OK, made more progress. First, I was finally able to reproduce the issue in the new account. For my initial test I just created 4 or 5 very small text files. On my regular desktop I have a much larger text file that is 39kb with 1100+ lines. The size of the file is what makes it break, which points to exactly what Andre mentions above. If you create a large text file on your desktop you should be able to see the issue yourself.
I then proceeded with our test. I installed vanilla gnome, uninstalled the /usr version of desktop icons, and then rebooted. At login I selected a Gnome session for the new account. I then went through the meson/ninja procedure to install your patch version. The good news is it did install now and it does keep the icons from disappearing. The only sub-optimal part is that the icons don't stay in place and move around on the desktop each time you hit save. Still a big improvement, but ideally the icons wouldn't move around. Just a side note, while testing to break the other account I did also try an .ods file. It never did disappear, but has the same issue with not staying in the exact place where I positioned (i.e. on each save action it would jump around)... -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1883174 Title: Some desktop icons disappear Status in gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons: Unknown Status in gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons package in Ubuntu: In Progress Bug description: OS: Ubuntu 20.04 GNOME: 3.36.2 Extension: 3.36.2 Sometimes, some icons in my Desktop folder just don't appear on the desktop. The missing icons aren't invisible, it's like they're not in the folder. Clicking on the empty space where they should be does nothing. Mousing over the empty space does nothing. See attached screenshot. As you can see, there are many missing. Not consistently reproducible, but frequent. This isn't great info, I know. Let me know what else I can provide. To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons/+bug/1883174/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp