Same issue... Here's my details... I have an old Acer Aspire 7520 that I decided to load Ubuntu Desktop 14.04LTS from LiveUSB key.
It installed nicely, except when I pass the login screen, I received a garbled screen because of my Nvidia graphics card that doesn't play nicely with the default Nouveau drivers. Knowing this is a graphics driver issue, I restart in recovery mode (which comes up normally with launcher and desktop in 1024x768) and fix the drivers outlined here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia Afterwards, I log back in (either in recovery mode or normally) and I receive the empty desktop now, without launcher and an empty desktop. I'm unable to get CTRL-ALT-F1/F2/T to work. I attempted a range of fixes from installing gnome to resetting Unity and haven't found an solution to bring back the launcher. At this momement my install is botched. and unusable. Contemplating trying Mint as it doesn't use the gnome Unity -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1212987 Title: Unity not starting after boot To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/1212987/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs