Missing date & time from top panel of Unity Desktop - Ubuntu 14.04

Question

I'm using Ubuntu 14.04 an my machine and since the last upgrade from 13.10 to 14.04 the date&time is missing in the top panel of Unity. This machine was originally installed with Ubuntu 12.10. I upgraded it from 12.10→13.04, from 13.04→13.10 and last week from 13.10→14.04.

I tried every solution found in this question: Missing date & time from top panel of Unity Desktop. But nothing of all this works :-(

I tried the following things:

reinstalling indicator-datetime
sudo apt-get remove --purge indicator-datetime and install it again
sudo dpkg-reconfigure --frontend noninteractive tzdata
sudo killall unity-panel-service

and of course log out/log in again and so on...

Where can I find log files for the indicator or where could help me otherwise with this problem?

Trying to debug:

$ locate indicator-datetime-service
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/indicator-datetime/indicator-datetime-service
$ /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/indicator-datetime/indicator-datetime-service
Indicator-Datetime-Message: indicator-datetime exiting; failed/lost bus ownership

`locate indicator-datetime-service` to find where it is installed then run it in terminal. Report if there any error message. — user.dz, Apr 30 '14 at 18:31
@Sneetsher $ locate indicator-datetime-service /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/indicator-datetime/indicator-datetime-service $ /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/indicator-datetime/indicator-datetime-service Indicator-Datetime-Message: indicator-datetime exiting; failed/lost bus ownership $ sudo /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/indicator-datetime/indicator-datetime-service no error output, when running indicator-datetime-service with sudo — Bernd, May 05 '14 at 08:43
try reseting its configuration `dconf reset -f /com/canonical/indicator/datetime/` . didn't work try `pkill -f datetime` then `/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/indicator-datetime/indicator-datetime-service` — user.dz, May 05 '14 at 10:49
dconf reset -f /com/canonical/indicator/datetime/ worked and it shows the time again. But I think I found a bug and I think I know what causes the issue. Are there any logs for the datetime-indicator to verify my assumption? — Bernd, May 06 '14 at 06:49
well.. the only info I could find is making a link to/copy of `/usr/share/libindicator/80indicator-debugging` in `/etc/X11/Xsession.d/` but I am not sure which log (may be `/var/log/syslog` like session logging). (info source: `dpkg -L libindicator3-tools`) — user.dz, May 06 '14 at 09:02
You Could try downloading unity tweak tool. Then go to the panel menu, you should see date and time options there. — Barney Woodrow, Dec 20 '16 at 12:12

user.dz · Answer 1 · 2015-01-01T08:41:44.200

138

Try reseting its configuration

dconf reset -f /com/canonical/indicator/datetime/

If it didn't show up try kill it, it should restart

pkill -f datetime

For similar cases, better to explain how you may get it:

Check if it is running, if yes then possibly a configuration problem

$ ps ax | grep -i indicator-datetime
 2863 ?        Ssl    0:00 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/indicator-datetime/indicator-datetime-service
 4043 pts/0    S+     0:00 grep -i indicator-datetime

Check for where is its configuration. Look for /etc/ or dconf in /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/. List package files using:

$ dpkg -L indicator-datetime
[...]
/etc/xdg/autostart/indicator-datetime.desktop
/usr
/usr/share
/usr/share/glib-2.0
/usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas
/usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/com.canonical.indicator.datetime.gschema.xml
[...]

Locate its dconf path:

$ grep path /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/com.canonical.indicator.datetime.gschema.xml
    <schema id="com.canonical.indicator.datetime" path="/com/canonical/indicator/datetime/" gettext-domain="indicator-datetime">

edited Jan 01 '15 at 08:41

answered May 07 '14 at 09:08

user.dz

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3

the dconf reset did it for me, thx – Nicky De Maeyer Jun 03 '14 at 10:20
1

I had the same problem after resetting 14.04 and your "dconf reset" did it for me, thanks +1 – Duchamp Gérard H. E. Nov 12 '14 at 21:29
14

`dconf` didn't help, but `pkill` did the trick for me. – Lambart Feb 17 '15 at 18:09
Thanks the dconf reset worked, i didn't even need to kill the datetime process – danidee Jul 18 '15 at 23:28
dconf didn't work for me but pkill did on my Ubuntu 14.04 – Champ Jul 30 '15 at 17:10
4

