Applications don't appear in the Dash (14.04)

Question

I'm running 14.04

I've had a read through this question, which has an answer which is roughly along the lines of other answers on the web, and doesn't work for me.

All Applications Disappear in the Dash

I can search all other files without an issue, but when I attempt to search for Applications, I'm not able to do so.

I'm not sure where to go with troubleshooting this - I've ensured that unity-lens-applications is installed, along with unity-scope-master.

Is there anything else I can do to fix this? I'd honestly prefer not to have to launch all my applications from a Terminal.

On a newly-created user account, applications do appear. However, I'd like to get this fixed on my login.

---

Suggested fixes

• Run unity in alt + F2
  This returns the same error as above, less the filters.
• sudo apt-get install zeitgeist zeitgeist-core
  It was already installed and up to date

Other suggestions which were ineffective:

• clear $HOME/.cache/ and rebooting
• How do I reset my Unity configuration?
• How do I reset GNOME to the defaults?
• Unity doesn't load, no Launcher, no Dash appears

---

As requested, the output of ls /usr/share/applications/:

activity-log-manager.desktop
apport-gtk.desktop
apturl.desktop
bamf-2.index
baobab.desktop
bluetooth-sendto.desktop
bluetooth-wizard.desktop
brasero.desktop
brasero-nautilus.desktop
caffeine.desktop
ccsm.desktop
checkbox-gui.desktop
cheese.desktop
compiz.desktop
credentials-preferences.desktop
dconf-editor.desktop
debian-uxterm.desktop
debian-xterm.desktop
defaults.list
deja-dup.desktop
deja-dup-preferences.desktop
deluge.desktop
display.im6.desktop
docky.desktop
dropbox.desktop
emerald-theme-manager.desktop
empathy.desktop
eog.desktop
evince.desktop
evince-previewer.desktop
evolution-data-server-uoa.desktop
extras-calendar-indicator.desktop
extras-pushbullet-indicator.desktop
extras-variety.desktop
FacebookMessengerfacebookcom.desktop
file-roller.desktop
firefox.desktop
gcalctool.desktop
gconf-editor.desktop
gcr-prompter.desktop
gcr-viewer.desktop
geary.desktop
gedit.desktop
gimp.desktop
gkbd-keyboard-display.desktop
Gmailmailgooglecom.desktop
gnome-activity-log-manager-panel.desktop
gnome-background-panel.desktop
gnome-bluetooth-panel.desktop
gnome-color-panel.desktop
gnome-contacts.desktop
gnome-control-center.desktop
gnome-datetime-panel.desktop
gnome-deja-dup-panel.desktop
gnome-disk-image-mounter.desktop
gnome-disk-image-writer.desktop
gnome-disks.desktop
gnome-display-panel.desktop
gnome-font-viewer.desktop
gnome-info-panel.desktop
gnome-keyboard-panel.desktop
gnome-mouse-panel.desktop
gnome-network-panel.desktop
gnome-online-accounts-panel.desktop
gnome-power-panel.desktop
gnome-power-statistics.desktop
gnome-printers-panel.desktop
gnome-region-panel.desktop
gnome-screen-panel.desktop
gnome-screenshot.desktop
gnome-sound-panel.desktop
gnome-sudoku.desktop
gnome-system-log.desktop
gnome-system-monitor.desktop
gnome-system-monitor-kde.desktop
gnome-terminal.desktop
gnome-universal-access-panel.desktop
gnome-user-accounts-panel.desktop
gnome-user-share-properties.desktop
gnome-wacom-panel.desktop
gnomine.desktop
GoogleCalendargooglecom.desktop
google-chrome.desktop
GooglePlusplusgooglecom.desktop
gucharmap.desktop
hplj1020.desktop
ibus-setup-bopomofo.desktop
ibus-setup.desktop
ibus-setup-pinyin.desktop
im-config.desktop
landscape-client-settings.desktop
language-selector.desktop
libreoffice-calc.desktop
libreoffice-draw.desktop
libreoffice-impress.desktop
libreoffice-math.desktop
libreoffice-startcenter.desktop
libreoffice-writer.desktop
libreoffice-xsltfilter.desktop
mahjongg.desktop
mimeinfo.cache
mono-runtime-common.desktop
mono-runtime-terminal.desktop
mount-archive.desktop
nautilus-autorun-software.desktop
nautilus-classic.desktop
nautilus-connect-server.desktop
nautilus.desktop
nautilus-folder-handler.desktop
nautilus-home.desktop
nm-applet.desktop
nm-connection-editor.desktop
nvidia-settings.desktop
onboard.desktop
onboard-settings.desktop
orca.desktop
popcorn-time.desktop
python2.7.desktop
python3.4.desktop
Redditredditcom.desktop
remmina.desktop
rhythmbox.desktop
rhythmbox-device.desktop
root-system-bin.desktop
screenlets-manager.desktop
seahorse.desktop
session-properties.desktop
shotwell.desktop
shotwell-viewer.desktop
shutter.desktop
signon-ui-browser-process.desktop
simple-scan.desktop
software-properties-drivers.desktop
software-properties-gnome.desktop
software-properties-gtk.desktop
sol.desktop
spotify.desktop
sublime_text.desktop
system-config-printer.desktop
tekka.desktop
thunderbird.desktop
totem.desktop
transmission-gtk.desktop
Twittertwittercom.desktop
typecatcher.desktop
ubuntu-amazon-default.desktop
ubuntu-software-center.desktop
unity-activity-log-manager-panel.desktop
unity-appearance-panel.desktop
unity-bluetooth-panel.desktop
unity-color-panel.desktop
unity-control-center.desktop
unity-credentials-panel.desktop
unity-datetime-panel.desktop
unity-deja-dup-panel.desktop
unity-display-panel.desktop
unity-info-panel.desktop
unity-keyboard-panel.desktop
unity-lens-photos.desktop
unity-mouse-panel.desktop
unity-network-panel.desktop
unity-power-panel.desktop
unity-region-panel.desktop
unity-scope-gdrive.desktop
unity-screen-panel.desktop
unity-sound-panel.desktop
unity-tweak-tool.desktop
unity-universal-access-panel.desktop
unity-user-accounts-panel.desktop
unity-wacom-panel.desktop
unitywebappsqmllauncher.desktop
update-accounts.desktop
update-manager.desktop
usb-creator-gtk.desktop
vino-preferences.desktop
vlc.desktop
webbrowser-app.desktop
xdiagnose.desktop
yelp.desktop

