check to see if it is already running in the background > > ps -A |grep vlc
If so, then kill it > killall vlc Then try launching VLC via any of the usual methods. It was doing this to me too a few months ago, but I have forgotten how I fixed it. You may try deleting your ~/.config/vlc/vlcrc file when you know that no instances are running and see if that helps. Good luck. On Wed, Nov 18, 2020 at 8:37 PM wes <[email protected]> wrote: > On Wed, Nov 18, 2020 at 7:45 PM John Jason Jordan <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > The .desktop file for VLC in /usr/share/applications has not been > > changed. But I cannot launch VLC from the applications menu. > > > > > What is the path to vlc in the .desktop file? Usually (but not always) > found ona line beginning with Exec= > > From the command line sudo apt install vlc says it is already installed > > and the latest version. A reinstall from the command line also > > accomplished nothing. > > > > I assume by "reinstall" you mean the literal reinstall command to apt. You > may also want to try a remove, then a purge, then an install. This will > blow out config files and such. > > > > From the command line 'vlc' launches the player, even if I can't launch > > it from the applications menu, and then I can use File > Open to play > > the file. Or I can just launch VLC from the command line and drag a > > video file from a file manager and drop it on the VLC window. > > > > That's good; that means the problem is with the OS rather than the > application. > > > > I need to figure out what is the difference between launching from the > > command line and launching from the applications menu. > > > The difference is that the menu icon uses the .desktop file to determine > how to launch vlc. > > > > what the heck happened that caused the breakage? > > > > > I could not even begin to guess. > > -wes > _______________________________________________ > PLUG: https://pdxlinux.org > PLUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > _______________________________________________ PLUG: https://pdxlinux.org PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
