Restoring Default Ubuntu Panel
This is for the newbies in the Ubuntu Community. Sometimes we want to configure our panels on Ubuntu to give a nicer look. And the newbies often fail to do that as they want and may want to restore the default panel settings. Restoring the default panel setting on Ubuntu is pretty simple. Just run the following command in the terminal and you will get your default Ubuntu panels back.
sudo debconf gnome-panel
But this is not a permanent solution. To permanently enable your default panel configuration enter the following commands in the terminal sequentially.
gconftool –recursive-unset /apps/panel
rm -rf ~/.gconf/apps/panel
pkill gnome-panel
Enjoy!!
N.B. Don’t worry if any of the command removes all your panel. The next command will restore it to default configuration.
16 Comments
ubuntunerd on February 4th, 2009
rahman your solution to restore the panels does not work anymore here is the new solution
gconftool-2 –shutdown
rm -rf ~/.gconf/apps/panel
pkill gnome-panel
ubuntunerd on February 4th, 2009
Saifur on February 8th, 2009
@Ubuntunerd, thanks for the nice url.
ubuntunerd on February 11th, 2009
your welcome I update my blogs almost on a daily, and write more all the time. hopefully it can be of use to somebody
gnocchi on March 30th, 2009
rahman your solution to restore the panels does not work anymore here is the new solution
Really?! Just worked for me just fine of a fully up-to-date Intrepid. Many thanks for this info.
It’s not the first time something wayward has killed my Applications Places System etc. and not the first machine this has happened on! A def ongoing bug in Ubuntu that is crying out for a fix!
gnocchi on March 30th, 2009
#snip# rahman your solution to restore the panels does not work anymore here is the new solution #snip#
Really?! The original three line solution worked for me just fine on a fully up-to-date Intrepid. Although I may have sub-consciously re-started the X-Server after entering your commands - I forget! 
(CTL+ALT+BACKSPACE). Many thanks for this info.
It’s not the first time something wayward has killed my Applications Places System etc. and not the first machine this has happened on! Disappearing Top-Menu items are a definite ongoing bug in Ubuntu that is crying out for a fix!
andrecht
virgoptrex on November 10th, 2009
gconftool-2 –shutdown
rm -rf ~/.gconf/apps/panel
pkill gnome-panel
worked for me on intrepid 8.10. Many thanks to nerdy ubuntunerd
virgoptrex on November 10th, 2009
BTW there should be two dashes before ’shutdown’. Initially I had one dash and it gave me some stupid message!
zerblatt007 on November 20th, 2009
We see this problem on our 8.04 workstations from time to time.
The problem seems to be that this file disappears: ~/.gconf/apps/panel/objects/menu_bar_screen0/%gconf.xml
I restore it from backup and add these lines in the \"object_id_list\" section to .gconf/apps/panel/general/%gconf.xml:
<li type=\"string\">
<stringvalue>menu_bar_screen0</stringvalue>
</li>
sud on April 15th, 2010
really valuable information thanx dude
sivaram on May 8th, 2010
Please help me!!! I am new to Ubuntu! using 10.04. Accidentally removed default main panel and all other panel. Now i want my default panel back, how to do it? r do i need to re-install again. Please help
JairoGarcia on May 10th, 2010
hello Sivaram,
the problem is solved according the follow procedure. open a terminal shell and in the fileystem /usr/bin check than the ganome-panel file exist, if this exist, you can install cairo package and then tah this is installed, open the gmenu program, preferences > main menu , select the accesories menu, the panel item, then close the Main Menu. Here in the accesories group will appear the panel item, execute it and the menu default will back. Regards..
Mike on June 15th, 2010
Worked great for me, ubuntu 10.04. Thanks for the post, I was pulling my hair out.
Thomas on July 20th, 2010
Awesome. Thanks a lot for the tip.
I am a simple man working in IT field. I love Music, playing soccer, traveling new places. By profession I am a software engineer and enjoy my job. Currently I am doing my M Sc in Software Engineering in Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden. I love researching on new technologies such as programming languages, architectures, tools and techniques. 
Thanks, this really saved my day.