Software Store - authentication not working

General Help
10

Thanks again all. I definitely unintentionally / carelessly installed a few Snap packages - I’m new to Zorin / Linux, and was a kid in a candy store with everything available.

I installed Synaptic as suggested, it installed with a generic brown box as the icon in the Zorin menu, but doesn’t launch when I select it.
Tried opening the store with the pkexec command, no change.
Tried changing permissions as suggested, no change.

Purged gnome-software as suggested, that clearly worked - it removed Software Store from my menu, and I got a message “Execution of gnome-software failed: command not found” when launching from the Zorin menu (no worries, I’ll figure out how to reinstall it).

On the Snap Store, I figured requiring the account was a data grab, assumed that was the entry price for the convenience of getting software from there. Turning out to be not-so convenient, since Zorin worked fine before I stumbled onto it. Oh well, learning all sorts of things now.

I’ll try to unwind all this later this weekend, keep track of what I do, and provide a recipe to escape my newfound software cage - then post it here in case others run into this.

Again, thanks!

11

That is very strange. Installing Synaptic with

sudo apt-get install synaptic

Should have no difficulty, at all. Similarly, I know that opening gnome-software with pkexec MAY fail (depending on several factors) but was worth a shot- But the permission change should have worked.

There is a difference between a Convenience and a Tool. A convenience disables the need for a tool. A tool allows you to get the job done.
It can be tricky to tell the two apart, at times. I suppose an easy way to tell the difference is to determine which one costs more. Whichever comes at a higher price- is usually the convenience.
Snap and Flatpack are... Very Convenient. They are also a security risk, and are based on Controlling the User and the Installation. They sandbox the app that is installed, cutting it off from .so files, the system theme and cannot be installed or removed by the normal methods.

Installation is fast and easy- With The Terminal.

I Have gotten that "Authentication" message before on the Software Channel. But I solved it differently- I removed all Snaps, Removed Snap and Removed Snap.d - Then installed the package I wanted normally.
Because Free Open Source Means Free Open Source. Canonical Promised that it would NOT close source with Snaps and place Exclusive Products as Snaps. And Canonical has Broken that promise. Flatpack and Snap both Violate Free Open Source and they both have security flaws to put icing on the cake.

1.) As a newcomer to Linux, you have a learning curve ahead of you. No one can lessen that load or make it easy- but it sure can be fun. Always remember that here at the beginning, Your Operating System is probably Doomed. In my first month of using Zorin, I probably wiped and reloaded the OS a dozen times from me making mistakes. So- Back up files- Often. Many will promote pretty GUI apps to do that. Me, I don't bother with all that... I compress my Home Folder and save it on another drive once a week. Back ups- done. Easy.
"But what about my installed programs in Root?" No problem. You can elevate to root and back that up exactly the same way- Compress / directory. Save it on another drive. Done. It works- I have been doing it this way for months.
2.) Installing with Terminal:
To install most software, you need only use "sudo apt-get install ___" because most items are in the Ubuntu Repository or Zorin repository. If it is not, do a Duck or Google search for the repository you need. "Sudo add apt repository ___" With the terminal, you have constant communication, telling you line by line what is going on. You do not have that with the GUI apps. They might throw a vague error if something goes wrong or they might tell you what went wrong. The terminal tells you what went wrong... Which brings us to:
3.) Dependency problems:
The number one cause of Dependency problems is when a user tries to install an outdated or no-longer-maintained app. They do not think to check the last update date on the package or one is not readily visible. I have seen cases of users trying to install a package that was last supported in Ubuntu 12.
If installing from an active repository, and you get a dependency error; Look in the terminal screen for the first missing package. Then use "sudo apt-get install -y ____" with the ____ being that package name. Then once that installation completes, use "sudo apt --fix-broken install" and boom- Problem solved far more often than not. IF that does not solve it-- Go back to check if the package is up to date and maintained. A lot of users assume that there are hoops to jump through or special handling for all these packages- There are not. If you add a repo and then "sudo apt update" yields a 404 error on that repo, it may be unmaintained and outdated.
Use the website pkgs.org:
If you want a package this is offered by Canaonical (Ubuntu) as a Snap, but do not want Snap, or if a package dependency is missing that you need and you cannot find it in a repo... check pkgs.org. Search by the package name (such as one displayed as a needed dependency in terminal) and then navigate to the bottom of the list to Ubuntu 18.04 for Zorin 15 and Ubuntu 20.04 for Zorin 16. Select the package from the list as the architecture and build- a .deb package and navigate to its download page. At the download portion of the page, it gives a terminal installation instruction or a download link. Open the link and save the .deb file. I recommend... the Terminal for installing it. If there is a problem, Gdebi or Software will only say "dependency problems. Leaving unconfigured." Us right click, open terminal here or open a terminal and cd to the directory holding the .deb file, and "sudo dpkg -i ____" with ____ being the package name.

The above will get most users through the vast majority of installations easily and knowledgeably. There are some special case installations- but in those cases, Flatpack and Snap would be of no help, at all, anyway. Those special case builds would not be included in Snap or Flatpack because they are not high demand common packages. It keeps Free Open source and allows the user fuller control over their system and machine and the installations.

12

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.

