Cannot enter some folders

[wtb32141]

When I click on the Files item in Ubuntu’s Activities column, a column of items appears next to the Activities column. Those items include “Music”, “Pictures”, “Videos”, and “Downloads”. Each of those 4 items has a red x inside a square box just to the left of each of those quoted items. When I click on any of those 4 quoted items (say “Pictures”, for example), I get this message: “Sorry, could not display all of the contents of ‘Pictures’: Error opening directory ‘/home/myname/Pictures’:too many levels of symbolic links.” That note re “symbolic links” mystifies me because I have created no links at all. The “Pictures” and “Downloads” folders contain some very important files, but I cannot access them.

Have you any thoughts about the problem and its solution?


Addendum: I have used LibreOffice mainly to write books. I never have needed to create a link of any sort; so I am telling the truth when I say that I never have even tried to create a link. And I live alone; so no one but I ever uses my laptop! Maybe my computer has been hacked!

[claydoh]

the Files item in Ubuntu’s Activities column, a column of items appears next to the Activities column

A screenshot, maybe? I myself have no idea what this is.

Error opening directory ‘/home/myname/Pictures’:too many levels of symbolic links.”

This can sometimes be from a linked directory somehow looping back to itself somehow. How? I don't know.
Links are common, even if you didn't make them yourself.
Those items in the column you mention are links to actual directories, for example.
Those folders in Dolphin's left sidebar are links.

Maybe my computer has been hacked!

Highly and extremely unlikely

Something is amiss, but more info (screenshot?) will be helpful.

[wtb32141]

Claydoh, here is the screenshot you requested. It has 3 sections. Section 1 is the column with a black background. Section 2 is the column next to column 1. Section 3 is the rows and columns of files. This section 3 has 4 rows and 17 columns. Notice that in section 2, 4 items (Music, Pictures, Videos, and Downloads) have a red X next to them. Surely each red x is saying, "Something is wrong with this folder." When I click on any of those 4 folders, I get the same message. “If I click on the Downloads folder, I get this message, "Sorry, could not display all of the contents of ‘Downloads’: Error opening directory ‘/home/myname/Downloads’:too many levels of symbolic links.” So I cannot access any of those 4 folders. How do I eliminate "too many levels of symbolic links"?

[claydoh]

The image(s) is (are) missing
If uploading files is problematic, you can also use something like Imgur or other image posting sites, and just post the link here.
(You might be able to do this directly from the screenshot tool , using the "share" options - it will give you a link after it uploads it for you)


What tool or application do you mean when you mention "Ubuntu’s Activities column?"
Are you able to view your folders (“Music”, “Pictures”, “Videos”, and “Downloads”) using Dolphin?

[wtb32141]

You say, “The image(s) is (are) missing.”

I ask: What images(s) are missing? Image(s) of what?



You ask, ‘What tool or application do you mean when you mention "Ubuntu’s Activities column?" ‘

My answer: Ubuntu calls the column with the black background “Activities”.



You ask, ‘Are you able to view your folders (“Music”, “Pictures”, “Videos”, and “Downloads”) using Dolphin?’

My answer: No.

[claydoh]

You say, “The image(s) is (are) missing.”

I ask: What images(s) are missing? Image(s) of what?

there is no screenshot image in post #4

Ubuntu calls the column with the black background “Activities”.

column in what? an app, the desktop? (I myself an not overly familiar with Gnome)

You ask, ‘Are you able to view your folders (“Music”, “Pictures”, “Videos”, and “Downloads”) using Dolphin?’

My answer: No.

so....what happens, or what do you see?

I don't have an Ubuntu/Gnome system to check with atm, nor enough resources on my current setup to use a virtual machine, maybe someone who is using Ubuntu proper can chime in?

Is this Ubuntu system your usual computer? Is it a dual boot with Kubuntu, or did you add Ubuntu to your existing Kubuntu or what?

