General KDE problems

There are a few basic steps that can help in troubleshooting problems with KDE. You should try these steps before asking on #kde or the kde general mailing list, since you'll probably be told to try them anyway :-)

Try creating a new user and running KDE with that user. If the problem doesn't occur with the new user, there's probably a problem with a file in your .kde directory. You should then try:
- Rename the file causing the problem. To find an appropriate file, look in .kde/share/apps/<appname> or in .kde/share/config/<appname>rc where <appname> is the name of the application you are having problems with.
- Log out, then log in afresh. New default files will replace your renamed ones.

Clean out /tmp and /var/tmp. KDE stores some temporary files which can sometimes cause problems. You might also like to try removing the following files. Make sure you exit KDE first though!:

- ~/.DCOPserver-* (on KDE3 systems there are usually two of these; one is a symlink to the other)
- ~/.kde/socket-<hostname>
- ~/.kde/tmp-<hostname> which is normally a symlink to the next file:
- /tmp/tmp-kde-<USER>
- ~/.kde/socket-<hostname> which is also normally a symlink to:
- /tmp/ksocket-<USER>

If you're running an old version of KDE, try updating to the latest version - many bugs are fixedwith each new version, so your problem might already be fixed.

Try searching the KDE Bugzilla at http://bugs.kde.org . Many common problems have been reported and discussed there.

If your problem is more general than just one KDE app (eg, 'sound stops working when I start KDE'), try starting X with a different window manager. Even if you haven't installed another WM, 'twm' will be available, as it ships by default with X.
- If you start X with the 'startx' command, just put the appropriate command in the file .xinitrc in your home directory. (If it doesn't exist, create it)
- If you start KDE from kdm, you have to do something else.

If your problem is with sound in KDE, you could try looking at Sound_Problems

I cannot call kcontrol

Problem: You cannot start kcontrol. You are using KDE 4

Solution: kcontrol has been renamed to systemsettings. You can call this from a command line or by pressing ALT_F2.