Weird graphical problem in gnome 45.2 Multi monitor

AMir_Firouzi · March 14, 2024, 1:15pm

I have a very weird problem with gnome. I’m using Gnome 45.2 on kali 2024.1 . The problem is I cannot click on the top right side of the screen, right beneath the Gnome top bar, Nothing works in that area. If it’s a close/max/min button of the window. or a chrome tab, it won’t work. or if it is a Google Chrome page maximized to full height, settings button or downloads button or etc, won’t work.
And what makes it more weird is that, if anydesk is running, clicking in this area will open up anydesk!
I have closed/uninstalled anydesk, the problem is not anydesk.
It’s worth mentioning that I have a two monitor setup.

I appreciate if anyone has any suggestions.

skeller · March 14, 2024, 6:19pm

I have seen this issue mentioned multiple times as something that was caused by Anydesk. I think it is creating a window in that area but somehow is not drawing it properly, but still receiving input. Might be related to status icons and the corresponding extensions.

Are you sure Anydesk is completely uninstalled?

AMir_Firouzi · March 15, 2024, 3:29pm

Thanks for your reply,

Yes, I completely removed it, and the issue was there even before I installed anydesk. As soon as I installed the new OS 2024.1, I noticed this. That’s why I guess that might not be an anydesk issue.

I have pictures and videos to show the bug, but I don’t know how to attach them here.

skeller · March 15, 2024, 4:35pm

Try running xprop and then click in the affected area. That should tell you what window that is.

AMir_Firouzi · March 15, 2024, 4:51pm

thanks for the tip. That was a very interesting command.

this is the result:

_GTK_EDGE_CONSTRAINTS(CARDINAL) = 170
_NET_WM_STATE(ATOM) = _NET_WM_STATE_SKIP_PAGER, _NET_WM_STATE_SKIP_TASKBAR
_NET_WM_ALLOWED_ACTIONS(ATOM) = _NET_WM_ACTION_CHANGE_DESKTOP, _NET_WM_ACTION_ABOVE, _NET_WM_ACTION_BELOW

This is while if I click a little more to the left of the panel or a little more to the bottom, on the desktop(no windows open)
this is the response

WM_STATE(WM_STATE):
		window state: Normal
		icon window: 0x0
_GTK_EDGE_CONSTRAINTS(CARDINAL) = 170
_NET_WM_ALLOWED_ACTIONS(ATOM) = _NET_WM_ACTION_CHANGE_DESKTOP, _NET_WM_ACTION_ABOVE, _NET_WM_ACTION_BELOW
_NET_WM_DESKTOP(CARDINAL) = 4294967295
_NET_WM_STATE(ATOM) = _NET_WM_STATE_SKIP_PAGER, _NET_WM_STATE_SKIP_TASKBAR, _NET_WM_STATE_STICKY, _NET_WM_STATE_FOCUSED
WM_HINTS(WM_HINTS):
		Client accepts input or input focus: True
		Initial state is Normal State.
		window id # of group leader: 0x2000001
_GTK_THEME_VARIANT(UTF8_STRING) = 
XdndAware(ATOM) = BITMAP
_GTK_WINDOW_OBJECT_PATH(UTF8_STRING) = "/com/rastersoft/ding/window/1"
_GTK_APPLICATION_OBJECT_PATH(UTF8_STRING) = "/com/rastersoft/ding"
_GTK_UNIQUE_BUS_NAME(UTF8_STRING) = ":1.555"
_GTK_APPLICATION_ID(UTF8_STRING) = "com.rastersoft.ding"
_MOTIF_WM_HINTS(_MOTIF_WM_HINTS) = 0x3, 0x21, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0
_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE(ATOM) = _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DESKTOP
_NET_WM_SYNC_REQUEST_COUNTER(CARDINAL) = 33554442, 33554443
_NET_WM_USER_TIME_WINDOW(WINDOW): window id # 0x2000009
WM_CLIENT_LEADER(WINDOW): window id # 0x2000001
_NET_WM_PID(CARDINAL) = 530495
WM_LOCALE_NAME(STRING) = "C.UTF-8"
WM_CLIENT_MACHINE(STRING) = "cic-pc"
WM_NORMAL_HINTS(WM_SIZE_HINTS):
		program specified minimum size: 1920 by 1080
		program specified maximum size: 1920 by 1080
		program specified base size: 0 by 0
		window gravity: NorthWest
WM_PROTOCOLS(ATOM): protocols  WM_DELETE_WINDOW, WM_TAKE_FOCUS, _NET_WM_PING, _NET_WM_SYNC_REQUEST
WM_CLASS(STRING) = "gjs", "Gjs"
WM_ICON_NAME(STRING) = "@!1080,0;BDHF"
_NET_WM_ICON_NAME(UTF8_STRING) = "@!1080,0;BDHF"
WM_NAME(STRING) = "@!1080,0;BDHF"
_NET_WM_NAME(UTF8_STRING) = "@!1080,0;BDHF"

skeller · March 15, 2024, 5:15pm

Looks like the window has no identifiable WM_NAME. You can also try xwininfo maybe that has some useful information.

