settings manager/menus don't work, desktop icon funnies (MEPIS, Ubuntu)

[Carl]

> Original request:
Started using XFCE with MEPIS 6 rc3
MEPIS 6 uses Ubuntu 6.06 as primary repository
Loaded XFCE and a few plugins--but not weather--through Synaptic PkgMgr

Excellent, no problems, everything worked with no hitches. Very good job on 
XFCE! I prefer it over KDE, which is MEPIS standard.

Did a clean install of M6.0Final. Did a fresh reload of XFCE through Synaptic 
of the same XFCE package (4.3.0, I think) as I had previously.

Now there are the following symptoms:
1. Desktop Rightclick menu works except for most choices under Settings
-Settings-Autostarted applications works
-Settings-menu editor works
-None of the other choices bring up a window. They do however take window 
focus away from whatever is active on the desktop (such as this email 
message). It is as if something is running, but not visible. 
2. AltF2 doesn't bring up a dialog box
3. Desktop icons appear as a sheet of paper with a dogeared corner...except 
every once in a while. Example--rightclick on desktop, choose 
Settings/Desktop Settings; focus leaves email message, 2 desktop icons 
momentarily appear as file folder and trash bin, focus returns to email 
message and icons revert to paper sheets. The Desktop Settings window does 
not appear.
4. All Thunar icons are paper sheet
5. Sometimes (haven't noticed cause/effect) the desktop icons disappear and 
desktop rightclick has no apparent effect. If I run /usr/bin/xfdesktop as a 
panel launcher button, the icons reappear and desktop rightclick works.

------------------------------------------------

One suggestion
> install shared-mime-info package, it should do the trick.

Another suggestion including with yet another attached... 
> Sounds exactly like some of the problems I had. They were due to the fact
> that I didn't remove xfce4.2 correctly. Your xfce installation is probably
> trying to use older parts, which doesn't work. Remove the entire package
> completely and re-install.
>
> The xfdesktop crash happened to on two occasions as well, unfortunately I
> wasn't able to find out why.
>
>
> Cheerz,Vincent
>
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > > 1. Desktop Rightclick menu works except for most choices under
> > > Settings -Settings-Autostarted applications works
> > > -Settings-menu editor works
> > > -None of the other choices bring up a window. They do however take
> > > window focus away from whatever is active on the desktop (such as
> > > this email message). It is as if something is running, but not
> > > visible.
> >
> > I don't know what is wrong.  I will try a guess, is xfce-mcs-manager
> > running?  Mmh :/

It has been a great learning experience. Thank you all for your suggestions. 
Thought it would be good to pass along information possibly useful to others.

Tried all the suggestions...none worked. But I learned a lot.

Did several clean reinstalls with Synaptic Pkg Mgr...nope. Synaptic Pkg Mgr 
and Kpackage would not install a working XFCE.

Tried graphical installer. It bombed on the requirement for vte.pc. Discovered 
(as part of binary install-below) what the issue is with this (apparently it 
has been a problem for others). vte.pc is claimed to be part of pkg-config. 
It's not. It's in libvte-dev in Debian unstable. This can be installed 
through Synaptic or other package manager.

Cleaned out everything related to xfce. Loaded XFCE from 4.3.90.2 binaries. 
Terminal-0.2.5 is where ./config complained of no terminal emulator (vte.pc)

Bingo!!! It's working great...better than before. Plus I graduated from Linux 
kindergarten to maybe 2nd grade.

(Almost) everything works just right.

Thank you to everyone who has worked on this. What a beeyootiful thing! 
Watching the config, make and make install lines go by gives some sense of 
how much work and thought has gone into XFCE. The result is excellent.

Carl