On Monday I posted an article on how to work around a bug in Xubuntu 14.04 that wouldn't allow you to launch nm-applet as a normal user. The only way it would work was if you launched nm-applet as root.



Well I happened across a solution that allows you to launch nm-applet as a normal user and thus permanently fix the missing Network-Manager icon issue!



What you need to do is edit /etc/xdg/autostart/nm-applet.desktop with your favorite text editor. I like nano, so I ran the following from the terminal:



sudo nano /etc/xdg/autostart/nm-applet.desktop

Go down to theline and change the entry fromto. Save the file and reboot!When you login again you will see that the Network-Manager icon is now back without the need to be launched as root! If you followed my last article , be sure to go back into Sessions and Startup then check the original Network option and remove your custom launcher.Special thanks to Adz from AskUbuntu for this solution!