Newly Installed Apps do not appear in Applications Menu

[ajgreeny]

There is no folder named /usr/showapplications/ unless you created it yourself and you would need sudo command to do that. However it wouldn't work even if you'd done it as that's the wrong destination folder.

You should have used command

sudo cp blender.desktop /usr/share/applications

using the pathway to the .desktop file in your home. This will give you temporary root permissions and allows you to move or copy files into the root filesystem.

If that desktop file was in a blender folder in your home it sounds as you have a version of blender that was downloaded as a compressed archive, not a normal installed package. Give us all the details of how you installed blender as I'm still confused.

It also seems that you need a better understanding of Linux permissions so find one of the many sites that are around that will explain that more fully than we can in this forum. It will serve you very well throughout your Linux life.

[Dennis N]

@taneal1
You wrote in post #3:

Ubuntu store. Yes, it should have set up a menu, but it didn't.

O.K.
First question: let's see which "Ubuntu Store" you actually used to install it. Use your terminal, run the command shown below, then copy and paste the entire line of output in a reply. Please use code tags around your output by selecting it after pasting and then pressing the # from the tool bar.

snap list | grep snap-store

Second question: What version of Ubuntu are you running, 22.04, 23,10 or ?

[Dennis N]

There is a file named "blender.desktop" in the Blender folder.

As ajgreeny observes in post #11, it does sound like you must have downloaded some files. If you had used the Ubuntu Software application to install, there would be nothing placed in your home folder by the installer.

Did you download files from the Blender website? I checked there and see there is a download option there for a file blender-4.0.2-linux-x64.tar.xz
This contains a version intended for any Linux, but I would suggest using Ubuntu's software store to install it - you would get you a package designed for your Ubuntu system and integrated with Ubuntu's package management. Just click on the "Install" button on Blender's page and everything is put in the right place automatically without any user intervention.

The software store installed on you system is either named "Ubuntu Software" or "App Center", depending on your Ubuntu version.

Screenshot attached: Blender's page in App Center (from Ubuntu 23.10)

[taneal1]

@taneal1
You wrote in post #3:


O.K.
First question: let's see which "Ubuntu Store" you actually used to install it. Use your terminal, run the command shown below, then copy and paste the entire line of output in a reply. Please use code tags around your output by selecting it after pasting and then pressing the # from the tool bar.

snap list | grep snap-store

Second question: What version of Ubuntu are you running, 22.04, 23,10 or ?

$ snap list | grep snap-store
snap-store                 41.3-71-g709398e  959    latest/stable/…  canonical**

22.04 LTS

[Dennis N]

$ snap list | grep snap-store
snap-store                 41.3-71-g709398e  959    latest/stable/…  canonical**

22.04 LTS

The versions of snap-store beginning with 41 are named "Ubuntu Software". Find it in your applications. So that's you source for finding new applications to install in Ubuntu 22.04.

You can install Blender with "Ubuntu Software". Use the search button in the initial screen to search for it. There will be two results. One is a .deb package, the other is a snap package. Click the first one - it should lead to the .deb package. See screenshot.

Ubuntu promotes "Ubuntu Software". It additionally gives you the choice of snap packages, and you can browsing about various categories, but another way to install things is from the terminal if you know beforehand what you want to get.

sudo apt install blender

That all.

[taneal1]

The versions of snap-store beginning with 41 are named "Ubuntu Software". Find it in your applications. So that's you source for finding new applications to install in Ubuntu 22.04.

You can install Blender with "Ubuntu Software". Use the search button in the initial screen to search for it. There will be two results. One is a .deb package, the other is a snap package. Click the first one - it should lead to the .deb package. See screenshot.

Ubuntu promotes "Ubuntu Software". It additionally gives you the choice of snap packages, and you can browsing about various categories, but another way to install things is from the terminal if you know beforehand what you want to get.

sudo apt install blender

That all.

Thanks for the info, but remember, I am brand new to Linux, Ubunto...

Paragraph 2 is telling me to install Blender via a .deb package, rather than the snap package that I have currently installed. Presumably, that will solve my current issue, but I still don't know why the snap install didn't work - and should I never use snap install?

Via Ubuntu software I am getting about a dozen snap options for installing Blender, but *no* ".deb packages..."

[Dennis N]

Thanks for the info, but remember, I am brand new to Linux, Ubunto...

