Mate Desktop Issues on CentOS 7 [Solved]

[dgscos]

I got CentOS 7 installed with the Mate Desktop (from EPEL). Everything seems fine except that the desktop does not display. Also a right click on the desktop does nothing (it should bring up a context menu). If I add a new item to the desktop (right click on menu item, then select add to desktop), the new item appears in my personal Desktop folder, but does not display on the desktop.

I am a long time Fedora user with the Mate desktop and happy with it. However, Fedora changes often (almost daily!) and I wanted to try something more stable, hence the CentOS 7 install.

Obviously, something is set wrong (probably my fault). Where are the Mate configuration files located?

I would list my hardware, but Fedora with Mate is running on the same machine with no issues. So, it seems like this is a software issue.

Thanks in advance.

Best regards.

[roman]

I've got the same problem, but no solution.

[rajing]

Try running "nautilus --force-desktop" from the terminal. Haven't looked into how to start it by default.

[aryesk]

i had the same problem , the problem is that for some reason caja doesnt start on startup
but it does start from terminal , i found the solution by using script on startup

#!/bin/bash
caja

if someone have a better solution for the proper way caja should start please post


thank you

[dgscos]

Thanks Rajing - running "nautilus --force-desktop" from a terminal works. The desktop is displayed.
However, the desktop background is a deep black, and if the process running nautilus is terminated, the desktop disappears.

In "poking around", I found that if you change System --> Control Center --> Preferred Applications --> System tab --> File Manager to Files (nautilus), you don't have to start nautilus from a terminal. After you login, click Places --> Desktop and a nautilus window for your desktop folder opens and the desktop icons appear. Closing the nautilus window leaves the desktop icons in place. Also, a right click on the desktop displays the context sensitive menu.

This is not a perfect workaround. The background color is still a deep black, no text displays by the icons, and I believe that setting the desktop background will cause it to disappear again. However, having the desktop available, even with the limitations I have described, is preferable to having no desktop.

Since this is a workaround rather than a solution, I will leave this item open for the time being.

Thanks again.

[dgscos]

Solved! 3 steps to solve the issue:

1. Make sure caja is the default file manager in System --> Control Center --> Preferred Applications -->System tab.

2. Add caja to automatically start in System--> Control Center --> Startup Applications.

3. Reboot.

Thanks to Aryesk and Jajing for pointing me in the right direction.

Best regards.

[gyoramg]

If you add in "Startup Application" the command "caja --no-default-window", caja will handle the Desktop (show the icons and allow the menu), without opening its file manager window.

[rklrkl]

Solved! 3 steps to solve the issue:

That's a useful fix, but it's a shame that EPEL is still in beta status (there's no "7" tree yet) and there hasn't
been any MATE RPM updates since early April 2014 that would hopefully fix this caja issue.

I really don't like the GNOME Classic interface that CentOS 7 defaults to and I've found MATE on other distros (especially Mint)
to work fine as a "GNOME 2 lookalike", so to not have the MATE desktop work out of the box
(well, OK, after enabling EPEL and running the appropriate yum command) is a bit disappointing.