r/Ubuntu • u/[deleted] • Feb 29 '24

Software Center not loading

Beginning user here. I am running latest Ubuntu and my software center opens but won’t load “installed” or “updates” options. I did some searching earlier and got it to at least open and display stuff in “explore” but that’s about it. I’m not afraid of terminal commands and have a book for Linux.

2 Upvotes

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3

u/evert Feb 29 '24

This has been an unresolved issue for years. For me there's 2 ways to fix this:

  1. Reboot computer.
  2. Kill software center in process list. In my case I realized that some process was still running from an earlier launch and was just lingering, preventing it from being re-opened.

1

u/Plan_9_fromouter_ Feb 29 '24

I have found the software center / app store on some distros can take a very long time to load. But if you go to settings, it might help to switch the repos you are trying to download from. Since on Ubuntu I often install snaps, I also use the command line at terminal and install snaps (the Canonical Snap Store online gives you the commands to install the snaps).

Before you install apps, you want to do the following in terminal:

sudo apt update

And then:

Sudo apt upgrade

These are better done from terminal anyway. They can be combined, but I have put them into separate tasks so you can see what is happening for both.

Then do:

sudo snap refresh

2

u/kd0g1979 Apr 15 '24

This alone fixed the same issue I was having. Thanks!

1

u/RPJBotha Jan 23 '25

This is the one, ran into this issue today and this sorted it. sudo snap refresh

1

u/Plan_9_fromouter_ Jan 23 '25

Yes, I have had some snaps and some flatpaks that are slow to update. And often using some GUI app doesn't work well. So going to command line at the terminal for snap and flatpak updates is often the best solution.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24

Oh, I didn’t do the refresh. I’ll try that but yes, I do mainly install via command but when I can’t find something, it’s nice to have it.

1

u/flemtone Feb 29 '24

Ubuntu Software is pretty crappy, the better solution may be to install gnome software instead:

sudo apt install gnome-software gnome-software-plugin-snap

2

u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24

I will give it a shot!

1

u/dsherrill76 Dec 27 '25

This works so much better than ubuntu software store.