Paragraph 2 is telling me to install Blender via a .deb package, rather than the snap package that I have currently installed. Presumably, that will solve my current issue, but I still don't know why the snap install didn't work - and should I never use snap install?

Up to your most recent post, I didn't see any mention that your package is a snap package. Let's find out: Run run command below in the terminal and post the output inside code tags like you did before. If the snap package was installed, it will show up in the output. That should settle that question.

snap list

Ubuntu Software could install either a snap package or a .deb package depending the source. Note the "source" box at the top (see post #15). When it says "ubuntu-mantic-..." this is a standard ubuntu repository with only .deb files. ("universe" is a section for packages that are not expected to be updated or supported by ubuntu after install.) You can switch sources (to install a snap package) by clicking on the drop-down arrow beside the box.


The "snap-store" that people talk about here is the file name of "Ubuntu Software". Ubuntu Software is itself a snap package, but it can install both .deb and snap packages. So it is not solely a "store" for snap packages.

Ubuntu invented snap packages a few years ago ostensibly to provide more secure packages that will work on any Linux distro. Prior to that invention, only .deb packages were offered by previous software stores. You can learn all about snap packages by doing a Google search.

If you gain experience and know what you want, you tend to use the terminal more often. The command I gave at the end of post #15 would install the .deb package of Blender. "apt" is the name of the underlying package manager which "Ubuntu Software" also uses behind the curtain to install your .deb software. So the "apt" command effectively bypasses "Ubuntu Software". Note that apt cannot install snap packages.

[ajgreeny]

However be warned, using apt install package name commands will occasionally install a transitional package which itself then installs the snap version of that package, eg firefox, chromium, and in the dev version 24.04, also thunderbird.
There is very little warning that this will happen unless you follow closely what is happening in terminal or synaptic when installing packages.
I can't tell you how much information the other software managers give you as I've never used anything other than terminal or occasionally synaptic.t

[monkeybrain20122]

But then for blender you don't need either the deb (which is outdated) or the snap (which is probably buggy has too much unnecessary overhead). Blender provides a binary for Linux. Just download it, extract, get into the folder and click the file called blender (which is the executable) to launch. that's it.

There is a blender.desktop file in the folder. If you want a launcher, edit it (right click and choose open with gedit) and change the Exec= blender line to Exec =/path/to/blender_folder/blender (for example, if the blender folder is in your $HOME, then Exec=/home/your_user_name/blender-4.0.2/blender) I would change the folder name to 'blender' instead of 'blender-version-no' because then you won't have to edit your .desktop file if you upgrade. Now copy this .desktop file to ~/.local/share/applications (don't use sudo!!), then right click it, in permission, choose allow to execute as a program. If needed, log out and log in and you should find the launcher in your dash.

[taneal1]

Up to your most recent post, I didn't see any mention that your package is a snap package. Let's find out: Run run command below in the terminal and post the output inside code tags like you did before. If the snap package was installed, it will show up in the output. That should settle that question.

snap list

taneal1@Tom-Precision-3541:~$ snap list
Name                       Version           Rev    Tracking         Publisher      Notes
bare                       1.0               5      latest/stable    canonical✓     base
core18                     20231027          2812   latest/stable    canonical✓     base
core20                     20240111          2182   latest/stable    canonical✓     base
core22                     20240111          1122   latest/stable    canonical✓     base
ddgr                       2.2               846    latest/stable    snapcrafters✪  -
firefox                    116.0.2-1         2987   latest/stable/…  mozilla✓       -
gnome-3-38-2004            0+git.efb213a     143    latest/stable/…  canonical✓     -
gnome-42-2204              0+git.ff35a85     141    latest/stable/…  canonical✓     -
gtk-common-themes          0.1-81-g442e511   1535   latest/stable/…  canonical✓     -
snap-store                 41.3-71-g709398e  959    latest/stable/…  canonical✓     -
snapd                      2.61.2            21184  latest/stable    canonical✓     snapd
snapd-desktop-integration  0.9               83     latest/stable/…  canonical✓     -
vlc                        3.0.19            3721   latest/stable    videolan✓

I tried several different install methods with Blender, and I don't recall which one actually "worked." I don't see Blender listed here, so I must have used something else. I do see VLC and Duck Duck that I installed. They also do not appear in Show Applications...