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Can't change the Desktop wallpaper Debian 9.1 xfce

Graphical Environments, Managers, Multimedia & Desktop questions.
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sagarbhooshan
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Can't change the Desktop wallpaper Debian 9.1 xfce

#1 Post by sagarbhooshan »

Recently I switched from Xubuntu to Debian, particularly Debian 9.1 xfce. My system in up to date however, I am not able to change the wallpaper using the GUI options. When I opt RightClick > Desktop Settings , the pop up shows the wallpapers and I am able to change it but when I try to choose a custom folder its all greyed out, so I am not able to choose a custom folder say "Pictures" or "Downloads" folders. I haven't tried any cmd lines to change my background yet since I don't wanna change it like so but I would like to know why its so ? How I can solve it out ?
I am not able to browse any of the folders other than the default directory, and ofcourse the default current dir /usr/share/images/desktop-base - I can't select that even, since its greyed out too. However its showing the default wallpaper of Debian 9.1.
I installed this from the DVD official download as normal. This user doesnt had any sudo permission at the time of install, lately added sudo permission using the command

Code: Select all

adduser <username> sudo

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stevepusser
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Re: Can't change the Desktop wallpaper Debian 9.1 xfce

#2 Post by stevepusser »

You are supposed to be able to try a custom folder by picking "other", and then picking its location. The actual files in the folder will still be grayed out, but available in the wallpaper chooser once you confirm the new folder location. It's a little tricky, I admit.
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sagarbhooshan
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Re: Can't change the Desktop wallpaper Debian 9.1 xfce

#3 Post by sagarbhooshan »

No, I am not able to choose any other folder using option "Other" since all other folders itself is greyed out in any locations. So how can I do it ?

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Re: Can't change the Desktop wallpaper Debian 9.1 xfce

#4 Post by stevepusser »

I can't reproduce the problem...any one else?
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Re: Can't change the Desktop wallpaper Debian 9.1 xfce

#5 Post by bryanmc »

If you click the + icon it will let you navigate to folders and select files... (Or you can just open thunar, go to the folder in question, select the desired image with a rt click and select "set as desktop background")

Innovate
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Re: Can't change the Desktop wallpaper Debian 9.1 xfce

#6 Post by Innovate »

Just right click images from thunar & "set as wallpaper"
Once you set it will change directory along with that image that you set as wallpapers
For example if you set images from /home/usr/Pictures it' load all images in that directory
that you use & you don't have to change folder from desktop right click settings.

If you choose inside from desktop settings of course it'd grey out and you can't browse directory in that way.

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Re: Can't change the Desktop wallpaper Debian 9.1 xfce

#7 Post by obaino »

If you click on the pencil at the upper left corner of the dialogue box where you're supposed to choose a folder of your preference, you will be able to insert the your preferred folder manually.

hope this helps

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Re: Can't change the Desktop wallpaper Debian 9.1 xfce

#8 Post by stevepusser »

OK, now the behavior is appearing in multiple version of mine and other testers of the MX 17 pre-alpha. It's fine when the ISO is installed, but not now. This is making me think that some Stretch update in the past couple weeks is to blame, and that Debian xfce users that don't see it yet are not doing updates (only a theory!) So now we have to try and bisect the updates to see if any are to blame, and try to run the settings manager from a terminal to see if any interesting errors will show. A backported xfce 4.12.3 we are running on a Jessie base in MX 16 is still showing the correct behavior, but we are not tracking every Stretch update with that. Any permissions issue seems to be ruled out by folders in the user's home folder still being grayed out.
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Re: Can't change the Desktop wallpaper Debian 9.1 xfce

#9 Post by stevepusser »

I stand corrected, the same bug is in the pre-alpha, and I would guess for every Debian Stretch user...they just have to dig into the "other" folder choice. Here's the bug report, but sadly no action: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepo ... bug=863552 For now, we have to resort to the workarounds.
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Re: Can't change the Desktop wallpaper Debian 9.1 xfce

#10 Post by stevepusser »

kmathern pointed out to me that the Debian testing version has a patch that's supposed to fix it. Apparently the source of the issue is deep in the version of gtk 2 that Stretch is using:

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xfdesktop4 (4.12.3-4) unstable; urgency=medium

  * debian/patches
    - 0001-Settings-Allow-directories-to-be-selected-Bug-12832 fix regression
    with Gtk 2.24.31+ which preventing directories to be selected in
    wallpapers settings.                                        closes: #849823

 -- Yves-Alexis Perez <corsac@debian.org>  Sat, 18 Feb 2017 14:24:28 +0100
Bur it really should be rolled into stretch-updates. I'll do MX 17 versions and a build on the openSUSE build service if it actually fixes it.
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