Desktop settings reset after login

For the last few days my desktop settings, especially wallpaper, keep resetting. (Weyland and Xorg) This results in a black screen on login. I can set the wallpaper, but it reset again on the next boot.
I looked into the plasma-desktop-appletrc but could not find anything that was helpful. Where and how can I reset the plasma desktop settings permanently?

Garuda-inxi

System:
  Kernel: 5.19.12-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
    root=UUID=a30a23e0-d074-433e-acb9-8d13aa66a683 rw rootflags=subvol=@
    quiet splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0 loglevel=3
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.25.5 tk: Qt v: 5.15.6 wm: kwin_wayland vt: 2
    dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Inspiron 5415 v: 1.2.0
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 v: 1.2.0
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0FH5FM v: A00 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell
    v: 1.2.0 date: 05/13/2021
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 40.5 Wh (76.7%) condition: 52.8/54.0 Wh (97.8%)
    volts: 16.9 min: 15.0 model: SMP-ATL3.66 DELL XDY9K15 type: Li-poly
    serial: <filter> status: charging
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 5 5500U with Radeon Graphics bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Zen 2 gen: 3 level: v3 built: 2020-22 process: TSMC n7 (7nm)
    family: 0x17 (23) model-id: 0x68 (104) stepping: 1 microcode: 0x8608103
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 6 tpc: 2 threads: 12 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 384 KiB desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x32 KiB L2: 3 MiB desc: 6x512 KiB
    L3: 8 MiB desc: 2x4 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1986 high: 2708 min/max: 1400/4056 boost: enabled
    scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: performance cores: 1: 2100 2: 2708
    3: 2100 4: 1445 5: 2100 6: 2100 7: 2377 8: 1397 9: 1427 10: 2100 11: 1879
    12: 2100 bogomips: 50304
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed mitigation: untrained return thunk; SMT enabled with STIBP
    protection
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, STIBP:
    always-on, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Lucienne vendor: Dell driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: GCN-5.1
    code: Vega-2 process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2018-21 pcie: gen: 3
    speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s ports:
    active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:164c
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Microdia Integrated_Webcam_HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo
    bus-ID: 3-1:2 chip-ID: 0c45:6a10 class-ID: 0e02
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.4 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.3
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: amdgpu unloaded: modesetting
    alternate: fbdev,vesa gpu: amdgpu display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 res: 1920x1080 size: N/A modes: N/A
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD RENOIR (LLVM 14.0.6 DRM 3.47 5.19.12-zen1-1-zen)
    v: 4.6 Mesa 22.1.7 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Renoir Radeon High Definition Audio vendor: Dell
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
    link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s bus-ID: 03:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:1637
    class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD ACP/ACP3X/ACP6x Audio Coprocessor vendor: Dell
    driver: snd_rn_pci_acp3x v: kernel
    alternate: snd_pci_acp3x,snd_pci_acp5x,snd_pci_acp6x,snd_acp_pci,snd_sof_amd_renoir
    pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
    bus-ID: 03:00.5 chip-ID: 1022:15e2 class-ID: 0480
  Device-3: AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 4
    speed: 16 GT/s bus-ID: 03:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.19.12-zen1-1-zen running: yes
  Sound Server-2: sndio v: N/A running: no
  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: no
  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.58 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: gen: 2
    speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter type: USB
    driver: r8152 bus-ID: 2-2.1:3 chip-ID: 0bda:8153 class-ID: 0000
    serial: <filter>
  IF: enp3s0f3u2u1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
    bus-ID: 3-3:3 chip-ID: 8087:0029 class-ID: e001
  Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 238.47 GiB used: 187.17 GiB (78.5%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Western Digital model: PC SN530
    NVMe WDC 256GB size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter>
    rev: 21112012 temp: 39.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 43.95 GiB size: 43.95 GiB (100.00%) used: 35.62 GiB
    (81.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%) used: 616 KiB
    (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 185.43 GiB size: 185.43 GiB (100.00%) used: 151.55
    GiB (81.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4 maj-min: 259:4
  ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 43.95 GiB size: 43.95 GiB (100.00%) used: 35.62
    GiB (81.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 43.95 GiB size: 43.95 GiB (100.00%) used: 35.62
    GiB (81.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 14.98 GiB used: 2.8 MiB (0.0%)
    priority: 100 dev: /dev/zram0
  ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 8.8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
    priority: -2 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 34.0 C mobo: 29.0 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 45.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0
Info:
  Processes: 333 Uptime: 1h 17m wakeups: 151 Memory: 14.98 GiB used: 3.89 GiB
  (26.0%) Init: systemd v: 251 default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 clang: 14.0.6 Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1732
  libs: 390 tools: octopi,paru,yay pm: flatpak pkgs: 0 Shell: fish v: 3.5.1
  running-in: alacritty inxi: 3.3.21
Garuda (2.6.8-1):
  System install date:     2022-01-31
  Last full system update: 2022-10-01
  Is partially upgraded:   No
  Relevant software:       NetworkManager
  Windows dual boot:       No/Undetected
  Snapshots:               Snapper
  Failed units:            intel-undervolt.service

Using both Wayland and Xorg sessions on the same user account can create such issues AFAIK.
To my current knowledge,

  • plasma places widgets/applets on multihead desktops, based on monitor names.
  • monitor names when in Xorg, are different from when in wayland
  • several kde bugs are around this problem

Unless something is improved in KDE with updates (I am not a KDE user any more... :person_shrugging: ).

Also, there is a mess with plasma configuration files, and how the settings are cached, reset, ignored, or other confusing things.

My best advice is to find your way of daily preferred work, learn how to reset settings, keeping backups, and stay there. (until plasma 6 arrives, which promises that will eliminate all these issues).

4 Likes

Thanks for the feed back.
I seldom have any problems with Plasma. Even when using the two drivers.
I solved the problem by creating a new Activity and removed the default one. This did the trick.
Not sure what caused the problem in the frst place though.

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