Lubuntu nm-applet wifi icon missing

Question

I have a Lubuntu (now 14.04) installation. Recently, I logged in to find that the Wi-Fi icon had disappeared, and there was some sort of a keyboard icon in it's place. I have restarted multiple times, but it doesn't fix it. I can't find the same applet in the panel settings, and resetting the panel didn't help. When I try to manually start nm-applet, it starts, but prints a bunch of warnings to the console:

nm-applet-Message: using fallback from indicator to GtkStatusIcon

It then starts, using ugly icons for the Wi-Fi connectivity symbol.

What do I need to do to make it start correctly? Once it starts, why isn't it using the right icons?

Solution

To fix the Network Manager not showing up on the panel issue, from the Lubuntu menu select Preferences > Default applications for LXSession, then click on the Autostart tab and under "Manual autostarted applications" type "nm-applet", then click the "+ Add" button on the left:

Now log out, log back in and you should see the Network Manager icon on the panel: http://www.webupd8.org/2014/04/fix-lubuntu-1404-network-manager.html

Comments

[Admin]

Same problem for me. Besides the network manager icon doesn't appear even typing "nm-applet" under "Manual autostarted applications" as suggested... And this is a bug reported a lot of times in the past to Lubuntu developers...

[Wasabi Fan]

@pigeonkiller The problem turned out to be a Trusty glitch. See here: wiki.ubuntu.com/TrustyTahr/ReleaseNotes/Lubuntu#Applications

[bain]

Bug #1308348 - lxsession network settings indicator missing from panel

[bain]

Bug #1302462 - xfce4-panel network icon disappeared in xubuntu

[Wasabi Fan]

I was thinking about that, but if it's not working, isn't that just a patch, and not a fix? I think the problem isn't that it's not being run, but that it's failing and exiting when it's run. What normally runs it? Is it just listed in the startup list?

[Wild Man]

What does this command tell you? ps aux | grep nm-apple that will let you know if it is running, but what I posted in my answer is a fix to a bug issue with lubuntu 14.04 where nm-applet does not show in the panel

[Wasabi Fan]

OK... is this really a problem with Trusty? I had assumed I screwed something up. I'll test this as soon as it finishes what it's installing.

[Wild Man]

It may be because of the bug or did you do an upgrade instead of a fresh install? I really do not have a fix for that, I am glad it is showing up now, please accept the answer to help other people since the icon is no longer missing. I suggest starting a new question just for the ugly icon issue. Thanks

[Cerin]

None of this works for Gnome-Shell.

[Wild Man]

Never said it did, it is for a bug in lubuntu about 9 months ago.

[rafael.js]

@WildMan What theme is this?

[Wild Man]

@RjQuery , I do not know, karel edited that answer so it is his theme.

[rafael.js]

@karel What theme is this?

[karel]

@RjQuery It's LXDE with Lubuntu-default theme like this Lubuntu 14.04 screenshot

[Timo]

@WildMan how does it work in Ubuntu 20_04 with lxqt? nm-applet works, but the gui solution..

[Wild Man]

@Timo, I have not used lubuntu in quite sometime so I asked a friend of mine that is heavily involved with lubuntu and he said that it does not apply past 18.04/LXDE, this is the friend. askubuntu.com/users/469152/guiverc

[guiverc]

lxnm (lxnm-applet) is LXDE so last used in 18.04 by Lubuntu. LXQt used by 18.10 & later is very similar yes but expect it to be different (a lot of LXDE devs joined with RazorQt creating the LXQt project). In 20.04 it's nm-tray (which will call nm-connection-editor from network-manager-gnome as it's a little more user-friendly than the LXQt one used in 18.10-19.10). Thanks @WildMan

[Wild Man]

@guiverc you're welcome and thanks for looking at this comment and replying.