Desktop File Association Problem

Hi,

I've disabled the default 4-panel desktop and replaced it with the standard traditional desktop.

I've made several links on the desktop by right-clicking files in the file manager and selecting "Send To > Desktop (create link)".
For some reason, these links have all been associated with a program (gens) and now, instead of opening in their respective programs it attempts to open them in Gens, which errors as they are not valid files (these are links to folders which should open in file manager and links to shell scripts which should just execute). Right clicking on them shows "Open with 'gens'" and even when I select "open with other application" and try to set a new default it always reverts back to Gens.

Even more strangely, if I go to "Settings > Desktop Settings > Behavior" and toggle away from "file/launcher icons" and immediately toggle back again, the links come back with the correct associations and even appropriate icons depending on their type. I can also toggle off/on "Allow xfce to manage the desktop" for the same effect. Once I restart they all become associated with Gens again. They are described when I hover over them as "Kind: broken link".

Also, possibly unrelated, my desktop background image doesn't load by default and I have to set a shell script to run on startup that executes "xfdesktop" to force it to re-load the image.

Does anybody have any idea what could be causing this? It was working perfectly until this suddenly started happening.

Cheers

 

I've fixed my desktop image issue by moving the image into the default xfce desktop folder (seems like a bug to me, or a rather arbitrary requirement!)

Still suffering from my main issue though (desktop links)

 

Hi

By "the standard traditional desktop" do you mean xfce standard?
If you do, I placed my Icons on the desktop by the following,
Under File System open /usr/share/applications then find the icon you want click on it and drag to desktop.

With regard to your background, they are stored in the following,
/usr/share/xfce/backdrops.
This is a root folder but you can open by the following,
Open Ternminal (Alt+F2 then run) and type sudo thunar then enter, this will open up file manager but in root (so be very careful) then select the file (photograph you want to use) and copy it, then navigate to the backdrops folder and paste into folder. Then close.

Now open Desktop Settings and where it says File under Images click on icon on RH side and navigate to the backdrops folder then open and select your photo.

Best wishes

 

Thanks for the reply.

I believe I'm now using the xfce standard desktop, yes.

I've fixed my desktop image problem now (the problem was that if you choose a desktop image that is not in the default backdrop directory, it wouldn't load it after booting until you refreshed the desktop - I don't see why this happens as surely it shouldn't matter what directory the image is in as long as it is readable).

As for the links - I've been able to create the links without any problems, its just that it attempts to open them all in GENS rather than following the link and opening the target file with the correct application (or executing them if they are executable files). GENS also seems to have become the default program for opening any file (link or otherwise) of an unknown file-type. The links are on the desktop are described as "broken link", even though they point to files/directories on my local disk. If I refresh the desktop with f5 or by disabling/enabling it they all begin to work perfectly until I reboot. This only started happening recently.

 

Hi

There are many posts on here about people selecting a file for their background but it not being retained on re-boot, so there is clearly default folders that are retained. Backdrops is where Acer hold their standard backgrounds and I know someone uses another folder (can't remember its name) and that is also retained.

I have never seen GENS on my Aspire and when I google it there seems to many references to it being a Sega emulator. Is there any clue in that?

 

Thanks solpuerto,

My desktop image problem is sorted now - You are right about putting it in the default backdrop folder, but this strikes me as a BUG in the operating system/xfce, especially since if you put the image in any other folder it IS loaded when you first choose it, and later on if you refresh the desktop.

Yes, GENS is a Sega emulator. I know what it is, it is software that I have installed. My problem is that:

1. The operating system attempts to open all files of ANY unknown file-type with GENS, when it shouldn't (so it has somehow become the default program for opening all files, and it shouldn't be!). Also, even for all other standard file types, like .txt, "Open with GENS" is the second option in the right-click menu (right after "Open with Mousepad"). I've tried uninstalling GENS, but now I just get an error when I try to open these files (as it cannot find GENS to run it).

2. When the machine boots most of (but not all!) the links on my desktop are marked as "broken link"s, even though they are not broken, and it attempts to open the files the links point to with GENS rather than the appropriate programs. If I cause the desktop to be re-loaded (by disabling and then enabling it again or refreshing it by pressing F5) then this problem goes away until I next restart.

I believe that the two problems are related - because it thinks these are "broken links" it doesn't know what program to try and open them with, so it uses GENS (which is somehow the default).

So I need to do 2 things:

1. Reset the default file-type associations, or make GENS not the default program

2. Stop the system reporting the links on the desktop as "broken" when it boots.

Cheers,