Private Internet Access (PIA) Icon missing after 18.04 automatic install

[Old Jimma]

Hi Ubuntuers:

I installed Ubuntu 18.04 from scratch on an old machine and then installed Private Internet Acciess (PIA)... and the PIA icon is not in the old machines upper bar.

The icon in the upper bar is important since it provides a way of knowing the the PIA VPN is working!

However, after doing an automatic upgrade of another machine on which PIA had been installed, there isn't a PIA icon in the upper bar.

How do I either uninstall PIA or figure out how to get the PIA icon in the upper bar?

Thanks,
Old Old Old Jimma

[n8461y]

Ubuntu 18.04 ALT+F2, type in r, press enter.Temp fix.

[dev1968]

I tried this and it works.
But I have to do this every time after a restart.

So how do I make this permanent?

[twburger]

Start a terminal session


Go to the applications directory: cd ~/.local/share/applications


Change the text file pia_manager.desktop with: nano pia_manager.desktop


adding env XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity to the setup:


Type=Application Name=Private Internet Access
Exec=env XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity /home/YourUserName/.pia_manager/pia_manager/run.sh
Icon=/home/YourUserName/.pia_manager/pia_tray_files/img/the_pia_logo.png

The actual entry for the_app_logo.png need not be changed

After saving the changed file press Alt-F2 type r and enter to restart to desktop

[vin0209]

Alt+F2 works temporarily. However, that directory is not correct for version v.1.0.2 of PIA.

adding env XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity basically means that you want to change the desktop environment to Unity.

Therefore the solution is:
1. go to 'Startup Application Preferences' app, which is pre-install with Ubuntu
2. select and edit 'Private Internet Acess', which you should have if you set it up to launch on start-up
3. add 'env XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity ' in front of whatever URL that already there.
e.g: <env XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity /opt/piavpn/bin/pia-client --quiet>
4. save -> close, then reboot to test it.

[Cavsfan]

It should install automatically if you get it from https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/download.

On my 18.04 install, just a while ago it asked me if I wanted to update to version 1.1.1 and when I clicked yes, it did it automatically.