Software Center won't open at all

Question

I am a new user of Ubuntu and I use Ubuntu 16.04 LTS version. My problem is that I can not open software center. It can open before. After updating and installing some applications, can't open the software center.

Run in terminal sudo apt-get update. Do you get any warning for broken packages or any errors? — Thanos Apostolou, Jun 03 '16 at 09:13
Run in Terminal cat /etc/apt/sources.list and show the output. Maybe some line incorrect — Benny, Jun 03 '16 at 09:21
no error during update. it fine. when I click software center, it show in launcher, and disappear after a few second. — Nyein Chan, Jun 03 '16 at 09:22
@NyeinChan, Try running it in terminal: software-center . Then [edit] the question and add the error message. — user.dz, Jun 21 '16 at 03:16
see this --> http://askubuntu.com/questions/760953/new-software-centre-wont-run-after-16-04-upgrade — RossG, Aug 25 '16 at 19:42

score 5 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

5

I was also facing this same problem; I followed these steps to fixed it:-

To uninstall Software Center:

sudo apt-get remove software-center
sudo apt-get autoremove software-center

To re-install Software Center:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install software-center

Thank you Mohamed Slama for askubuntu.com/a/133473/464430

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

Community

1

answered Dec 28 '16 at 09:16

Kuntal K. Basu

542
2
7
17

autoremove doesn't require a package name. Default action is to scan the whole system like update does. – SDsolar Jul 01 '17 at 08:37
1

I wonder what it's called in 16.04 – Ron Smith Jul 19 '17 at 01:19
1

I wonder what it's called in Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS. It's not called software-center. – ttt Jun 09 '21 at 07:05
Package 'software-center' is not installed, so not removed – Andhi Irawan Nov 07 '21 at 05:35
it's no longer software-center. it's gnome-software – TheEhsanSarshar Feb 18 '22 at 18:21

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 10 '18 at 02:11

Rename or remove the ~/.local/share/gnome-software. In the steps below it's removed and will be recreated when you start gnome-software. It currently has a list of what has been installed.

The first line will ensure the locked up instances are removed from memory. It might not be necessary.

$ killall gnome-software
$ rm -r ~/.local/share/gnome-software

Then it should enable to open software-center from dash or with gnome-software from terminal.

Ref: here

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 22 '16 at 18:28

3

Similar problem happened to me after I installed 16.04.1 LTS and updated software with Software Updater in it. When I tried to install new software from *.deb file, the Ubuntu Software opened and then exited quickly. I found the answer here. Actually I just tried to

sudo apt-get update

in terminal. Then Ubuntu Software worked. I don't know why.

edited Nov 22 '16 at 18:28

zx485

2,426

answered Nov 22 '16 at 18:04

Xinliang

31

Updating to 16.04 has never worked for me. Much better is to just stick with 14.04 because it is more mature. Lots more people have posted helpful tips about it. Debugging 16.04 is much more difficult, imho. – SDsolar Jul 01 '17 at 08:36

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 07 '21 at 05:43

1

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

answered Nov 07 '21 at 05:43

Andhi Irawan

176

Thanks a lot. the first suggestion minus the candidate version did the trick. – Hossein May 11 '22 at 04:38

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited Sep 11 '16 at 06:03

0

Maybe the software center is not installed. Try to install it manually:

sudo apt install software-center

edited Sep 11 '16 at 06:03

Thomas W.

480

answered Sep 11 '16 at 04:41

topan maulana

1

I am also facing same problem. I have tried following commands;
1. sudo apt-get update.
2. sudo apt install software-center
However the issue still persist. Software Center was working fine. It means it was installed and due some reason not working now.
– Kuntal K. Basu Dec 28 '16 at 08:56
Try removing it first then update then install it. – SDsolar Jul 01 '17 at 08:37
Package software-center is not available, but is referred to by another package. – Andhi Irawan Nov 07 '21 at 05:36

Software Center won't open at all

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