Ubuntu Software doesn't open in Ubuntu 20.04

Question

If i click on Ubuntu Software, it doesn't open. I have a fresh install of Ubuntu 20.04. I tried try to upgrade all packages, but it doesn't fix this problem.

If I try to run killall software-center there is no process with this name, and software-center returns command not found. If I try to reinstall it with apt I have these results:

$ sudo apt-get --purge --reinstall install software-center
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Package oracle-java8-installer is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package 'software-center' has no installation candidate

Related: Ubuntu Software Center (“Software” program) and “Snap Store” missing on fresh Ubuntu 20.04 install (& can't install *.deb files from GUI file manager) — Gabriel Staples, Aug 09 '20 at 19:23

karel · Accepted Answer · 2023-02-05T22:27:12.153

55

The Ubuntu Software Center (software-center) has been upgraded to GNOME Software (gnome-software) in Ubuntu 16.04 and later. The software app has also been renamed to Software in Ubuntu 20.04 and later. In Ubuntu 22.04 and later the software app has been renamed again to Ubuntu Software and clicking the Ubuntu Software icon launches the Snap Store.

If the Software app doesn't open run the following commands:

sudo apt clean # clean list of cached packages so Ubuntu Software can read them
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt autoremove gnome-software && sudo apt install gnome-software

edited Feb 05 '23 at 22:27

answered Apr 28 '20 at 04:23

karel

114,770

thanks a lot, now i've software center working – tafazzi87 Apr 28 '20 at 08:58
12

Didn't work for me. Still the same problem. – GunJack May 29 '20 at 10:26
3

However launching from the terminal works with the command gnome-software. Another problem is that the gnome-software shows around 500 MB of updates. While sudo apt update tells me that all the packages are up to date. – GunJack May 29 '20 at 10:28
Make another desktop launcher and you can launch it from the Dash by clicking it. How can I create launchers on my desktop?. If you can't update that's a package management issue. You should ask a separate question about that. – karel May 29 '20 at 10:29
Following the steps and restart my computer solved the issue. Thanks a lot! – Urmelinho Jul 10 '20 at 04:21
Ubuntu Software is a fork of GNOME Software, packaged as a snap, and installed by default. GNOME Software is also available in the archives, packaged as a traditional apt package. Your instructions don't fix Ubuntu Software, they install GNOME Software alongside it.
Both can be used to manage apt packages. Only Ubuntu Software can deal with snaps. Only GNOME Software can deal with Flatpaks (if you apt install the flatpak plugin for it).
– Marius Gedminas Mar 15 '21 at 21:05
The package that is called Software in 20.04 can be installed by running sudo apt install gnome-software and it can and does manage both snap packages and apt packages. – karel Mar 16 '21 at 03:15
1

You might need to reinstall some other pkgs uninstalled on the autoremove step, like the one from Flatpak, gnome-software-plugin-flatpak – Pablo Bianchi Mar 20 '22 at 08:33
remember to change the application you open the .deb file with. After the above commands I had 2 software install apps (confusing right !) and when I used the second one it opened it and I was able to install. BTW I am using Ubuntu 22. – KFkf Sep 29 '22 at 17:58

score 32 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 20 '22 at 08:31

What is that doesn't work?

Is that gnome-software (see icon below)

(If you hover your mouse over this on your dock/taskbar you get the tooltop Software. I didn't have this one docked to my taskbar on a fresh Ubuntu 20 installation.)

or snap-store? (see icon below)

(the tooltip for this is Ubuntu Software).

To find out more information about why either of the 2 is failing, try to open them from a terminal:

Open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + t, or windowsKeyand then search forterminal, or click on show applicationson your dock/taskbar and then search forterminal`)
Run them: gnome-software. Or snap-store.

Then, google again with the new information that you got.

A couple of ideas:

If if gnome-software is the one that doesn't work, you may try to follow karel instructions:

sudo apt clean # clean list of cached packages so Ubuntu Software can read them
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt autoremove gnome-software && sudo apt install gnome-software

If snap-store is the one that is not working, I can tell you what was my problem (maybe you have a similar one). When I tried to run it I got a permission denied error:
```
[...] WARNING: cannot create user data directory: 
cannot create "/home/<username>/snap/snap-store/454": 
mkdir /home/<username>/snap/snap-store: permission denied
```

this was happening because when I installed a fresh Ubuntu 20, I copied data from a backup of my previous system (CentOS), which had a snap directory inside my user's home directory. During the copying process, that directory got copied as owned by the root user.

