# Reset Plasma Configuration You are helping the user reset corrupted or problematic KDE Plasma settings back to defaults. ## Task **WARNING:** This will reset KDE customizations. Back up first if you want to preserve any settings. 1. **Ask user what to reset:** - Full Plasma reset (panels, desktop, all settings) - Plasma desktop and panels only - Specific application (Dolphin, Konsole, etc.) - Window manager (KWin) only - Shortcuts only 2. **Backup current configuration (recommended):** ```bash # Create backup before reset BACKUP_DIR=~/.kde-backups/pre-reset-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S) mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR" cp -r ~/.config/plasma* ~/.config/k* "$BACKUP_DIR/" 2>/dev/null echo "Backup created: $BACKUP_DIR" ``` 3. **Full Plasma Reset:** ```bash # Stop Plasma kquitapp6 plasmashell # Remove Plasma configuration rm -rf ~/.config/plasma* rm ~/.config/plasmarc rm ~/.config/plasmashellrc # Remove desktop and panel configs rm -rf ~/.local/share/plasma rm -rf ~/.local/share/plasmashell # Optional: Reset KDE globals rm ~/.config/kdeglobals # Restart Plasma kstart plasmashell ``` 4. **Reset Panels and Desktop Only:** ```bash # Stop Plasma kquitapp6 plasmashell # Remove panel and desktop layouts rm -rf ~/.config/plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc rm -rf ~/.local/share/plasma/plasmoids rm -rf ~/.local/share/plasma/layout-templates # Restart Plasma kstart plasmashell ``` 5. **Reset Window Manager (KWin):** ```bash # Stop KWin (will restart automatically) kwin_x11 --replace & # For X11 # OR kwin_wayland --replace & # For Wayland # Or reset KWin config mv ~/.config/kwinrc ~/.config/kwinrc.backup kquitapp6 kwin_wayland && kstart kwin_wayland ``` 6. **Reset Keyboard Shortcuts:** ```bash # Backup then remove shortcuts cp ~/.config/kglobalshortcutsrc ~/.config/kglobalshortcutsrc.backup rm ~/.config/kglobalshortcutsrc # Restart to apply kquitapp6 plasmashell && kstart plasmashell ``` 7. **Reset Specific Applications:** **Dolphin:** ```bash rm ~/.config/dolphinrc rm -rf ~/.local/share/dolphin ``` **Konsole:** ```bash rm ~/.config/konsolerc rm -rf ~/.local/share/konsole # Removes custom profiles ``` **Kate:** ```bash rm ~/.config/katerc rm ~/.config/kateschemarc rm -rf ~/.local/share/kate ``` **Spectacle (screenshots):** ```bash rm ~/.config/spectaclerc ``` **System Settings:** ```bash rm ~/.config/systemsettingsrc ``` 8. **Reset Theme and Appearance:** ```bash # Remove theme configs rm ~/.config/plasmarc rm ~/.config/kcmfonts rm ~/.config/kcminputrc # Remove custom color schemes rm -rf ~/.local/share/color-schemes # Reset to default theme kwriteconfig6 --file plasmarc --group Theme --key name breeze ``` 9. **Clear Plasma Cache:** ```bash # Remove cached data rm -rf ~/.cache/plasma* rm -rf ~/.cache/kwin rm -rf ~/.cache/icon-cache.kcache # Rebuild icon cache kbuildsycoca6 --noincremental ``` 10. **Nuclear Option - Complete KDE Reset:** ```bash # ONLY if really needed - this resets EVERYTHING kquitapp6 plasmashell # Move all KDE configs (preserves them for recovery) mkdir -p ~/kde-config-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d) mv ~/.config/k* ~/kde-config-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d)/ 2>/dev/null mv ~/.config/plasma* ~/kde-config-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d)/ 2>/dev/null mv ~/.local/share/k* ~/kde-config-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d)/ 2>/dev/null mv ~/.local/share/plasma* ~/kde-config-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d)/ 2>/dev/null # Log out and back in to regenerate all configs qdbus org.kde.ksmserver /KSMServer logout 0 0 0 ``` ## Verification Steps After reset: 1. Check if Plasma is running: `pgrep plasmashell` 2. Verify panels appeared: Look at screen 3. Check System Settings opens: `systemsettings` 4. Test application launches 5. Check for error logs: `journalctl --user -xe | grep -i plasma` ## Common Issues & Solutions **Plasma doesn't restart:** ```bash # Force start plasmashell & # Or from TTY (Ctrl+Alt+F2) export DISPLAY=:0 plasmashell & ``` **Black screen after reset:** ```bash # Check if running pgrep plasmashell || plasmashell & # Restart display manager sudo systemctl restart sddm ``` **Settings not actually reset:** ```bash # Make sure Plasma was stopped first killall plasmashell sleep 2 rm ~/.config/plasmarc plasmashell & ``` **Want to undo reset:** ```bash # Restore from backup kquitapp6 plasmashell cp -r $BACKUP_DIR/* ~/.config/ kstart plasmashell ``` ## Selective Config Removal Remove only problematic configs: ```bash # List all KDE configs with sizes ls -lhS ~/.config/k* ~/.config/plasma* 2>/dev/null # Check modification dates to find recently changed ls -lt ~/.config/k* ~/.config/plasma* 2>/dev/null | head -20 # Move suspect config instead of deleting mv ~/.config/problematic-file ~/.config/problematic-file.old ``` ## When to Use Each Reset - **Panel disappeared:** Reset panels only - **Widgets broken:** Clear Plasma cache + restart - **Shortcuts not working:** Reset kglobalshortcutsrc - **Window effects glitching:** Reset KWin config - **Dolphin crashes:** Reset Dolphin config only - **Everything broken:** Full Plasma reset - **Fresh start needed:** Nuclear option ## Recovery Tools ```bash # View current Plasma errors journalctl --user -xe | grep -iE "plasma|kwin" # Check config file syntax kreadconfig6 --file plasmarc --group Theme --key name # Rebuild KDE config cache kbuildsycoca6 # Check for corrupt databases rm ~/.local/share/kactivitymanagerd/resources/database* ``` ## Notes - Always backup before resetting - Some settings are in `~/.local/share/` not `~/.config/` - Plasma 6 uses different file locations than Plasma 5 - Window rules are stored in `~/.config/kwinrulesrc` - Desktop effects settings in `~/.config/kwinrc` - After major resets, you may need to log out/in instead of just restarting Plasma - Custom installed widgets/plasmoids may need to be reinstalled