I'm Really struggling with Linux Mint

[DaftVader]

Hi Everyone,
I need advice on so many things I don't know where to start!

I installed Cinnamon 22.2 about 3 weeks ago and have had a real struggle to get my setup as I want it: just an example I need to RDP to another windows PC on my Lan so that i can use the couple of apps that i can't do without. That was a huge problem nothing i tried worked at all, I finally got it working but i was shocked at how hard it was. also problems with network shares! but in the end I got everything running though but I still get problems with the menu. I had system lockups using 'cinnamenu' so i got rid of it but when i try to alter the basic menu to my liking, I still have had lockups and it just doesn't work!
so today I updated to Mint 2.3 and was hoping for more stability. I tried to set the main menu up to my liking again and I just can't get it to work! It's probably me but I just don't get it!
so can someone please advise me or point me to a Youtube video of how you are supposed to do it please? in the menu editor I tried drag and drop which didn't work so i tried Cut and pasting from 1 menu folder to another and that worked it was in the new menu folder!! until i looked in the original folder and it was still there as well . so i cut it but that didn't remove it so i deleted it. and i did this for a while trying to get it right. After that I closed the editor went to my new menu folder and it was empty ! and now i've lost all the items from the menu that i tried to move completely.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Mike

 

[f33dm3bits]

I need to RDP to another windows PC on my Lan so that i can use the couple of apps that i can't do without.

You can install remmina. Lookup the following packages in the software center: remmina, remmina-plugin-rdp and remmina-plugin-secret. Then you can open remmina and add an rdp connection.

 

[Brickwizard]

Any help would be much appreciated!

Welcome to the forums
looks like some serious snow may be on the way,

our member @Condobloke is very Mint 22 orientated, now I have mentioned him he will drop by, but he is an antipodean [ Ausi] so allow for the time difference for him to reply [it could be sooner than later]

 

[DaftVader]

You can install remmina. Lookup the following packages in the software center: remmina, remmina-plugin-rdp and remmina-plugin-secret. Then you can op remmina and add an rdp connection.

Thanks ! I should have mentioned that i was using Remmina > It just would not work! In the end i did get it working but it was a hell of a journey and now I can't remember how it did it in the end.
I was just so glad it was working

 

[f33dm3bits]

Thanks ! I should have mentioned that i was using Remmina > It just would not work! In the end i did get it working but it was a hell of a journey and now I can't remember how it did it in the end.
I was just so glad it was working

Remmina isn't hard to get working, I use it a lot and takes less than 1 minute to install and setup. So maybe you were missing the rdp plugin package, but no I idea what problem you ran into but glad you have it working now.

 

[DaftVader]

It's just got a lot worse now! I am having so many problems I thought i'd strip out all the applets I'd installed in case one of them were the cause of my problems so I took the cinnamon menu of of the list !! I didn't realise that was the actual Main menu! so i saw it vanish from my taskbar and added it back in again. Nope that didnt work so i restarted cinnamon , nope that didn't work and all the items in my panel were now missing in fact there was no panel there! . so I restarted the pc. I noticed on start that my sign in dialog looked different and then I got the desktop up with my few icons on it ok. But i couldn't see my mouse anymore and the bottom panel is completely gone! Nothing! I got my mouse over one of the desktop icons ( it dimmed a bit when the mouse was over it) and managed to get the file manager up but I have no clue what to do now.
I really do need help now!

 

[kc1di]

Thanks ! I should have mentioned that i was using Remmina > It just would not work! In the end i did get it working but it was a hell of a journey and now I can't remember how it did it in the end.
I was just so glad it was working

Welcome to the linux.org forum, enjoy!
That one of the reason I keep a note book with proceedures I've used to get things working the way I like. My memory is not what it used to be HA!
Anyway glad it's working and your on your way.

 

[Condobloke]

G'day DaftVader, Welcome to Linux.org

You are having a grand time ! Learn by breaking.
i have no experience with remmina.

I tinker with my Linux Mint, constantly....and most of the time I can fix it myself....but not always !

Try leaving it alone for a while, and just get used to using it, navigating all over it without breaking it, ....Linux Mint is a highly reliable OS, at least 90%+ of the time

Have you updated it yet?

 

[Brickwizard]

can you get a terminal? Press together Ctrl+Alt+T
if so run

sudo apt update && apt upgrade -y
sudo apt fix--missing

still no desktop you can run the following it should install a working XFCE desktop to give you something to work with

sudo apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies

 

[DaftVader]

can you get a terminal? Press together Ctrl+Alt+T
if so run

sudo apt update && apt upgrade -y
sudo apt fix--missing

still no desktop you can run the following it should install a working XFCE desktop to give you something to work with

sudo apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies

thanks I shall try that later when i get home

 

[f33dm3bits]

Can you also share your hardware specs?

 

[KGIII]

I tried to set the main menu up to my liking again and I just can't get it

There's this thread for that:

Solved Thread 'How to get the Linuxmints old startmenu back?'

Jan 11, 2026

Hi, i installed Mints upgrade today. I think the new Startmenu is damn ugly. Is it possible to revert back to the old one?

• tinfoil-hat
• linux mint lmde mint
• Replies: 13
• Forum: Mint

That may help. It appears to have resulted in an acceptable manner, but I've not done anything like that. I just happened to remember the thread.

 

[DaftVader]

Can you also share your hardware specs?

Operating System
Windows 11 Pro 64-bit
CPU
AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS 41 °C
Phoenix 4nm Technology
RAM
32.0GB Unknown @ 2790MHz (46-45-45-90)

Graphics
BenQ PD3200Q (2560x1440@60Hz)
MSI MP2412 (1920x1080@59Hz)
512MB ATI AMD Radeon 780M Graphics (ATI)
Storage
1907GB Acer SSD N5000 2TB (Unknown (SSD))
1863GB Sabrent SSD SCSI Disk Device (USB (ATA) (SSD))
Optical Drives
No optical disk drives detected
Audio
AMD High Definition Audio Device

 

[DaftVader]

can you get a terminal? Press together Ctrl+Alt+T
if so run

sudo apt update && apt upgrade -y
sudo apt fix--missing

still no desktop you can run the following it should install a working XFCE desktop to give you something to work with

sudo apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies

Hi I tried the upgrades etc . and then sudo apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies Then tried sudo apt fix--missing and it came up with an error gave me a list of commands that it does accept but not "Fix" apparently. Anyway nothing really changed still getting a black screen with a few icons on it i opend a file manager from an icon but i don't have a clue what to do now. Very disappointed.

 

[Smilax]

Hi I tried the upgrades etc . and then sudo apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies Then tried sudo apt fix--missing and it came up with an error gave me a list of commands that it does accept but not "Fix" apparently. Anyway nothing really changed still getting a black screen with a few icons on it i opend a file manager from an icon but i don't have a clue what to do now. Very disappointed.

Hi Mike, sorry I'm late to the Mint 22.x party. A black screen with no icons at all is my preferred desktop and pretty close to the install default with xfce. I'm not sure what you're seeing is an indication of anything wrong, perhaps just not what you're expecting coming from the Windows side. Does your "Start" button work? Does the keyboard "Windows" button work?

 

[DaftVader]

thanks for all the replies , Much appreciated.
I struggled on using Gemini AI and got deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole.
I didn't want to give up because i wanted to learn , plus I couldn't really believe How hard it was! but ind the end I gave up. Fortunately In Windows I have Macrium Reflect where i had don a backup of all the partitions on my main drive so I just retored it to before I cocked up and it's all back to normal now!