gparted won't start, KdeSudo error

[lcharles]

I'm not sure which of the following is relevant to a solution to the problem but here's the history.

Gparted will no longer run. In fact a number of applications that require root permissions (like Grub Customizer) won't start.

History:

I tried to burn an ISO to a DVD with K3b. I got an error message that K3b didn't have permissions to write to the DVD. So I went to the permissions settings and changed it to use burning group "burning". I got the error that there was no such group so I added myself as the group. I got the DVD to burn OK.

The I wanted to use Gparted. It opens but at the "scanning for all devices" screen it runs for a long time and nothing else happens. So I rebooted.

When my desktop opened I got the error: "No command arguements supplied! usage: KDESudo [-u <runas> command] KdeSudo will now exit.

So I changed the Startup and Shutdown to "Start with an Empty Session". The KdeSudo error message goes away but Gparted still doesn't start.

So I unchecked the "use burning group" box in K3b permissions settings and rebooted. Same problem.

Maybe some update did this and the K3b stuff is just a co-incidence?

So what did I screw up and how do I fix it?

Edit:

Both Gparted and Grub Customizer will start after a 4-5 minute run time. It's not that they don't start at all.

[james147]

Firstly, yet us check sudo, does

sudo echo "It works"

produce any error?

Next, does kdesudo produce any interesting out put (run this in a terminal, it might not print out "it works" even if it runs correctly)

kdesudo echo "it works"

Also, the contents of /etc/group might be useful

[lcharles]

Both sudo and kdesudo worked fine producing 'It works' in both cases. Here is the contents of /etc/group:

root:0:
daemon:1:
bin:2:
sys:3:
adm:4:larry1204
tty:5:
disk:6:
lp:7:
mail:8:
news:9:
uucp:10:
man:12:
proxy:13:
kmem:15:
dialout:20:
fax:21:
voice:22:
cdrom:24:larry1204
floppy:25:
tape:26:
sudo:27:larry1204
audio:29ulse
dip:30:larry1204
www-data:33:
backup:34:
operator:37:
list:38:
irc:39:
src:40:
gnats:41:
shadow:42:
utmp:43:
video:44:
sasl:45:
plugdev:46:larry1204
staff:50:
games:60:
users:100:
nogroup:65534:
libuuid:101:
crontab:102:
syslog:103:
fuse:104:
messagebus:105:
bluetooth:106:
scanner:107:
colord:108:
lpadmin:109:larry1204
ssl-cert:110:
netdev:111:
mlocate:112:
ssh:113:
utempter:114:
avahi-autoipd:115:
avahi:116:
pulse:117:
pulse-access:118:
rtkit:119:
saned:120:
larry1204:1000:
sambashare:121:larry1204
_cvsadmin:122: