If you upgraded to Ubuntu 11.04, you might find that some of your familiar icons in the notification area of your panel’s system tray are missing. These will include such system apps as the Update Manager, but more importantly those programs you are running that usually put icons or indicators there.
Some of these might be used for bringing the related programs to the foreground (which is the only way to access those that disappear when minimised, like Firestarter and Vuze), while others are completely useless if not shown in the notification area. A good example of the latter is Parcellite, a clipboard manager which sits in the system tray, and which you can’t access any other way.
So, in Unity, you might not even be sure certain apps are running, without opening the System Monitor. They’re actually open and still trying to put their icons there, but are being prevented by a default Unity setting. But it’s easy to fix, either by the hands-on/visual approach, or the quicker command-line method.
Dconf Editor
First off, if you don’t have Dconf Editor installed, do so by entering the following into a terminal:
sudo apt-get install dconf-tools
To open it, hit Alt+F2 and enter dconf-editor. Navigate to desktop > unity > panel, where the value for the systray-whitelist entry should look something like: [‘JavaEmbeddedFrame’, ‘Mumble’, ‘Wine’, ‘Skype’, ‘hp-systray’, ‘scp-dbus-service’]
You can manually add programs and indicators to it (eg: [‘JavaEmbeddedFrame’, ‘Mumble’, ‘Wine’, ‘Skype’, ‘hp-systray’, ‘scp-dbus-service’, ‘your-indicator-here’]), or you can just get it to show all notifications (which would be preferable, since any programs you install in the future would be included there).
Simply click the systray-whitelist entry and type ['all'] over what is there. That should restore all your usual system tray icons, which were always running, just not visible. To complete this, you will need to run (via Alt+F2) unity --
replace to refresh Unity.
Terminal Command
It’s even easier to do this via the terminal (or Alt+F2):
gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Panel systray-whitelist "['all']"
Once again, you’ll need to refresh Unity to see your changes.
Extra Notes
No Notifications: If you actually want no notifications showing up, leave the value empty. Actually, it will need to be [”] (that’s two single-quotes inside the box bracket), which you can do manually, or by the following command:
gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Panel systray-whitelist "['']"
Don’t Refresh Unity in Terminal: Use Alt+F2 to refresh Unity, as while running unity --
replace in the terminal is fine, if you halt that process, or close the terminal window, Unity will crash. While that isn’t a major deal, it will however leave you without a way to rectify this, as Alt+F2 will not produce the Run dialogue (since the panel isn’t running – which also means no way to log out or restart). You may also find that if you manage to get a terminal up (like if you have a launcher for it on your desktop), you won’t be able to type anything into it.
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[…] GMail Notifier and Vuze are some of my mostly used application, and when I upgraded my previously 10.04 to 11.04 system (Ubuntu), I noticed that some of my currently running application that has system tray icon or indicator gone in the Unity side panel and in the system tray area. Googled it and found this link: Ubuntu 11.04 Fix: Show All Icons/Indicators Notification Area. […]
It’s worked for me!
Thanks a lot!
Spot on. Now if I can just figure why Special+D doesn’t reveal desktop my morning will be complete! Thanks!
thanks for this, though I also had to restart my computer as after doing unity –replace it left me with a blank strip down the side as if the unity panel was out but was showing only desktop. Restart fixed this.
Am off to explore more of your blog to see what other useful things I can do to make this version of ubuntu easier and more user friendly
Forget this, until Unity 3.8.18 arrives. Adding old-style panel icons might be tempting, but if run the above script you won’t be able to click on proper unity indicator icons.
Ie.: If you add Shutter, the icon next to the Shutter’s icon cannot be clicked directly (you cannot invoke the menu).
Well, besides the fact no one else has reported having the same error, I think you are missing the point that people want access to all their programs NOW, not… whenever. But obviously you are experiencing something the rest of us aren’t, so I’d be looking into that – perhaps a forum post is in order.
Wow, the miracle of the human brain :-) You just eliminated the fact that I see a bug, and now that it is working (as there is no bug), it is quite logical that people want to access all their programs.
Anyway, I forgot to link the Launchpad bugreport: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/natty/+source/unity/+bug/761409
I am experiencing the same problem as karatedog. I am unable to click on any of the icons. I have to click on the icon in the top right corner and after the drop down shows up (Logout, suspend, etc) gradually move the mouse left to click on the application’s icon)
I’d even suspect a dodgy Unity update, but the last positive comment was the day before the first one reporting an error. And my system is up to date and still fine. So who knows what is causing this. I’d perhaps Google for errors relating to the indicator app – perhaps even contact the developer to see if he knows what is going on (it can pay to do this, as I’ve brought errors/bugs to the attention of developers before, and have had them fixed a couple of days later, even though I was the only one to contact them about it). If I found out more, I’ll post the info here. If anyone finds the answer first, please feel free to share.
Yes, I’m having the same problems too, despite my recent positive post. I’d updated to Natty about a week before then and have always struggled to click on the indicators and have them do anything. When I first did this fix it worked (I could click on it), but the next day when I turned my comp on the indicators were unclickable again, though Eshwar’s method works.
The answer: https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/761409
Ah yes, that damned whitelist. So the answer is gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Panel systray-whitelist “[‘all’]” in a terminal and restart Unity. Thanks for finding and sharing that with us! I had already set mine to that for another reason, so couldn’t replicate the bug. Seems it was Unity, not the indicator.
