After upgrade to 14.04 desktop is blank and taskbar is missing

[Eggplant]

Hi, never posted here before because Kubuntu has never gone wrong on me since I can remember

After installing the latest version, when I login using my old (admin) login I get a black desktop and no start menu/taskbar/tray icons. Clicking on the blank desktop does nothing, including right or double clicks. It only responds to ctrl+escape for the task manager equivalent and control alt delete to logout/shutdown. The background apps that I normally have (boinc, truecrypt) start and run okay.

If I login as guest, however, the desktop and so on all works. If I login as guest logout again, then login again as me then it eventually works.

Any ideas how to solve this properly?

[verndog]

I had a similar experience today using the latest desktop found here: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/tr...-live/current/
Not sure which iso your using. Do you know the md5sum?

[Eggplant]

I am not running from a disc image, it is installed on my desktop and I downloaded the latest update using apper.

Having experimented a little more, I have found that the problem only happens if the ethernet cable connection to the internet is not connected during startup. If not I have to log out and log back in again with a working internet connection.

[kubicle]

After installing the latest version, when I login using my old (admin) login I get a black desktop and no start menu/taskbar/tray icons. Clicking on the blank desktop does nothing, including right or double clicks. It only responds to ctrl+escape for the task manager equivalent and control alt delete to logout/shutdown. The background apps that I normally have (boinc, truecrypt) start and run okay.

Blank desktop and no panels/widgets usually means that plasma-desktop isn't running (it might havve not started at all or has crashed during loading

You can troubleshoot by starting konsole (you can still start konsole [or any other app] by pressing Alt+F2 and run "konsole")

In the konsole:
1. try starting plasma-desktop with "plasma-desktop", does it start or crash? any error messages?
2. make sure you have everything installed "sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get kubuntu-desktop"
3. As a "last resort", you can try clearing plasmaconfiguration files "rm ~/.kde/share/config/plasm*"

[Eggplant]

Trying (1) I just get an error message:
"ODBus Connection:session D-Bus connection created before Ocore Application. Application may misbehave"
and nothing happens.

Trying (2) gives a list of packages and then an error message:
"Invalid Operation kubuntu"

What will I lose configuration wise if I try the last resort?

[kubicle]

Trying (2) gives a list of packages and then an error message:
"Invalid Operation kubuntu"

Sorry, my mistake, the correct command is:
"sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop"

What will I lose configuration wise if I try the last resort?

You'll lose your custom plasma configurations (widgets you have added, desktop background etc. ...these are usually fairly easy to redo)