wslg: Linux GUI apps not showing up in Start Menu
(Submitting this separately from #4 because I don’t believe it to be the same issue as #4.)
Environment
Windows build number: 21365
Your Distribution version: Debian 11 (bullseye/sid) / Ubuntu 20.04
Your WSLg version: 1.0.17.1
Steps to reproduce
Unknown (should be automatic, I believe?).
I have been using GUI apps on the former distribution for some time before WSLg was released; the latter distribution was a fresh install. In neither case have the Linux GUI apps showed up in the Start menu, and I can confirm that in both cases definition files exist for them under /usr/share/applications.
WSL logs:
Expected behavior
Icons representing the Linux GUI apps should show up in a distro-specific folder, per this repo’s README.
Actual behavior
No such icons appear.
About this issue
- Original URL
- State: open
- Created 3 years ago
- Comments: 31 (8 by maintainers)
I did this and it worked for me:
Caution: I recommend not installing the “Linux Subsystem for Linux Preview” app from the windows store. It will load some extra preview options which lead you to some bugs. All the necessary options will be installed via check for updates.
I’m having the exact same problem, but the solution above doesn’t works.
WSL logs:
I’m using Windows 11 (OS Build 22000.318) and Windows Subsystem for Linux from Microsoft Store.
I’m having the same issue on Windows 22h2 fully updated. Interestingly, I had it working when I did an upgrade install of 22h2 without the most recent updates, but I was having other issues, so I did a clean install of Windows 22h2 and now I am having this issue. I tried using all three methods of installing that I’m aware of, uninstalling it completely in between but nothing helps. I tried setting the permissions for the /usr/share/application folder but that didn’t help either. I can get Icons in the start menu by creating shortcuts manually, but the Icons are wrong and some of the apps open a terminal window as well as the app. I don’t really know where to find the log files. Any help would be appreciated.
I had the same issue where weston.log showed that GUI apps were recognized correctly, but they were not reflected in the start menu. Uninstalling the WSL Preview from the Store and using WSL from the Windows feature + Windows Update instead fixed it, so I suppose there might be a bug with the newest WSL version from the Store.
@hideyukn88 I went a bit further and did what you asked + turning off/on the optional feature for WSL, and now it seems to work. Thank you so much for helping me out!