Thanks for the post @Aravisian - lots of good advice there. Fully agree that the Software Store and Snap Store are conveniences; I’m more of a command line / Terminal fan, but do appreciate a clean UI. Too bad they’re tracking me as a oogle at the pretty graphics and organization.
On the learning curve, yes, and it is fun. Few things are more gratifying than figuring out a seemingly arcane and impossibly vexing problem. Especially with helpful folks such as yourselves for really tough pickles. On the backups/restore, fully agree: I try to be prepared at any moment to flatten the machine… that said, I have Zorin right where I like it… don’t… want… to… reinstall…
BUT – I think I’ve figured it out:
Somehow the Software Store was launching with lower privilege, as in, not as sudo gnome-software. As such, with its inability to get install permissions, Software Store fell back to “supply your account/password” but instead of asking for my sudo-capable username/pw, it fell back to Snap (don’t know why - maybe the Zorin folks could fix that).
I actually removed/reinstalled prior, no luck. I tried installing Snap Store too (knowing I could remove) and saw something catch my eye about not having sudo permission. Hmmm. So… applying that to the Zorin-native Software Store, I launched it from the terminal using:
sudo gnome-software
And viola, It works - I can install software, so on. AND, the other hint? Now, the splash screen for Software Store no longer just shows that “Amazon EKS” as a featured application. So it’s like my inadvertent installation of a Snap (or snap store, who knows) somehow commandeered the Software Store (which it shouldn’t have) and, without elevated permissions, got (me) stuck. If you go look at the Snap Store in a browser now… its Featured Software is Amazon EKS. As they say on the Incredibles, “Coincidence? I think NOT!”
So I still need to figure out how, using the Zorin menu, to make it launch using sudo, but at least I’m no longer stuck, and other folks who run into this won’t be either. I’ll try fiddling with remove / reinstall too, maybe I chose a bad selection during the process to have it install without sudo permissions. Regardless, it’s working!
Thanks again for your help, hope this helps someone else too.