[claydoh]

show us the contents of the file ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs - that is a hidden file.
A quick way to see it:
hit alt-f2, and paste this into the "run" box to open it in a text editor:

kate ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs

If that doesn't work, replace kate with kwrite.
If THAT doesn't work (if you are using Ubuntu and don't have KDE apps installed), replace it with gedit

The file will show what folders are set to be used as your default locations for certain things (Downloads is usually /home/your-username/Downloads, but can be se to be someplace else) , and I wonder if the this has been gummed up by something.

This is what it should contain (unless you have changed things) - they may be in different order than what you have, and yours probably has different or missing content on the right side of the equals sign for each one:

XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/Templates"
XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="$HOME/Public"
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents"
XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Music"
XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/Pictures"
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/Videos"​

[wtb32141]

My computer, which is running Ubuntu, is my usual computer. It’s not a dual-boot system. The images for the screenshots are not missing; they are in the Pictures folder, but I cannot access any of these 4 folders: Music, Pictures, Videos, and Downloads. For example, when I try to access the Pictures folder, I get this message: "Sorry, could not display all of the contents of ‘Pictures’: Error opening directory ‘/home/billbailey/Pictures’:too many levels of symbolic links.”

You ask, ‘Are you able to view your folders (“Music”, “Pictures”, “Videos”, and “Downloads”) using Dolphin?’ My answer was and is: No. You then ask, “so....what happens, or what do you see?” My answer: I just tried to open the Downloads folder, and Dolphin responded with this message: “Failed to open file:///home/billbailey/Downloads”.

The contents of the hidden file are:

# This file is written by xdg-user-dirs-update

# If you want to change or add directories, just edit the line you're

# interested in. All local changes will be retained on the next run.

# Format is XDG_xxx_DIR="$HOME/yyy", where yyy is a shell-escaped

# homedir-relative path, or XDG_xxx_DIR="/yyy", where /yyy is an

# absolute path. No other format is supported.

#

XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/"

XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/"

XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/"

XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="$HOME/"

XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents"

XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/"

XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/"

XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/"

[claydoh]

My computer, which is running Ubuntu, is my usual computer

So, you are not using Kubuntu?
Not a problem, but the desktop, applications, and settings locations , as well as basic usage are quite a bit different in Gnome than they are in Kubuntu's Plasma. It will take a small bit of extra effort to make sure we are all on the same page sometimes.

The images for the screenshots are not missing;

But you never shared any screenshots *here* of what you are seeing, so we can't see what you see. But, yes, of course, it is hard, if you can't get at them. Sorry.
They can be saved somewhere you *can* access, though, or accessed from the main file manager, but without using the shortcuts on the side panel

BUT that won't be necessary, to fix your issue, you just need to edit the file to have each line match the identical lines from my example;
So:
make XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/" to be XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
and so on. You probably need to log out to have these corrected settings take effect.

XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Music"
XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/Pictures"
XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="/mnt/public"
XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME"
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/Videos"

[wtb32141]

Claydoh, I need more help. That hidden file now seems to be empty. I say so because I have tried many times to get the file’s contents to appear in gedit, and nothing appears. As far as I can tell, that hidden file is now empty. I’m 83 years old, and it has been years since I fooled around with Linux’s file structure; so I have no idea where that hidden file may be. Your guidance would help me greatly right now.

[claydoh]

alt-f2 to open the "run" box
enter this to open the file in gedit (copy and paste) :

gedit ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs

If the file is empty, then copy the text I provided earlier into it:

XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Music"
XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/Pictures"
XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="/mnt/public"
XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME"
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/Videos"​

If there is text there, just make sure it matches what is above - edit each line as necessary, or delete it all and copy the above into it.

Save the file.

[wtb32141]

Claydoh, please excuse the delay in this message, but I fell from a ladder, and I hurt myself (fractured rib, torn skin from my left wrist and lower right leg). I followed your instructions, but it did not work. Upon saving Gedit’s contents (the 8 XDG statements), Gedit issues this message:

could not find the file "/home/billbailey/~/.config/user-dirs.dirs".

