microsoft / microsoft/wslg

Linux GUI apps not showing up in Start Menu

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#45 37 comments 3 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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bug start-menu-integration
Dominant language
C++
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Description

(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.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the README section describing distro-specific Start menu icons, then review the attached pulseaudio.log, weston.log, and versions.txt files. Reproduce the behavior on the listed Debian and Ubuntu environments and trace why desktop definitions under /usr/share/applications are not surfaced. Done means Linux GUI app icons appear in the expected distro-specific Start menu folder.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
linux
Domain
desktop, operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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