Hi, first post. I am having the seemingly well known problem of xfwm not running at start-up, leaving my windows unable to be moved/focused. I have removed compiz, unity, nautilus. and ubuntudesktop, and even reinstalled ubuntu (which works fine for a spell), but the problem persists.

I noticed a precursor to the problem is that, one day, the desktop will suddenly change from the xfce wallpaper to the default ubuntu purple gnome wallpaper. There is then a  bar at the top (which is like an out of window menu bar for whichever window is highlighted, know what i mean?) that i think is used in unity. The desktop icons, except for program launchers, disappear, and the right click menu seems changed from xfce's.  However, the xfce application menu bar, which i put at the bottom, is also still around. So its kind of like both are running at the same time.

So anyway, I try to alleviate this by reloading xfdesktop, but it does nothing. Reloading xfwm4 flickers the old desktop into being for a few seconds, but then it goes right back to the original.

Finally, I restart. And then, as i have reproduced, the bars at the top of windows won't focus. So, as is detailed [URL="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1821623&highlight=xfwm4+display"]here(url),[/URL] i set it to replace. The response is(this is in ctrl+alt+F1 by the way):
[CODE]xfwm4-CRITICAL **: Xfconf could not be initialised
xfwm4-WARNING **: Missing data from default files[/CODE]
And so this is how I proceed, and what i get:
[CODE]$: xfwm4
   (xfwm4:2069) GTK Warning: cannot open display.
$: export DISPLAY=:0
$: xfwm4
   (xfwm4:3084): xfwm4-WARNING **: Failed to connect to session manager: Failed to connect to the session manager: SESSION_MANAGER environment variable not defined[/CODE]

And then everything works peachy. However, it does tie up my 'emergency console' as I call it, since i have to do all of it in ctrl+alt+F1, and as it's running there if I ctrl+C and end it, xfwm4 terminates too.

Here is my .xsession-error file right after I get it running: [CODE]/etc/gdm/Xsession: Beginning session setup...
Setting IM through im-switch for locale=en_US.
Start IM through /etc/X11/xinit/xinput.d/all_ALL linked to /etc/X11/xinit/xinput.d/default.
/usr/bin/startxfce4: X server already running on display :0
ssh-agent is already running
xfdesktop[1556]: starting up
xfce4-settings-helper: Another instance is already running. Leaving...
** (process:1621): DEBUG: Telepathy Indicator started

(polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:1617): polkit-gnome-1-WARNING **: Failed to register client: The name org.gnome.SessionManager was not provided by any .service files
** Message: applet now removed from the notification area
** Message: using fallback from indicator to GtkStatusIcon
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/blueman/plugins/BasePlugin.py", line 65, in _load
    self.on_load(parent)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/blueman/plugins/applet/PulseAudio.py", line 173, in on_load
    raise Exception("PulseAudio too old, required 0.9.15 or higher")
Exception: PulseAudio too old, required 0.9.15 or higher
xfce4-panel: No window manager registered on screen 0. To start the panel without this check, run with --disable-wm-check.
** Message: applet now embedded in the notification area

(Thunar:1548): Gdk-CRITICAL **: IA__gdk_window_get_window_type: assertion `GDK_IS_WINDOW (window)' failed
** (process:1591): DEBUG: desktop-launch-listener.vala:118: ran with uri: file:///home/qazokm/.xsession-errors
** (process:1591): DEBUG: zeitgeist-datahub.vala:174: Inserting 1 events [/CODE]

My question is, what is causing the problem, if you can yet tell, and how do I get things to work on start-up? If possible I would like to treat the cause, not the symptom. Also, I'm extremely illiterate, if you haven't already been able to tell.

Sorry for the seemingly exhaustively long post, but I really wanted to be as thorough as possible. Thanks in advance!

EDIT: I'm considering removing metacity, as seems to be one of the general recommendations, but would like some thoughtful suggestions before proceeding any further.