Linuxmint 13
xfce

as a result of trying out keyboard shortcuts to restore the mouse, I find myself with a black screen.

The panel at the bottom of the screen is intact and seems to function normally. but the rest of the screen is black on black and does not respond to the right mouse click, etc.

from the file manager, I can see files on the Desktop, but neither they nor the icons show on the screen.

Programs run and appear on the screen normally. setting a wallpaper does not change anything.

Problems are supposed to travel in threes. I wonder what will follow this one! :-P

Press Alt+F2, and in the box that pops up type "xfdesktop-settings". In the dialog that shows, on the "icons" tab, from the "Icon type" drop down menu, select "File/Launcher icons".

If still nothing happens, Press Alt+F2 and in the box type "xfdesktop"

Have you tried?

You can navigate with tab and arrow keys.

cheers

this one works. Alt+F2 and "xfdesktop". many thanks.

to help my education, can you tell me how this works, what is happening

Xfce4 is basically made up of three components:

1. Xfwm4: The window manager, which draws title bars and lets you move windows, overlap one over the other and minimize/maximize/close them. It also handles compositing, so that you can have shadows and transparency and stuff like that
2. Xfdesktop: Which manages the "desktop" by drawing icons and letting you set the "wallpaper" and manages middle and right button menus
3. Xfce4-panel: the "taskbar"

So basically here for some reason the desktop was not being run automatically as it should have. You can run either or all components by hand too. Besides these, the xfce4-settings-helper runs in the background and handles your "settings" from themes to font rendering and more.