At some point (I don't remember when it started), some kind of ghost window appeared that only has a border (displays as rounded but behaves as rectangular), blocks mouse clicks, and won't disappear when I minimize all windows.
What might this be, what might have caused this, and most importantly, how might I be able to get rid of this?
Here is some additional information that might help diagnose the issue:
- This does not seem to affect the lock screen.
- The behavior with the Alt-Tab window switcher is very strange when I click on a window:
- If the I click outside the ghost window, it immediately switches to the window I clicked on.
- If the I click inside the ghost window, it immediately closes the window switcher, but doesn't open the new window until I move my mouse outside the ghost window. The final position of my mouse doesn't seem to matter.
- I'm using Xfce version 4.18 with GTK version 3.24.37, as part of Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm).
- I have xserver-xorg version 1:7.7+23 and xserver-xorg-core version 2:21.1.7-3.
- The panel at the top of my screen doesn't respond to mouse clicks, but the data it displays does update, and the apps menu works when I activate it with a keyboard shortcut.
- Here is the output of
xwininfo -d :0 -allafter clicking on the ghost window:
xwininfo: Window id: 0x1b75612 "xfce4-panel"
Root window id: 0x6d1 (the root window) (has no name)
Parent window id: 0x6d1 (the root window) (has no name)
1 child:
0x1b75613 (has no name): () 1x1+-1+-1 +2926+461
Absolute upper-left X: 2927
Absolute upper-left Y: 462
Relative upper-left X: 2927
Relative upper-left Y: 462
Width: 328
Height: 637
Depth: 32
Visual: 0x6ba
Visual Class: TrueColor
Border width: 0
Class: InputOutput
Colormap: 0x1a00002 (not installed)
Bit Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
Window Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
Backing Store State: NotUseful
Save Under State: yes
Map State: IsViewable
Override Redirect State: yes
Corners: +2927+462 -585+462 -585-341 +2927-341
-geometry 328x637+2927+462
Bit gravity: NorthWestGravity
Window gravity: NorthWestGravity
Backing-store hint: NotUseful
Backing-planes to be preserved: 0xffffffff
Backing pixel: 0
Save-unders: Yes
Someone wants these events:
KeyPress
KeyRelease
ButtonPress
ButtonRelease
EnterWindow
LeaveWindow
PointerMotion
ButtonMotion
Exposure
VisibilityChange
StructureNotify
FocusChange
PropertyChange
Do not propagate these events:
Override redirection?: Yes
Window manager hints:
Client accepts input or input focus: Yes
Initial state is Normal State
Window type:
Popup Menu
Process id: 2661 on host <redacted>
Normal window size hints:
Program supplied minimum size: 328 by 637
Program supplied maximum size: 328 by 637
Program supplied base size: 0 by 0
Program supplied window gravity: NorthWestGravity
No zoom window size hints defined
No window shape defined
No border shape defined
- Here is the output of
xwininfo -d :0 -allafter clicking on the panel at the top of the screen:
xwininfo: Window id: 0x1a00003 "xfce4-panel"
Root window id: 0x6d1 (the root window) (has no name)
Parent window id: 0x1200587 (has no name)
4 children:
0x1a0000e (has no name): () 90x50+1190+0 +3750+416
1 child:
0x2800003 "wrapper-2.0": ("wrapper-2.0" "Wrapper-2.0") 90x50+0+0 +3750+416
1 child:
0x2800004 (has no name): () 1x1+-1+-1 +3749+415
0x1a0000d (has no name): () 69x50+1121+0 +3681+416
1 child:
0x2600003 "wrapper-2.0": ("wrapper-2.0" "Wrapper-2.0") 69x50+0+0 +3681+416
4 children:
0x2600029 (has no name): () 22x22+24+1 +3705+417
1 child:
0x1c00003 "xfce4-power-manager": ("xfce4-power-manager" "Xfce4-power-manager") 22x22+0+0 +3705+417
1 child:
0x1c00004 (has no name): () 1x1+-1+-1 +3704+416
0x2600019 (has no name): () 22x22+0+26 +3681+442
1 child:
0x3000003 "Ethernet network connection “Wired connection 1” active": ("nm-applet" "Nm-applet") 22x22+0+0 +3681+442
1 child:
0x3000004 (has no name): () 1x1+-1+-1 +3680+441
0x260000a (has no name): () 22x22+0+1 +3681+417
1 child:
0xc00010 "IBus Panel": ("ibus-ui-gtk" "ibus-ui-gtk") 22x22+0+0 +3681+417
1 child:
0xc00011 (has no name): () 1x1+-1+-1 +3680+416
0x2600004 (has no name): () 1x1+-1+-1 +3680+415
0x1a0000c (has no name): () 254x50+695+0 +3255+416
1 child:
0x2400003 "wrapper-2.0": ("wrapper-2.0" "Wrapper-2.0") 254x50+0+0 +3255+416
1 child:
0x2400004 (has no name): () 1x1+-1+-1 +3254+415
0x1a00004 (has no name): () 1x1+-1+-1 +2559+415
Absolute upper-left X: 2560
Absolute upper-left Y: 416
Relative upper-left X: 0
Relative upper-left Y: 0
Width: 1280
Height: 51
Depth: 32
Visual: 0x6ba
Visual Class: TrueColor
Border width: 0
Class: InputOutput
Colormap: 0x1a00002 (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: +2560+416 -0+416 -0-973 +2560-973
-geometry 1280x51-0+416
Bit gravity: NorthWestGravity
Window gravity: NorthWestGravity
Backing-store hint: NotUseful
Backing-planes to be preserved: 0xffffffff
Backing pixel: 0
Save-unders: No
Someone wants these events:
KeyPress
KeyRelease
ButtonPress
ButtonRelease
EnterWindow
LeaveWindow
PointerMotion
ButtonMotion
Exposure
VisibilityChange
StructureNotify
FocusChange
PropertyChange
Do not propagate these events:
Override redirection?: No
Window manager hints:
Client accepts input or input focus: Yes
Initial state is Normal State
Displayed on all desktops
Window type:
Dock
Window state:
Sticky
Skip Pager
Skip Taskbar
Focused
Process id: 2661 on host <redacted>
Frame extents: 0, 0, 0, 0
Normal window size hints:
Program supplied minimum size: 1280 by 51
Program supplied maximum size: 1280 by 51
Program supplied base size: 0 by 0
Program supplied window gravity: StaticGravity
No zoom window size hints defined
No window shape defined
No border shape defined
Here are some screenshots to illustrate how it behaves as I change display settings. It's not really visible in the thumbnails; click on them to see the full-size versions.
xwininfo -d :0 -all, you may get some hint on what process is displaying this. If you cannot type this in a graphic terminal when the problem occurs, you can switch to a regular console with Ctrl-Alt-Fn, type this, go back to your graphic session and click on the ghost window, and then go back to the console to read the output.xwininfosays it'sxfce4-panel; I've put the full output in my question. Should I try sending it some signal withkill?xfce4-panelor of one of its sub-process? (ps auxfmay be handy) You can kill 2661, ifxfce4-paneldies, it may automatically respawn, though, I don't know. Save your work.pssays PID 2661 is the onlyxfce4-panelcommand, with its parent beingxfce4-session. Usingxwininfoon the top panel gives the same PID but different window information. I'll try killing PID 2661 and let you what happens.kill 2661got rid of the ghost window, as well as top and bottom panels.xfce4-panel &restored the panels but not the ghost window. Problem solved, I think! Thanks @xhienne for telling me aboutxwininfo!