Desktop Issue.

[LearningTheSport]

Hello All,

Thank you for taking the time to read this ridiculous cry for help. So when I boot up Kubuntu now it brings me to the Login page where the username and password is/are. So I login with the correct information and it just goes to Kubuntu's signature wallpaper and the command prompt pops up rather than my desktop with all the amenities. What happened to my desktop and how do I get it back to usual? What did I do wrong?

Says:
Welcome to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (GNU/Linux 3.0.0-17-generic i686)

Then my computer name;~$

Thanks again. Using the latest Kubuntu

[rms]

Says:
Welcome to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (GNU/Linux 3.0.0-17-generic i686)

Then my computer name;~$

Thanks again. Using the latest Kubuntu

Heh, I wonder how you ended up with 3.0.0-17 kernel in Precise? Anyway, try startx from that prompt...

[ardvark71]

Thank you for taking the time to read this ridiculous cry for help.

Hi and welcome to the forums.

Your request for help is not ridiculous, things like this happen all the time.

Did you install or change something in the OS, like a setting, that brought this about?

Regards...

[arochester]

It worked and now it doesn't work.

Have you got older kernels you can boot into? Do they bring up graphics?

[LearningTheSport]

startx just yields an error:

Fatal server error:
Sever is already active for display 0
If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock
and start again


Please consult the The X.org Foundation support
at http://wiki.x.org
for help.

ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log
XIO: fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server ":0"
after 7 requests (7 known processed) with 0 events remaining.

I'd like to restore or recover but if all else fails:

I just want one folder off the HD, what would be the easiest way to retrieve it under these conditions?

[LearningTheSport]

Ok, I would love to learn how to restore my system back to May 6th, 2012 as it was running flawlessly for 1.5 years until now. I installed a program (searching for it now) and it removed adept and Dragon Video Player for some reason. I noticed that my Dragon Video Player icon was missing so I clicked on the K and also noticed everything was changed from the nice look of signature Kubuntu to folder style layout form. I remember seeing XMail and XOrg. I just thought it was a glitch so I reboot the computer and here I am. Too simplify everything I just want to know how to write the code to move a folder from the hard drive to my external hard drive that was hooked up to it. I am new but due retain common sense. What would be the "exact typed code" for moving/copying/etc. to the external drive. Then once that folder is moved, I can then go back to either trying to restore the HD or start from scratch. Does that sound more feasible? Or would it be easier to restore the desktop to its original perfect shape on May 6th, 2012? Did I dimwittedly install something and now it is clashing so the computer will no longer boot up? If so, how would I fix that? Sorry, I should be ashamed.

[james147]

Ok, I would love to learn how to restore my system back to May 6th, 2012 as it was running flawlessly for 1.5 years until now.

Unfortunately there is no simple restore options, but that doesn't mean the problem cannot be solved.

Too simplify everything I just want to know how to write the code to move a folder from this hard drive to my external hard drive that was hooked up to it. I am new but due retain common sense. What would be the "exact typed code" for moving/copying/etc. to the external drive.

I cannot tell you the exact command and arguments to use as it depends on your system, but the first step is to find out what drive you want to copy to is and see if it is mounted. If you run

sudo blkid -c /dev/null -o list

it will print a list all your partitions and where they are mounted.

If the drive is not mounted then run the following to mount it

udisks --mount /dev/sdXY # replace X and Y with the drive number and letter found with blkid

It should mount the drive somewhere under /media (it should tell you where it was mounted).

Next you can copy the files and folder you need with the rsync command:

sudo rsync -avhP /path/to/source /path/to/dest

Note sudo is only needed if you want to copy files you don't own and the -a argument will preserve owner ship of the files (and most other meta data).

Once that finished (and it can take a while depending on how much data you want to copy) its probally best to run

sync

to make sure the data is written to the disk, you can unmount the disk if you want with

udisks --unmount /dev/sdXY

Then once that folder is moved, I can then go back to either trying to restore the HD or start from scratch. Does that sound more feasible? Or would it be easier to restore the desktop to its original perfect shape on May 6th, 2012? Did I dimwhitted install something and now it is clashing so the computer will no longer boot up? If so, how would I fix that? Sorry, I should be ashamed.

I would follow the above first, if anything its a good learning experince on how to do things from command line (especially backing uping up files which can be important thing to know). But it can take a while and trying to restore your system is unlikely to break things so bad it destroys your data (worst case is normally booting a live cd and coping the files to the backup media that way, though there is always a risk when interacting with your computer ).

As for fixing your system the first thing I would check is if your system is fully up to date and has everything installed it should:

sudo apt-get update  #refresh the package lists
sudo apt-get install -f #check if there are any broken packages and fix them
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade #upgrade your system to the latest packages
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop #installs the kubuntu-desktop meta package which depends on everything kubuntu needs to run

[oshunluvr]

In you original post you said "returns to the command prompt." Did you mean "returns to the log in prompt?" This is an entirely different situation. If you meant log in prompt, likely your home directory is full or you've launched a GUI program as root and messed up your home directory permissions.

[LearningTheSport]

The files and folder you need with the rsync command:

sudo rsync -avhP /path/to/source /path/to/dest

Note sudo is only needed if you want to copy files you don't own and the -a argument will preserve owner ship of the files (and most other meta data).

Awesome.
Now

sudo rsync Downloads/ /media/LOCAL DISK/saveme/

Says "Downloads/" is a directory but the other doesn't exist even though I'm starring right at it. What am I doing wrong, wow?

[james147]

The files and folder you need with the rsync command:
sudo rsync Downloads/ /media/LOCAL DISK/saveme/

Says "Downloads/" is a directory but the other doesn't exist even though I'm starring right at it. What am I doing wrong, wow?

Use the argument -a (archive mode, copies the files recursively with their permissions time stamps and other meta data) you can add -P to stop it deleting half copied files if you interrupted the process (makes resuming it again by rerunning the command faster) and shows the progress of each file being copied. -v just makes if print what its doing (not sure if its needed with -P) and -h makes the numbers appear in human readable form.

Also the trailing / is important, having it means copy the just the contents to the destination (../saveme/contents) and not having it means copy the directory to the destination (../saveme/Downloads/contents).

[akafoo]

sudo rsync Downloads/ /media/LOCAL DISK/saveme/

You will need to escape the space in the path, as follows:

sudo rsync Downloads/ /media/LOCAL\ DISK/saveme/

[LearningTheSport]

you will need to escape the space in the path, as follows:

sudo rsync downloads/ /media/local\ disk/saveme/

^^^^
You are officially my HERO! Solved!

And the other kind fellow who displayed the original code! Heros! Thank You!

I honestly don't know how to repay you. You both have made my day!

[ardvark71]

Hi...

I'm glad the problem is fixed.

If you would, please mark this thread as "Solved."

Thanks...

[LearningTheSport]

Will do! Thanks again as I am using the computer now. Hurray!