PS: I would recommend copying that code and pasting it into a text editor before the terminal, and typing over the dumb slanted “smart quotes” WordPress insists on autoformatting. I’ve found pasting commands formatted like that usually fail, since those smart quotes are actually different characters. When I put commands like that in my blog, I have to insert code for characters like that in html mode. And redo it if I ever have to edit the article again to correct a typo or something, if you can believe it.
unity –replace ended up with a black screen. Luckily, I need only one old icon to be displayed, so I can live with the bug until 11.10 arrives (which upgrade will surely FUBAR my OS :-)
This
works at first. But as soon as I activate my second monitor the additional icons are gone again. Reverting to single screen and I have my icons back. Anybody experiencing this?
It is not only the second monitor that fails. If you go into Expo mode, all of the systray icons will show up on all desktops on the taskbar area (while indicator icons and the taskbar are hidden)
Here’s how to kill that smart quotes crap in WordPress: http://www.lancebledsoe.com/how-to-turn-off-wordpress-smart-quotes/
Thanks! Unfortunately, that’s if you use the WordPress program and do it that way. When I started, the instructions just to set that up were so confusing, I just decided to continue doing it through their site. I’ve figured out the code for various WP anomalies like that, so when making articles it isn’t too much of a problem (but I dread editing those posts again, as you have to reinsert every little bit of alternate code, every time!). However, when replying to comments, the code doesn’t work, so have to keep pointing out things like “that’s a double-hyphen, not a long, single one”.
But thanks for that nonetheless. I might see about using the WP app once again (hopefully you no longer need a degree in web engineering), or probably a Linux equivalent.
I use Ubuntu 11.04 in classic mode and the NNTPgrab and Skype icons were missing. Took me several days searching for a solution, and finally found this command:
gconftool –recursive-unset /apps/panel
Systemtray and taskbar will disapear, but after reboot everything is back, and minimizing NNTPgrab and closing Skype to an icon in the systemtray worked fine.
Thanks for sharing that info with us!
Please peaple,can anyone tell me how i can view the side panel and the top bar of ubuntu 11.04 coz i just upgraded and am not able to see anything on screen all i can see is the wallpaper…please please i beg!!!
Can you Alt+F2 to bring up the Run Application box? If so, try running unity –replace (that’s a double-hyphen before replace, not one long dash).
thank you so much,it worked.
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Thank you so much! I was hating this bug :D
If you try to restart unity (unity –replace) via a terminal, and you Ctrl+D that terminal and then unity crashes, you could try this remedy:
Log in a tty session as the same user (e.g. Ctrl + Alt +F1). Then restart unity from there. Now go back in your GUI session (Ctrl +Alt + F7); the dash should be in place. Now Run (Alt + F2) unity –replace, and unity will most probably be fully restored.
I upgraded from 11.04 with gnome to 11.10 with unity2d and cannot see icons in the system tray (not even the ones i have installed indicator with). I edited the dconf settings but cannot find a way to make this work. Any idea?
Further: if ai do alt+f2 and type unity –replace i get back my dm but completely unable to interact with it and have to restart lightdm. Any idea on this as well?
I reinstalled skype and now the icon shows in system tray.
For xchat though this did not work
Perfect! Thanx!
This is so great! Thanks a bunch!
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“PS: I would recommend copying that code and pasting it into a text editor before the terminal, and typing over the dumb slanted “smart quotes” WordPress insists on autoformatting. ”
That’s why you should alway write it between code tags. Then you don’t have take any extra actions.
gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Panel systray-whitelist "['all']"
I want to remove my skype icon from the panel, i’ve installed a dconf-editor and opened a desktop->unity->panel and checked a systray-whitelist and my skype wasn’t ther. what i found is [‘JavaEmbeddedFrame’, ‘Wine’, ‘scp-dbus-service’, ‘Update-notifier’]. Any ways how to remove skype icon? Thanks in advance.
Hi, not sure if I can help, as I don’t use Skype… and the info out there isn’t too helpful in your case, as the guides I see mention Skype being listed in Desktop > Unity > Panel. Also see mention of it working with 11.04, but not earlier versions (and no idea if it works for 11.10). Seems one way (for 11.10 if you’re using it) is to use the installation script to remove the notification. Basically, you’re downloading the installer, giving yourself permission, then executing the script:
wget http://webupd8.googlecode.com/files/skype-notify-messaging
chmod +x skype-notify-messaging
./skype-notify-messaging
But instead of choosing “1” to install, you choose “2” to remove the notification (in the terminal you’ll see “Remove Skype Messaging Menu / Notifications support”). Hope that helps!
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Thanks a lot! A week ago I upgraded fom 10.10 to 11.10, then some indicators didn’t show on, including Parcellite that I use a lot. Now it’s all ok!
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Hi
I’m using Ubuntu 12.04 with Unity and Mate.
My problem is in Unity only.
I have english and arabic keyboard layouts.
The Language ( keybord layout ) icon had suddenly disappeared from the upper panel. I had tried many commands and googled a lot without results.
I can’t write in arabic now, only english inspite of the arabic layout is there.
any suggestions.
Thank you in advance.
OK, you should be able to access “System Settings” from the top-right, and under “Personal” there should be “Keyboard Layout”. You should be able to change between them in the “Layouts” tab. But I only have the one default “English (US)”, so don’t quote me, but I’m gathering that’s how you’d do it when the icon isn’t in view. You might have to quickly log out and back in again for it to take effect though.
Actually it is more complicated, You can see some details in:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=12272309#post12272309
Worked like a gem man!! Genius! Thanks :-D