[SOLVED] Impossible to launch from desktop

[andreaconsole]

Hi everyone,
I have a little problem with my desktop: double-clicking on an icon (but also pressing enter after selecting) does not work anymore. All I see is this icon on the bar for a fraction of a second:

I probably made some mess testing different kernels and perhaps upgrading to a non-LTS version. Where should I look to fix this issue? Thanks.
My system:
Operating System: Kubuntu 23.04
KDE Plasma Version: 5.27.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.104.0
Qt Version: 5.15.8
Kernel Version: 6.2.0-23-generic (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 12 × AMD Ryzen 5 5500U with Radeon Graphics
Memory: 7,1 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: AMD Radeon Graphics
Manufacturer: HUAWEI
Product Name: BOM-WXX9
System Version: M1010

PS: I have already tried:
- resetting the KDE config
- using another kernel
- restarting

Double click and the enter button work in Dolphin

[Snowhog]

Is this happening with all Panel entries, or just this one item? What application is this icon supposed to launch?

[andreaconsole]

Thanks for answering. I tried with a folder, a txt file and a picture. I also tried deleting the icon cache (rm ~/.cache/icon-cache.kcache) with no result.

[Snowhog]

Have you tried creating a new user and logging in with that? If a new user doesn’t experience this behavior, then the problem is isolated to something about/in your normal user account, and not the system itself.

[Schwarzer Kater]

If you want to rule out corrupt user cache files only, log in to a tty before logging in to the GUI:
press e.g. [Ctrl] [Alt] [F4] at the SDDM log in screen, log in, then delete them with rm -r $HOME/.cache/* and don't forget to exit and afterwards in *Ubuntu press [Ctrl] [Alt] [F1] to get back to SDDM.

If you want to rule out corrupt user settings files and corrupt user cache files, create a new user account and test from there as Snowhog suggested.

[GreyGeek]

You might try reinstalling kde-plasma-desktop. It won't hurt anything and may restore your desktop to a usable state.

[andreaconsole]

Hi, I tried with a new user and even with "sudo apt-get install --reinstall kubuntu-desktop". Neither worked...

[jlittle]

... with my desktop:... . All I see is this icon on the bar for a fraction of a second...

I think that means the app is crashing or failing to start.

You might find out more if you start the icon's (strictly, the widget's) command in a konsole. I suggest right-clicking the icon and choosing properties, and the application tab to find the command and its arguments. Then run that in a konsole.

[andreaconsole]

This is probably the way to go to really understand what is happening "under the hood". However, simply launching the application from the Konsole does not help. For example, I tried andrea@andrea-BOM-WXX9:~$ cd Desktop/
andrea@andrea-BOM-WXX9:~/Desktop$ gwenview ./206.jpg
to open a jpg on my desktop, but in this case it opens without complaining.
What happens when I double-click on the desktop? What is the command that finds out how to open that file in a list and launches the right program?

EDIT: I've found it is Kickoff but, since it is a widget, I have no idea of how to run it from the terminal

[jlittle]

What happens when I double-click on the desktop?

I would guess that if the desktop displays a picture, the file association of the picture would apply. If I set my desktop to "Plain colour", double-clicking the desktop does nothing.

What is the command that finds out how to open that file in a list and launches the right program?

A KDE plasma way is kioclient exec (There is also kde-open but I suspect it just hands over to kioclient). A desktop-agnostic method is xdg-open.

[gnomek]

After reading this topic I still don't know what application you are trying to run and if you want to run it clicking an icon in menu. Do you want to display an image that is on your desktop folder?

I'm not sure if I understand the problem correctly but I would do this:

In system settings you have programs → file associations.

If you press an icon in menu and it doesn't launch a program than you right click on menu to choose edit menu and find this program and see what is there. Maybe reinstall the program that you want to run.

Also I would check if *.desktop files in

/home/user_name/.local/share/applications/

have proper entries.

There is also defaults.list file in this folder (at least in Manjaro Plasma).

[andreaconsole]

Apologies if I have not been clear so far, I probably overestimated my ability to explain this technical topic in a foreign language.
I will try to be crystal clear now.
This is a screenshot of a portion of my desktop:

As you can see there are a folder, a jpg picture and a file text.
If I select any of them and press enter, or double-click on any of them, nothing happens.
If I open the desktop folder in Dolphin (picture below), everything works as expected, meaning that both double-click and select+enter allows to, respectively, open the folder with Dolphin, open the picture with Gwenview and open the text file with Kate:

Please note that, for each of the three files, the default software is listed correctly (and "right click - open with" works).

I hope this helps understand my issue.

[andreaconsole]

Dear gnomek, I think you are onto something here:

[...]

Also I would check if *.desktop files in

/home/user_name/.local/share/applications/

have proper entries.

There is also defaults.list file in this folder (at least in Manjaro Plasma).

This is what I have in that folder:

~/.local/share/applications$ ls
'Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.desktop'wine wine-extension-ppsx.desktop
'Jenny LeClue - Detectivu.desktop' wine-extension-potm.desktop wine-extension-ppt.desktop
'Life is Strange.desktop' wine-extension-potx.desktop wine-extension-pptm.desktop
mimeapps.list wine-extension-pps.desktop wine-extension-pptx.desktop
mimeinfo.cache wine-extension-ppsm.desktop wine-extension-rels.desktop

Perhaps something is missing?
This is the content of mimeinfo.chache:

[MIME Cache]
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint=wine-extension-pps.desktop;wine-extension-ppt.desktop;
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.presentation.macroEnabled.12=wine-extension-pptm.desktop;
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slideshow.macroEnabled.12=wine-extension-ppsm.desktop;
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.template.macroEnabled.12=wine-extension-potm.desktop;
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation=wine-extension-pptx.desktop;
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slideshow=wine-extension-ppsx.desktop;
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.template=wine-extension-potx.desktop;
application/x-wine-extension-rels=wine-extension-rels.desktop;

While mimeapps.list is empty.

[Snowhog]

I hope this helps understand my issue.

It does.

I have 23.04 installed on my laptop, so I copied a text file, image file, and a folder, all from Dolphin drag and drop (Copy Here). I then double-clicked on each in turn. The text file opened in Kate. The image file opened in Gwenview, and the folder opened in Dolphin. Behavior that is expected and that you aren't seeing. So something is amiss with your setup, that is certain.

When you are viewing the Permissions on each, what does the Permissions tab show, as well as the Advanced Permissions?

[andreaconsole]

Thanks.
This is the Permission tab. I don't see anything suspicious here: