I have almost the same problem (with xmonad instead of i3) after my upgrade from ubuntu 14.04 to 15.04. However sudo gnome-control-center doesn't work either. env | grep XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP doesn't return anything.
env | grep xmonad gives: DESKTOP_SESSION=xmonad MANDATORY_PATH=/usr/share/gconf/xmonad.mandatory.path DEFAULTS_PATH=/usr/share/gconf/xmonad.default.path XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=xmonad GDMSESSION=xmonad XDG_CONFIG_DIRS=/etc/xdg/xdg-xmonad:/etc/xdg XDG_DATA_DIRS=/usr/share/xmonad:/usr/local/share/:/usr/share/ I tried DESKTOP_SESSION=gnome; XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=gnome; GDMSESSION=gnome; gnome-control-center without success. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gnome-control-center in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1353480 Title: Most settings panels suddenly missing from gnome-control-center To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-control-center/+bug/1353480/+subscriptions -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