1 Like
13

I say this every time... Usually a week before wiping and reloading.
O_o

Well... yeah. I totally said that. "pkexec" opens the gui in Elevated Permissions. Sadly, that command did not work. I know that in the odler days of "gksudo" it worked. Pkexec is fairly new as a replacement to gksudo.
Generally, it is best avoided to open a GUI from terminal with "sudo". Sudo is a cli, not a graphical command. It usually will work... but can lead to errors later on down the line.

True...

Ah... Are you using Zorin Core or Zorin Lite?
In Zorin Lite, we can create a custom launcher using the proper command.
In Gnome, i am not so sure. I ditched Gnome and never looked back.

14

I’m using Zorin Ultimate (liked its look and feel so much, wanted to pay for it). In the Main Menu app/utility, I selected Properties and tried to put sudo gnome-software in the Command section, but it didn’t work for me. It still just launched as before:

Launcher-Properties

I’ll keep messing with it. If nothing else, maybe I’ll put a little Terminal script on my desktop, and launch that to open the Software app with enough privilege to add/remove programs. In part, so I force myself to learn that too.

15

@davidi Did you ever find a solution. I now have similar problem: Windows App Support no longer listed in Software Store

16

@zabadabadoo I haven’t found a solution, and it’s pretty inconvenient. For example, launching a .deb by double-clicking just does nothing, so I need to remember how to open it from the Terminal, hope that it all works, so on. It would be nice of the Zorin OS folks could look at this. Not sure how to ask/initiate that.

17

You can PM either zorink or azorin on the forum.

I always install .deb files by opening a terminal in that directory and

sudo dpkg -i <Package_name.deb>

18

Hey there @Aravisian - thanks for the suggestion. Found in another thread that they’re already looking into this, which is great. I wondered whether either of those users was a Zorin person (looked them up) but didn’t want to assume and spam. So it’s in their hands now, or at least on their radar.

And funny, I just went through the process of installing the .deb file, and that’s Terminal process is what I ended up using. In case others find it useful, I found the following link that was a good walk through of options, so I’ll add text for search purposes here:

Three ways to install a .deb file on Zorin: https://itsfoss.com/install-deb-files-ubuntu/

I ended up using the third way (in Terminal) because on my current install, it’s the only way that worked (I tried the first two, because they seemed so convenient, first - when I did, it literally did nothing. Installed gdebi, selected the .deb file, and chose install… the button worked, but nothing happened. Again, for others, I believe that’s due to permissions issues for Software installation on my machine, not a problem with gdebi or anything else.

1 Like
19

The app gdebi has not worked for me for over a year.

20

Hah! Well, then I guess it’s not just me. At least now you (and I) have someone to commiserate with. Thank goodness for the versatility of using Terminal.

21

@davidi For avoidance of doubt. The issue was PM'd to @AZorin as a user, that's all. It has not been acknowledged, so don't know if any action is being taken by devs to fix it.

22

Thanks for clarifying - is there a formal bug filing / request process to put this on their radar? It seems to have a pervasive, and somewhat insidious effect on the overall software process, on my machine at least. This just happened, after opening Software using sudo gnome-software and selecting Updates:

cant-update-software
cant-update-software817×414 17.6 KB

That, after getting prompted by Software (as a notification) that I have about 250Mb worth of updates I should install.

23

Can you try System Tools -> Software Updater (not the software store) and see if that lets you install updates? That is typically the route that should be used.

1 Like
24

I should’ve clarified - I tried it through Software, and also get notified through Software Updater (I presumed they were connected), and I get the same result.

Software Updater goes out, finds the updates, tells me I have 360.5MB of updates to download. When I click Install Now it spins for a moment, then gets to “waiting on authentication” (or the like) in the small window that shows progress, then closes/disappears. I suspect it can’t get proper permissions, so quits.

It’s really quite frustrating at this point. Other software I’m using has a similar update feature, facilitated inside the app, that now can’t update… even after a 150MB download. So, burning time and bandwidth just for it to fail behind some veil.

25

Check your settings: Software Updater settings
then try sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade (close software store, updater, Synaptic - only have terminal open)

26

That worked, thanks @carmar.

Now it seems I’m locked further out of the system.

  1. I cannot unlock my account/user under Settings > Users (tells me I need to unlock it, but the Unlock button doesn’t work).

  2. When Zorin initially loads, I get a UI prompt for a password to “Unlock the keyring” or something like that.

I do have it configured to automatically log me on, I was going to undo that setting in case that would help. But, well, I have to access my user account to change that setting, see 1) above.

I’ll keep working at it, though I feel more-and more painted into a corner! Thanks again for your continued advice and help.

27

Did it update at all or just lock you out?

For the unlock keyring, go to https://askubuntu.com/questions/867/how-can-i-stop-being-prompted-to-unlock-the-default-keyring-on-boot and scroll to “Using the Gnome Keyring Manager (Seahorse)” (about 1/3rd of the way down the page). For this, enter seahorse in the terminal. To access the terminal, when your Zorin loads, use Ctrl+Alt+F1 (may be F1-F6).

28

Yes, it completed the update - thanks.

The keyring unlock you pointed me to work perfectly, thanks! Still can’t unlock my user info in Settings, but at least the keyring is resolved. Thanks again.

29

Sorry, I forgot that you’d need the GUI with seahorse. Follow above to get to terminal and then do rm ~/.local/share/keyrings/login.keyring - that is also mentioned right after the GUI approach in the link I posted earlier.