RPi 4B - No Desktop Icons

Standard vanilla Gmoccapy 2.9.4, 3-axis turret mill, no internet connection,
Has operated fine, no problems, no faults, for quite some time,

Now it powers up with a blue screen devoid of icons,
Can still launch with/Applications/Accessories/LinuxCNC/drop-down-dialog-box/Gmoccapy/.

Web search tells me the absence of desktop icons is normal for Debian 12 Gnome desktop.
Also found a Gnome extension, "desktop-icons-ng", that can be applied to add the icons.

Will I break something if I attempt to apply this extension ?

Is there a better way ?

Thanks,
John.

Andy,
Thanks for the suggestion, but all the workspaces are devoid of icons.

My post was only to alert the RPi developers in case there is something deeper going on.

I plan to re-install LC 2.9.4 from my back-up to see if that cures the problem.
Then, perhaps, try LC 2.9.8.

Thanks
John.

The standard 4b installer should install the xfce desktop.

The gnome-desktop is empty by default until you find stuff in the search bar and add it. I have not run it for years (last was on bullseye) but it was a bit daunting!

Sounds like something has gone wrong....

You could choose a desktop if you
sudo apt update
sudo apt install tasksel
sudo tasksel