Month: May 2019

Linux Mint – Min, Max, & Close Buttons Disappeared

On By pirategaspardIn ProgrammingLeave a comment

Recently I installed LinCity, a sim-city clone, on Linux Mint. It didn’t run, so I uninstalled it.  After uninstalling the package, my minimize, maximize, and close buttons disappeared on all my windows.  It wasn’t just that. My mouse cursor became a big “X” and right-click stopped working!

I knew some setting had changed during the uninstall but I wasn’t sure what it was.  A quick Google search showed results from 2012 which didn’t seem to apply to my version of Linux Mint. I tried them anyway with no success. Another poster said they had luck re-installing some of the core packages.  I tried re-installing all of the GNOME and Cinnamon packages that were already installed. That did nothing.

Eventually under “Preferences” I found the “Desktop Settings” application.  In that app, under “Windows” I discovered that my Windows Manager setting was blank.  I set it to “Metacity” and bam! everything started working again.  I tried switching to Compiz, but then all my buttons disappeared again.  Luckily there’s a “Reset Compiz Setttings” button on the same screen. After pressing that my desktop was back to normal.

Not sure why this happened, but hopefully this post helps someone else!

Desktop-settings