So I went into the hidden file myself, and I edited each of the 8 XDG lines of text. Then I saved the file. But those edits have not solved the problem. I still get the same error message when I try to open the Music, Pictures, Downloads, and Videos folders. That error message (assuming I’m trying to open the Downloads folder) is: “Sorry, could not display all of the contents of ‘Downloads’: Error opening directory ‘/home/billbailey/Downloads’:too many levels of symbolic links.” I'm open for suggestions.

[claydoh]

Oh my!
I hope you are healing well and not in too much pain!


We may need to see more details the "hard" way
Paste the contents of the edited user-dirs.dirs file, just so we can take a look to verify things.

next, open a terminal and use this command to list the contents of your $HOME, with some extra details:

$ ls -la ~

"~" is a shortcut that means "/home/your-username"


In KDE's Krunner, ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs is read as expected, but for you on Gnome, the similar "run" tool it has wants to tack on /home/your-username to the string

[wtb32141]

Claydoh, please excuse the delay in my response to your last text to me. The data you requested are:


1. The current contents of my user-dirs-dirs folder are:

XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME"
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents"
XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Music"
XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/Pictures"
XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/Videos"
XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="mnt/public"

2. The results of “ls -la ~” are:

total 278712
drwxr-x--- 14 billbailey billbailey 4096 May 9 10:31 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 May 30 2023 ..
drwxrwxr-x 2 billbailey billbailey 4096 Apr 22 10:06 AppImages
-rw------- 1 billbailey billbailey 147 Apr 22 22:03 .bash_history
-rw-r--r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 220 May 30 2023 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 3771 May 30 2023 .bashrc
drwx------ 19 billbailey billbailey 4096 Mar 11 11:12 .cache
drwx------ 17 billbailey billbailey 4096 May 11 06:55 .config
lrwxrwxrwx 1 billbailey billbailey 24 Feb 6 14:08 Desktop -> /home/billbailey/Desktop
drwxr-xr-x 4 billbailey billbailey 4096 May 11 06:54 Documents
lrwxrwxrwx 1 billbailey billbailey 26 Feb 6 14:08 Downloads -> /home/billbailey/Downloads
-rw-r--r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 8980 May 30 2023 examples.desktop
-rw-rw-r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 121439 Mar 24 04:21 'f1040(1).odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 121439 Mar 24 04:21 'f1040(2).odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 121439 Mar 24 04:21 'f1040(3).odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 121439 Mar 24 04:17 f1040.odt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 185866 Apr 15 02:51 FTF_2024-04-15_1713167467032.pdf
drwx------ 2 billbailey billbailey 4096 Feb 8 02:12 .gnupg
drwx------ 2 billbailey billbailey 4096 Feb 17 01:39 .grsync
-rw-rw-r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 282309824 Feb 12 08:24 LibreOffice-still.basic-x86_64.AppImage
drwx------ 3 billbailey billbailey 4096 May 30 2023 .local
-rw-rw-r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 341002 Feb 8 02:41 MedicareSummaryNotice_2024-01-31_PartB.pdf
-rw-rw-r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 358945 Mar 7 09:26 MedicareSummaryNotice_2024-02-29_PartB.pdf
-rw-rw-r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 349150 Apr 12 09:20 MedicareSummaryNotice_2024-03-29_PartB.pdf
-rw-rw-r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 318710 Apr 23 16:09 MedicareSummaryNotice_2024-04-15_PartB.pdf
-rw-rw-r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 367098 May 9 10:31 MedicareSummaryNotice_2024-04-30_PartB.pdf
-rw-rw-r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 321778 May 9 10:20 MedicareSummaryNotice_2024-05-01_PartA.pdf
drwx------ 3 billbailey billbailey 4096 Feb 26 02:02 .mozilla
lrwxrwxrwx 1 billbailey billbailey 22 Feb 6 14:08 Music -> /home/billbailey/Music
-rw-rw-r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 46944 Feb 7 03:32 'Order #157640.pdf'
-rw-r--r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 355 May 30 2023 .pam_environment
lrwxrwxrwx 1 billbailey billbailey 25 Feb 6 14:08 Pictures -> /home/billbailey/Pictures
-rw-r--r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 807 May 30 2023 .profile
lrwxrwxrwx 1 billbailey billbailey 23 Feb 6 14:08 Public -> /home/billbailey/Public
-rw-rw-r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 96539 Feb 24 13:39 ScheduleD_Forms-1.pdf
-rw-rw-r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 96539 Feb 21 06:28 ScheduleD_Forms.pdf
drwxrwxr-x 2 billbailey billbailey 4096 Apr 28 01:21 Screenshots
drwx------ 6 billbailey billbailey 4096 Feb 6 14:08 snap
drwx------ 2 billbailey billbailey 4096 Feb 6 13:54 .ssh
-rw-r--r-- 1 billbailey billbailey 0 Feb 17 11:35 .sudo_as_admin_successful
lrwxrwxrwx 1 billbailey billbailey 26 Feb 6 14:08 Templates -> /home/billbailey/Templates
drwx------ 6 billbailey billbailey 4096 Feb 26 02:02 .thunderbird
lrwxrwxrwx 1 billbailey billbailey 23 Feb 6 14:08 Videos -> /home/billbailey/Videos