Warning: the `dconf` trick doesn't just restore the clock. It also resets your clock settings, so if you have customized them... goodbye to your settings. I wish I hadn't tried that -- `pkill datetime` had already restored the clock to my UI. – Lambart Sep 25 '15 at 22:53
@Lambart , yes it does reset all datetime settings, but that seems not a big deal for most users. – user.dz Nov 04 '15 at 08:11
The command dconf reset and killing the process after that did the trick for me, thank you! – Rosamunda Apr 05 '16 at 15:01

score 20 · Answer 2 · edited May 05 '14 at 08:37

20

I had exactly the same problem, which that some Language Support libraries are missing.

If you go to:

Settings → Language Support

The system will automatically update the regional formats and the time and date will be back after you log out and in.

edited May 05 '14 at 08:37

user.dz

47,137
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answered May 05 '14 at 01:06

Joan

201
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2

Tried, but there was no missing language support – Bernd May 05 '14 at 08:45
4

Actually, weird as it sounds, I can confirm this solution. Apparently starting the langauge support panel, some broken libs are indeed (i guess not downloaded but) reenabled. Therefore a +1 – matv1 Aug 30 '14 at 22:42
the datetime indicator uses a calendar which requires specific language based format. It seems that it's suffice to take the indicator down :) – psukys Jan 07 '16 at 12:03

score 20 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 16 '15 at 08:57

20

This worked with me when I faced the same problem:

killall unity-panel-service

without 'sudo' by the way.

answered Aug 16 '15 at 08:57

Hisham Ramadan

309
2
3

+1 I had the missing-clock-problem a few times already, and this worked reliably as an immediate fix. For the record, `indicator-datetime` is installed on my machine, so apparently no need to remove/purge it for me. – bluenote10 Nov 29 '15 at 09:10
+1solved [Bug](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/indicator-datetime/+bug/1228360) – Vipul Bhatt Feb 29 '16 at 05:53

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 10 '16 at 04:13

Just kill the indicator-datetime-service process. (This process will get started automatically)

For ex:

$ ps ax | grep -i indicator-datetime
2863 ?        Ssl    0:00 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/indicator-datetime/indicator-datetime-service
4043 pts/0    S+     0:00 grep -i indicator-datetime

kill -9 <pid-of-indicator-datetime-service>
kill -9 2863

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered May 31 '19 at 07:08

I am using Ubuntu 16.04 and was facing the same issue. I tried all above-mentioned solution but still facing the same problem. I resolved the problem by deleting file "libxm2.so.2" file from the location "/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libxml2.so.2". First, check if the same file exists at multiple locations on your system. If yes then delete all except from "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxml2.so.2" Warning: Please backup before deleting this file to avoid any other system issue.

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Sep 15 '14 at 09:11

0

Under System Settings, open Time & Date. Choose the Clock tab to the right of the Time & Date tab. Check Show a clock in the menu bar.

Under In the clock, show, select Weekday, Date and Month, Year or whichever of those you want.

edited Sep 15 '14 at 09:11

Jens Erat

4,993
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answered Sep 15 '14 at 08:26

Wendy Fleet

1

2

The clock tab is greyed out for me - I can't edit the settings there.... – Steve Kroon Apr 18 '15 at 09:08

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 02 '15 at 11:38

0

Removing the indicator-datetime doesn't remove configuration files and settings under Clock will be grayed out. Doing sudo apt-get purge indicator-datetime; sudo apt-get install indicator-datetime; kill -9 -1; will surely work.

answered Oct 02 '15 at 11:38

John Strood

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score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 01 '18 at 15:04

0

i have been trying to fix my time and language icon missing on the panel. i tried many commands but no use but i finally found myself

click alt+right mouse on the panel

click add to panel

double click on indicator applet complete

your missing icons could be recovered, i had successed by this methode

answered Jan 01 '18 at 15:04

babin ahmad

1

please read this – babin ahmad Jan 01 '18 at 15:21

Missing date & time from top panel of Unity Desktop - Ubuntu 14.04

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