Answer 1

As it is only constrained to your user account, it must have something to do with your user.

Maybe one of the .desktop files in your home folder is tripping the launcher up? Can you try moving the files in these folders all somewhere else:

• /home/<youruser>/.gnome/apps/
• /home/<youruser>/.local/usr/share/applications/

e.g.

$ mkdir backup_local
$ mkdir backup_gnome
$ mv .local/share/applications/*.desktop backup_local/
$ mv .gnome/apps/*.desktop backup_gnome/

Then logout, login and see if it changed anything? You can always move them back in if it didn't help. If it did help, try moving them in one by one to which file was the culprit.

EDIT: You can find out which one was malformed:

1. Install the desktop-file-utils package:

   sudo apt-get install desktop-file-utils 
   

2. Check each of the .desktop files for validity using desktop-file-validate:

   desktop-file-validate .local/share/applications/*.desktop
   desktop-file-validate .gnome/apps/*.desktop
   

   Or of course at the different location if you already moved it. It will print nothing if all files are OK. If any of the files are malformed, it will print one error message per line.

   You might also want to check the other desktop files for good measure:

   desktop-file-validate /usr/share/applications/*.desktop
   

Answer 2

At somepoint during my session in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS the application search stopped responding, showing the same error. The solution that I've found is to open the terminal (CtrlAltT) and kill the home scope

$ kill $(pgrep -f unity-scope-home/unity-scope-home) 

The scope has restarted and the application search has resumed its capabilities

Answer 3

actually, loggin out to guest session and reloggin back in as main user just fixed the issue, as I still dont really understand why... but before doing that i spent time trying the above command lines, that had no positive effect in my case. for sure a way to reset clean way these .desktop files, which clearly seemed to be the problem, would be appreciated, or even a way to uncorrupt them in case they are. thx anyway

Answer 4

Did you delete your Zeitgeist database and reboot? I.e.:

rm -rf ~/.local/share/zeitgeist

It seems the most logical thing to do. At the next login, allow up to a couple of minutes for the applications to show up again.

Please note that this is not the same as reinstalling Zeitgeist, which in this case is useless, IMHO.

Answer 5

Notice that there is no Applications under the Types or Categories in your case (see attched picture for contrast). I had the same problem after upgrading from 14.04 LTS to 16.04 LTS. The solution worked for me is

Dash (from Unity) does not showing Applications

I copy the answer here:

sudo apt-get purge unity-lens-applications    
sudo apt-get install unity-lens-applications 

then log off & login.

Answer 6

If its only about applications, but other files can be well researched in Dash, you might try this, and re-login after:

rm ~/.cache/software-center -R

Answer 7

I faced the same problem today, under Ubuntu 14.10. Rebooted, and suddenly no more apps in the dash, and none of the proposed solutions (delete the cache, reinstall the lenses, delete the zeitgeist data) worked for me.

Fortunately, I remembered the one system change I'd applied a few hours earlier: I had changed my locale from de_DE.UTF-8 to just de_DE via:

sudo update-locale LANG=de_DE

So if none of the solutions work, try changing your locale to a unicode-aware one. For me, this was:

sudo update-locale LANG=de_DE.UTF-8

followed by a reboot. Everything works as expected now.

Answer 8

This may or may not help in your case, but in my case I was running out of space on the root partition of my hard drive. I kept on getting messages about having less than a Gig of available space. This issue started to happen around then. So clearing some space and restarting did the magic.

Also keep an eye out for any issues that happened around the same time that could have caused it. i.e. applications you may have installed, new hardware you added, drivers you updated etc.

Answer 9

The answer for me was the comment by Sary:

... the "Applications" dashboard plugin was somehow deactivated.