Window decorations are sometimes missing after login

Hello,
I 'm affected too
FYI: see similar bug and workaround here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1466393&page=2

have got this bug since lucid alpha days. reloading the window manager e.g. by using compiz fusion icon solves it temporarily

Same problem. Reloading window mgr fixes it for session, but problem recurs on reboot.

I got this problem on every boot, and have to log out and In again to solve the titlebar problem but still get the windows decorator fail error.

There is a solution offered on the bug forum of KDE4 : https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=232213

But I don't understand the compiling thing just yet.

On my system it occurs about 30% of the time. So ~70% of the time my 10.04 desktop boots up with compiz effects working normally. I use compiz fusion icon to reload window decorator and it fixes the problem for that session. Vitals:
Acer Aspire laptop
Intel GMA4500M video
Ubuntu 10.04 32 bit

Same problem here with the same chipset as the original reporter after upgrade.

Lucid's compiz is at 0.8.4 at present, and this appears to be fixed in 0.8.6. Is there any chance of Lucid going to 0.8.6, or do we all have to wait until October to get this corrected? I think this is a rather serious regression, although at least I can restart compiz to fix it (or turn compiz off).

Solution: add following line to Startup Applicatiosn list:

gtk-window-decorator

Just adding my name to the list. Tried every fix I have found to no avail. It gets annoying going in and changing desktop effects after every boot up. I generally do not run effects in the first place.

This problem came along I think after I un-installed compiz.
It also caused gedit and console to attach themselves to
the top Panel. As a temporary fix I selected None in
Appearance>Visual Effects.

Same exact issue.
This problem occurs continuously. After reboot
the problem goes away, but returns within minutes.
The title-bar missing is also related to the fact that
the title remains in the "running tasks" panel even
after I close these title-bar-less windows (using the
File>Exit menu item to close the window.)

Upgraded from 8.04lts to 10.04.1lts, regretfully.
Dell Latitude D400. Has the Intel i855 chipset.
The graphics driver may be at issue here. It's not official,
but it makes my graphics work, at least.

Same problem with Ubuntu 10.10. Happens for about 50% of the logins. Running "gtk-window-decorator --replace" also fixes the problem.

Omer, could you elaborate on why you set the priority to Low? With missing window decorations, the system is unusable for a non-tech savy user.

Here is a backtrace of gtk-window-decorator when the decorations are missing:

(gdb) backtrace
#0 0x00922416 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
#1 0x0107edf6 in __poll (fds=0x1116ff4, nfds=6, timeout=-1)
    at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/poll.c:87
#2 0x00971a1b in g_poll () from /lib/libglib-2.0.so.0
#3 0x0096443c in ?? () from /lib/libglib-2.0.so.0
#4 0x00964ba7 in g_main_loop_run () from /lib/libglib-2.0.so.0
#5 0x004861d9 in gtk_main () from /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0
#6 0x08055ccb in ?? ()
#7 0x00fd3ce7 in __libc_start_main (main=0x8055410, argc=2,
    ubp_av=0xbf9d27f4, init=0x8058620, fini=0x8058610,
    rtld_fini=0x347ac0 <_dl_fini>, stack_end=0xbf9d27ec) at libc-start.c:226
#8 0x0804cb01 in ?? ()

A workaround from a duplicate bug
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/compiz/+bug/579709/comments/43

Here is the work around from the other bug.

Problem solved.

sudo gedit usr/share/applications/compiz.desktop
change line exec=compiz, with Exec=compiz ccp

Be sure that you do not have in start up applications a compiz or fusion-icon entry,
and eliminate any custom script you may use to launch compiz

gconf-editor
... desktop > gnome > session > required_components .... windowmanager=compiz
... apps > compiz > general > options .... active_plugins check that ccp is there, if not enable.

Done!

I fix it like this in gnome-terminal:
cd /home/user/.local/share/applications# mc
edit compiz.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=compiz
#Hidden=true <<== comment this line
Name=Compiz
NoDisplay=false
Type=Application
X-GNOME-Autostart-Phase=WindowManager
X-GNOME-Provides=windowmanager
X-GNOME-WMName=compiz
X-GNOME-WMSettingsModule=metacity
X-GnomeWMSettingsLibrary=compiz
X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=compiz

F2 Enter

And Log Out or reboot it is the same.
Best regards for all.

Comment 16 of Brian Murray solve the trouble (didn't tried comment 17).

In my case, the problem was caused by a file named "gnome-wm.desktop" at "~/.local/share/applications/" and was solved after deleting it. The content of this file was:
"[Desktop Entry]
Exec=gnome-wm
Hidden=true
Name=Window Manager
NoDisplay=true
Type=Application
X-GNOME-Autostart-Notify=true
X-GNOME-Bugzilla-Bugzilla=GNOME
X-GNOME-Bugzilla-Component=general
X-GNOME-Bugzilla-Product=gnome-session
X-GNOME-Bugzilla-Version=2.32.0
X-GNOME-Provides=windowmanager
X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=gnome-session-2.0"

Can anyone confirm whether or Natty is still affected by this bug? Compiz has undergone some massive changes and perhaps the issue has been solved. I myself haven't had a problem with it.

@Chauncellor: Have you tried to make a file as I described above?

No, I have not. My desktop, which is very badly affected, never had such a file - Therefore I had no inclination to intentionally break it on Natty.

For now, Natty is unbootable so I cannot test. I myself intend on testing once I'm able to boot again but for now it would be helpful to see if these new versions of compiz are still causing problems.

@Chauncellor: I'm still using Maverick, but on this weekend I think I can install Natty to test.
I think this file is inoffensive once you have deleted it.
Regards.

Hi folks,

all the workarounds do not work for me. I use Lucid. Don't you have some more hints?

Greetz,

Tobi

Only security issues are now being considered for this release of Compiz (0.8).

For me the workaround in comment #19 worked: removing the file gnome-wm.desktop from the folder .local/share/applications in my home directory. Thanks for posting, André.