That’s it.

[oshunluvr]

Nearly ALL those "folders" are links. The "l" (lower case L) as the first character in the ls output means "link", the "d" means directory (or folder), and the "-" means it's a file.

These are links;

lrwxrwxrwx 1 billbailey billbailey 24 Feb 6 14:08 Desktop -> /home/billbailey/Desktop
lrwxrwxrwx 1 billbailey billbailey 26 Feb 6 14:08 Downloads -> /home/billbailey/Downloads
lrwxrwxrwx 1 billbailey billbailey 22 Feb 6 14:08 Music -> /home/billbailey/Music
lrwxrwxrwx 1 billbailey billbailey 25 Feb 6 14:08 Pictures -> /home/billbailey/Pictures
lrwxrwxrwx 1 billbailey billbailey 23 Feb 6 14:08 Public -> /home/billbailey/Public
lrwxrwxrwx 1 billbailey billbailey 26 Feb 6 14:08 Templates -> /home/billbailey/Templates
lrwxrwxrwx 1 billbailey billbailey 23 Feb 6 14:08 Videos -> /home/billbailey/Videos​

These are directories;

drwxr-x--- 14 billbailey billbailey 4096 May 9 10:31 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 May 30 2023 ..
drwxrwxr-x 2 billbailey billbailey 4096 Apr 22 10:06 AppImages
drwx------ 19 billbailey billbailey 4096 Mar 11 11:12 .cache
drwx------ 17 billbailey billbailey 4096 May 11 06:55 .config
drwxr-xr-x 4 billbailey billbailey 4096 May 11 06:54 Documents
drwx------ 2 billbailey billbailey 4096 Feb 8 02:12 .gnupg
drwx------ 2 billbailey billbailey 4096 Feb 17 01:39 .grsync
drwx------ 3 billbailey billbailey 4096 May 30 2023 .local
drwx------ 3 billbailey billbailey 4096 Feb 26 02:02 .mozilla
drwxrwxr-x 2 billbailey billbailey 4096 Apr 28 01:21 Screenshots
drwx------ 6 billbailey billbailey 4096 Feb 6 14:08 snap
drwx------ 2 billbailey billbailey 4096 Feb 6 13:54 .ssh
drwx------ 6 billbailey billbailey 4096 Feb 26 02:02 .thunderbird
​

The rest are files.

It appears "someone" decided to add links to your data folders rather than actual folders. Probably why your /user-dirs.dirs was empty. I also noticed some atypical permissions on some of the folders/files. None of those look critical, but it's odd that they are not the default permissions for those items. It seems likely there has been some fiddling in your home directory.

The really odd thing is I can't see how this is even possible unless you have more than one home folder, because - for example - the link "Music" points to "/home/billbailey/Music" which means there would have to beTWO items named "Music" - one a link and the other a directory - Which is quite literally impossible.

Here's the next steps I suggest:

Post the output of: echo $HOME

Post the output of: ls /home