Window manager does not start correctly: pinned windows, mouse doesn't work with menus, etc

Submitted by Tuck Watkins

Assigned to Olivier Fourdan @olivier

Description

running under Xubuntu - XFCE 4.8 on an Aspire One 722-0828 netbook.

I am witnessing several behaviors which I assume are symptomatic of a single problem.

After login I noticed on the top panel that the four workspaces I am use to seeing on the Workspace Switcher are not present. There is only one workspace visible. In fact there is only one workspace. However, the Workspace Settings application indicates in the line "Number of workspaces:" there should be four workspaces. There is only one is listed in the "Workspace Name" box. A failure to initialize all the workspaces perhaps?

When I bring up an application such as Firefox or a file browser the window tends to be pinned in the upper left portion of the screen. When I say upper left I mean that is atop the top panel as well. The title bar for the window is missing [or not visible] and the window is not resizable.

I am unable to use the mouse to click on a menu option when in this state. To close a window I must use a keyboard accelerator or tab and use the arrow keys to navigate to the appropriate menu choice.

Some applications, e.g., update manager, Calibre, etc, are not pinned to the upper left corner. Instead they appear in their normal spot. The have no title bar.

Alt-tab does not switch between application windows. Alt-F2 does work. Alt-F4 does not offer to shut down an application.

As best as I can tell, the applications do what they are supposed to do, but the interface disallows the normal range gestures.

I tried running xfwm4 from a terminal. This fixes things. Title bars come back, the mouse works with menus, the workspaces are all there, and I can work using my normal gestures. However, if I either shutdown and restart or logout then login in the behavior returns. I have to run xfwm4 again to get the system up to standard.

I have looked a various logs for some WARNING or ERROR message. But nothing stand out. Part of my problem is I am new to Linux and may simply be looking in the wrong directory. I seem to have either set something in the window manager incorrectly or hosed it by installing or removing a package.

So, I have two points:

 First, advice on how to debug this type of problem from a user stand point would be appreciated. 

 Second, if there is no logging or notification mechanism for missing modules or variables then I think this is a bug. If there is a logging or notification mechanism then please point me to the it so I can learn to use it. I will then provide a better bug report.

If this is a more serious issue than I assume it is please let me know if I can provide other information that will be of use.

Version: 4.8.0