4.0 before you g...

this is an example of hidden home stuff.

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which a default timeshift excludes, and wouldnt have helped u this time

weary viper Nov 4, 2025, 10:38 PM

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syncing with rsync, will be sleeping during that

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good day wavecat

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this is NOT my home dot files

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so thats a 20 gb backup

#[SOLVED] Gray Desktop