(You can check the permissions, the user owner and the group of that directory with ls -al ~ | grep snap and similarly for what's inside with ls -al ~/snap)

To solve this I just changed the owner of my snap directory (and everything that was inside) with

sudo chown <myuser>:<mygroup> -R ~/snap

(replace <myuser> and <mygroup> with whatever are your user and group. E.g. bob:bob (or use the environment variable $USER). Use the ones that appear for almost everything you have inside your home, when running ls -al ~. Or check your user and its groups by running id).

After that I was able to run snap-store.

Was able to run gnome-software. – ttt Jun 09 '21 at 07:24 — ttt, Jun 09 '21 at 07:24

score 16 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 21 '20 at 06:45

16

You can also try

sudo snap remove snap-store
sudo snap install snap-store

Remember it will ask for a password with pop-up

edited Nov 21 '20 at 06:45

Kulfy

17,696

answered Nov 20 '20 at 23:57

Suhail Abdul Rehman Chougule

773

Thanks, this worked for me on 22.04 as well. – Jacob M. Sep 10 '22 at 13:16
I can confirm - the best solution for Ubuntu 22.04 - well done – Mario Boss Nov 24 '22 at 12:44
I had corrupted the snap with a kill command in the wrong moment. Tried what ever is possible, nothing to do. Clicking on the orange icon it will showing something for few seconds in the top bar but no software center window opened. Until I have found this reply. Weird this is not the accepted answer since it really purged the snap GUI and installed again from scratch. I mean the orange icon was removed during this solution process and then after install was placed again in the side bar. +1.000 - With others solutions the orange icon was always there. – Robert Mar 10 '23 at 09:42

score 7 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 16:40

Try reinstalling it by using the below command, it worked for me after installing Ubuntu 20.04 today.

sudo apt-get --purge --reinstall install gnome-software

One more thing, I noticed that the 'Ubuntu Software' in my Dock was not working (it hangs). Even if I search for it under Application it hangs, I had to select 'Software' which has the same exact icon, that one works fine. Make sure you close Ubuntu Software before you run the command.

Let me know if that works for you. Good luck!

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 25 '20 at 11:42

3

If you are referring to snap-store (the Ubuntu Software application), then I was getting the app failing silently on a brand new 20.04 install.

Typing "snap refresh snap-store" from the command line installed an updated version 467 (was previously 433) and everything worked after that.

answered Jul 25 '20 at 11:42

Matt

31

This worked for me on a more or less fresh 20.04 install. – Kjetil S. Jun 05 '22 at 12:21

score 2 · Answer 6 · edited Jun 26 '20 at 03:50

2

Try using these commands in the terminal. It worked for me!

sudo apparmor_parser -r /etc/apparmor.d/*snap-confine*
sudo apparmor_parser -r /var/lib/snapd/apparmor/profiles/snap-confine*
sudo apparmor_parser -r /var/lib/snapd/apparmor/profiles/*

edited Jun 26 '20 at 03:50

VidathD

2,704

answered Jun 26 '20 at 01:48

Louie

21

1

What does this do? – chx101 Dec 24 '21 at 06:33

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 09 '21 at 07:25

1

Open terminal and:

gnome-software

This worked for me at least on "Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS".

answered Jun 09 '21 at 07:25

ttt

543

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Sep 08 '21 at 08:43

0

I had the same problem with snap-store so I installed gnome-software:

sudo apt install gnome-software

answered Sep 08 '21 at 08:43

DimiDak

631

Andhi Irawan · Answer 9 · 2021-11-07T06:24:53.023

0

Try to install the candidate version. It worked for me.

First, remove the snap-store. It also removes your Software Center.

snap remove snap-store

then install the candidate version

snap install snap-store --candidate

or, you can use another alternative, Gnome Software

sudo apt install gnome-software

source : Ubuntu : Can't Open Software Center

edited Nov 07 '21 at 06:24

answered Nov 07 '21 at 05:55

Andhi Irawan

176

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jun 24 '23 at 18:09

0

The reason it didn't work for me is because I disabled the snapd.service. This doesn't prevent ordinary snap-based software from running, but it does make the store non-functional.

answered Jun 24 '23 at 18:09

Violet Giraffe

480

Ubuntu Software doesn't open in Ubuntu 20.04

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