AMir_Firouzi · March 15, 2024, 5:22pm

result:

xwininfo: Please select the window about which you
          would like information by clicking the
          mouse in that window.

xwininfo: Window id: 0x403033 (has no name)

  Absolute upper-left X:  2753
  Absolute upper-left Y:  6
  Relative upper-left X:  2753
  Relative upper-left Y:  6
  Width: 200
  Height: 200
  Depth: 24
  Visual: 0x21
  Visual Class: TrueColor
  Border width: 0
  Class: InputOutput
  Colormap: 0x20 (installed)
  Bit Gravity State: ForgetGravity
  Window Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Backing Store State: NotUseful
  Save Under State: no
  Map State: IsViewable
  Override Redirect State: yes
  Corners:  +2753+6  -47+6  -47-2350  +2753-2350
  -geometry 200x200-47+6

if I click on chrome window:

xwininfo: Window id: 0x3200004 "Weird graphical problem in gnome 45.2 Multi monitor - Desktop - GNOME Discourse - Google Chrome"

  Absolute upper-left X:  1145
  Absolute upper-left Y:  23
  Relative upper-left X:  1145
  Relative upper-left Y:  23
  Width: 1564
  Height: 1078
  Depth: 32
  Visual: 0x2b2
  Visual Class: TrueColor
  Border width: 0
  Class: InputOutput
  Colormap: 0x3200003 (not installed)
  Bit Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Window Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Backing Store State: NotUseful
  Save Under State: no
  Map State: IsViewable
  Override Redirect State: no
  Corners:  +1145+23  -291+23  -291-1455  +1145-1455
  -geometry 1564x1078+1145+23

or if I click on a little below the area or left to the area:

xwininfo: Window id: 0x2000008 "@!1080,0;BDHF"

  Absolute upper-left X:  1080
  Absolute upper-left Y:  0
  Relative upper-left X:  1080
  Relative upper-left Y:  0
  Width: 1920
  Height: 1080
  Depth: 32
  Visual: 0x2b2
  Visual Class: TrueColor
  Border width: 0
  Class: InputOutput
  Colormap: 0x2000007 (not installed)
  Bit Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Window Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Backing Store State: NotUseful
  Save Under State: no
  Map State: IsViewable
  Override Redirect State: no
  Corners:  +1080+0  -0+0  -0-1476  +1080-1476
  -geometry 1920x1080-0+0

skeller · March 15, 2024, 7:38pm

Did you restart your session after removing Anydesk?

AMir_Firouzi · March 18, 2024, 12:01pm

yes, I restarted the session, even though it breaks after the session restart each time and asks for a logout.

skeller · March 18, 2024, 12:42pm

If the window persists after restarting your session (not just gnome-shell), there probably is another app that creates a system tray icon the same way AnyDesk does and is autostarted.

Yesterday I have been able to reproduce this issue using the AnyDesk Flatpak and the “Tray Icons Reloaded” extension. That confirmed my suspicions that the window is part of the tray implementation and that there are two bugs with this on the shell side:

Tray icons work by creating a X11 window in gnome-shell and then reparenting a client window that actually draws the icon to it. Due to a bug the window created by the shell is never destroyed so it remains until the session is restarted (that’s why I asked about this). This is the window you see in xwininfo or xprop when clicking in that area after stopping AnyDesk or whatever else was creating the corresponding icon.
The window created by gnome-shell for this follows the size requested by the client instead of what is shown in the panel and apparently AnyDesk requests a size of 200x200, while other apps might only request something much smaller, so the issue won’t be noticeable with those.

AMir_Firouzi · March 19, 2024, 3:02pm

Great! thanks for following up on this issue.

Is there any way that it can be fixed in the short term? or should I wait for an update?
I’m seriously considering moving to another shell since it’s kind of impossible to work with the system this way.

skeller · March 19, 2024, 3:50pm

You can try disabling the legacy tray support in the app indicator extension or disable tray icons in the applications that create these large tray icons.

AMir_Firouzi · April 2, 2024, 11:50am

Thanks for the tip. I disabled the legacy tray support and it seems it resolved the issue for now.
I really appreciate your help.