No Desktop Icons or Mouse Pad Control

I installed Zorin OS 7 on my laptop PC. I was unable to control my mouse touch pad, so I tried to reinstall the operating system. However, after the installation was complete, I had a blank Zorin OS desktop with no controls whatsoever. Did I install the OS incorrectly the first time and choose the wrong course of action to try to fix? What should I do now?

Hi and welcome to the forum,

I think it is anybodies guess as to what you have done to the system as there really aren't enough details to go on!.

On a notebook/Netbook, the touchpad mouse is normally switched /on/off by using the FN (coloured blue on your keybord) and maysbe the F5 or F6 key, this of course varies from model to model!!.

Another option is to borrow; beg or steal (only joking!) a USB mouse from someone/somewhere until you find what is causing the problem!.

Try running "DPKG" (Network cable is necessary!) in recovery mode per this guide:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2247

Apart from that; all I can really suggest is to try another install and follow this guide but DO FORMAT THE HOME PARTITION assuming you haven't already copied data to it!.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4848

If and when you manage to boot successfully, check out the System Settings > Hardware > Mouse & Touchpad settings!.
Let us know what happens!.

Regards Wolfman

Thanks Wolfman! Booting in recovery mode and running the dpkg fixed my touch pad and gave me a normal desktop. I can't, however, enable my WiFi in my network settings. Any suggestions?

Hi,

running "DPKG" is always a good bet!!.

Take a look in: Synaptic > Settings > Additional Drivers and see if there are any drivers for your WiFi card listed, if there are, select them and install them.

If the above suggestion doesn't work, wait for Madvinegar as he is the WiFi expert on this forum!.

Regards Wolfman