I downloaded this file and verified it using md5sum; the hashes match. Then I installed it to a USB flash drive using Unetbootin. When the flash is plugged in my computer will now boot to Ubuntu. But the desktop looks empty.

There is a kind of pinkish-lavender wallpaper there, and I can see two different shaded bars, one on the left side of the screen and one on the top. But there doesn’t appear to be anything in them – until I “mouse over” the one on the left. Then I see blank white boxes.

I can click on these white boxes and open things; last night I was able to find Firefox, play a game of Sudoku, and even connect to the Internet – which is amazing considering my wireless modem is usually not that easy to set up. Since I can open and run things I’m figuring everything – or at least some things – got installed correctly. But it’s all a guessing game about where anything is. There are no icons and no text. I’ve never used Ubuntu before, so I don’t know what it’s supposed to look like. But surely there should be more there than blank white boxes.

What’s going on here? Is it a problem with Ubuntu, or with my computer’s display settings, or is it something else? I deliberately went with the netbook version because it was supposed to work better with smaller screens, and my laptop, while not a netbook, does have a pretty small screen.

And I guess what’s more important, how do I fix it?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[P.S. I did try installing to my hard drive from the flash, and it seemed to be successful, but I can't access that installation to see if the problem exists there too. I guess I should make that a separate question...]