after updating , upgrading and dist-upgrading , desktop environment incoherent

[navyairtech]

hey all....

Installed kali Linux in vm workstation 10
Installed vmware tools 9.6.1
rebooted - all good
(same effect with vm workstation 9 & vmware tools 9.2.3)

both pairs of software, i performed:

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade

reboot. not all good

Both VMs:

I lost my desktop icons(still on HD, just not visible)
I cannot right-click on the desktop.(does nothing)
I click on places, computer(or any folder for that matter), it states Opening .... down below on the taskbar, like normal, BUT.... then goes away... poof!
it wont open up. no file/folder windows desktop manager.
Ive tried installing, uninstalling, reinstalling gnome desktop manager, nautilus, dolphin...
at this point im lost. what happens after upgrading that i lose my desktop environment.

Can anyone please help me with this one? im kinda stuck ... thanks

[blackMORE]

Can anyone please help me with this one? im kinda stuck ... thanks
This might help, looks like a similar problem: Fix broken menu (http://www.blackmoreops.com/2013/10/31/how-to-fix-broken-menu-in-kali-linux/)
As you're on VM's, take snapshots

Reinstall Kali-Menu

apt-get install kali-menu -y
Reinstall Kali-linux-full

apt-get install kali-linux-full -y

[navyairtech]

This might help, looks like a similar problem: Fix broken menu (http://www.blackmoreops.com/2013/10/31/how-to-fix-broken-menu-in-kali-linux/)
As you're on VM's, take snapshots

Reinstall Kali-Menu

apt-get install kali-menu -y
Reinstall Kali-linux-full

apt-get install kali-linux-full -y

I created a clone of that vm just before upgrading so now i have a before AND after upgraded VM. I adjusted the settings to all my VMs to take a snapshot when shutting down from that point on.
I can go back to when i have stuff on my desktop just by entering the before_upgraded_VM, but the point to this is:

- I had 'stuff' on the desktop.
- I 'was' able to right click on the desktop before.
- After clicking on places, then anything (computer, desktop, file system), a windows file manager would open up.

When entering terminal mode and viewing these directories (/root/Desktop) , I can now SEE those files that I cannot currently see on the Desktop.
So, I KNOW, that they are still there, but my desktop will not show them to me.

If I click on applications, all the menu items are displaying. I can click on them and they will open the clicked on applications, programs, settings, ... whatever..
I dont think my "menu"'s are persay the problem. In the past, (this is my 3rd VM that has done this to me), I had uninstalled, reinstalled gnome-desktop-manager, uninstalled, reinstalled nautilus. installed, uninstalled dolphin. I just could not make my desktop functionally perform again.

Everything else appears fine. Even vmware-tools is doing its job.

- I have full screen functionality.
- I can copy/paste clipboarded files to/from windows/VM(Linux).

all done, done done... down the list when reviewing bootup logs and verifying vmware statuses.

good thing I set up multiple partitions this time.
worst case scenario, particularly for this particular VM, I can reinstall the distro to the /root, define the /home partition and go on with my merry day.
But I already had another clone of this VM just prior to installing the (apt-get updates) & the (apt-get dist-upgrades).

I even have clipped snapshots of the terminal screen when i was just about to do the upgrades.

For example: I know that the (apt-get updates) CLI will want to upgrade 274 applications, yet leave 31 alone.
and from the (apt-get dist-upgrade) CLI, there are 301 to be upgraded, 111, newly installed , 2 to remove and 4 not to be upgraded

It says "The following packages will be REMOVED: console-tools & libnfc4"

The Linux Console Tools is a set of tools allowing a Linux user to set up his/her console's behaviour.
Why would Linux want to remove that from my machine?

The console driver is made of 2 sub-drivers: the keyboard driver, and the screen driver.
Basically, the keyboard driver sends characters to your application, then the application does its own job, and sends to the screen driver the characters to be displayed.

libnfc4 - Near Field Communication (NFC) library (utilities). libnfc is a library for Near Field Communication.
It abstracts the low-level details of communicating with the devices away behind an easy-to-use high-level API.

yeh, what that said. whatever that means.

This package contains the runtime library files needed to run software using libnfc.

everything else in the vm appears fine.

hmmm....I'll figure this out .... eventually....

-Navyairtech

[navyairtech]

and for the record, ive tried everything on this link: http://www.blackmoreops.com/2013/10/31/how-to-fix-broken-menu-in-kali-linux/
and nothing worked. everything is still the same.

Remove and purge Kali-Menu
apt-get remove --purge kali-menu && apt-get clean
Remove local applications in your profile
rm -rf .local/share/applications
Remove Kali Menus from .config
rm -rf .config/menus
Reboot your machine
reboot

.... Done! and .... no joy!

Reinstall Kali-Menu
apt-get install kali-menu -y
Reboot
.... Done! and .... no joy!

If this doesn’t solve the menu problem, only then move to next step.

Reinstall Kali-linux-full
apt-get install kali-linux-full -y
reboot
.... Done! and .... no joy!

next .... <searching>

[baryah]

I am running Kali Linux 2016.2 on Parallels Desktop on Macbook pro.

I have done it some 5 times - everytime I install Kali Linux and Update it the above happens. i.e. the right click menu and the menu which appears after say opening tweak tool and clicking on GTK+ appear at left upper hand corner. the right click menu is hardly visible - just a white line, but the other one is slightly more visible and doable with arrow keys etc. The mentioned remedies have not helped as this problem always come on upgrading (apt-get upgrade). I think it calls for registering a bug if not already done by someone.

[G3Cube]

Did this ever get resolved? I am experiencing the same issue now after upgrading. The right-click context menu appears as a thin line in the top left corner of the screen - if it appears at all. Other menu items are problematic. Clicking on the >> arrows next to the Bookmarks toolbar in Mozilla Firefox does nothing, as does clicking on the three horizontal menu bars above it. No fun.

[G3Cube]

I have resolved this issue by falling back to Kali Linux version 4.3.3 from the grub boot loader. I am hoping this issue gets resolved soon.