Very often, some of my desktop icons (.desktop files I have created) disappear after I close the lid and hibernate the computer. Quite annoying I'd say. These icons (and the Applications menu from a well-written Gnome-shell extension by Florian Müllner) are my favourite ways to start applications (unless I type in a console of course). I live happily without any dock/launcher or whatever it's called; that one is always in the way in any case.
I have found that by locking/unlocking the screen (super+L) the icons reappear, but otherwise this is a mystery to me. Any help greatly appreciated :)
BTW: Ubuntu 20.04, HP Pavilion
1 Answer
The icons on the desktop in Ubuntu 19.04 and later releases are handled by a GNOME Shell extension (as opposed to the file manager Nautilus in older releases) called "Desktop Icons" (package name: gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons).
As per GNOME's security policy all the extensions get disabled once you lock your screen or suspend or hibernate; and they are re-enabled after you log back in. It seems sometimes in your case somehow the extension fails to reload properly after returning from a hibernation. Then another screen locking followed by unlocking disables and restores the extension correctly once again.
As another workaround, when you find the icons missing, restart GNOME shell by typing Alt+F2, then typing r and pressing Enter (note: this does not work in a Wayland session). This should bring back the icons.
