Blender starts but does not show GUI on Ubuntu 22.04

Gwenju · September 25, 2024, 7:45pm

Hello !

I had a working install of Blender 4.1.0 on my ubuntu 22.04 machine, and it suddenly stopped working. When starting Blender, either by clicking its icon or from the terminal, the blender icon shows on the dock, but the GUI never shows.

I tried to install a few different versions from snap (3.6, 4.0, 4.1, 4.2) and from the blender.org download section, and got the same behavior everytime.

Here’s the output from blender --debug --debug-all --debug-gpu:

Switching to fully guarded memory allocator.
Blender 4.1.0
Build: 2024-03-26 00:31:19 Linux Release
argv[0] = /snap/blender/4697/blender
argv[1] = --debug
argv[2] = --debug-all
argv[3] = --debug-gpu
graph_id_tag_update: id=SCScene flags=BASE_FLAGS source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRScene Collection flags=GEOMETRY, ID_RECALC_HIERARCHY source=USER_EDIT
DEG_relations_tag_update: Tagging relations for update.
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRScene Collection flags=GEOMETRY, ID_RECALC_HIERARCHY source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRCollection flags=GEOMETRY, ID_RECALC_HIERARCHY source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GROVERRIDE_RESYNC_LEFTOVERS flags=GEOMETRY, ID_RECALC_HIERARCHY source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRScene Collection flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=SCScene flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRCollection flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GROVERRIDE_RESYNC_LEFTOVERS flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRScene Collection flags=GEOMETRY, ID_RECALC_HIERARCHY source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRCollection flags=GEOMETRY, ID_RECALC_HIERARCHY source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GROVERRIDE_RESYNC_LEFTOVERS flags=GEOMETRY, ID_RECALC_HIERARCHY source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRScene Collection flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=SCScene flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRCollection flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GROVERRIDE_RESYNC_LEFTOVERS flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRScene Collection flags=GEOMETRY, ID_RECALC_HIERARCHY source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRCollection flags=GEOMETRY, ID_RECALC_HIERARCHY source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GROVERRIDE_RESYNC_LEFTOVERS flags=GEOMETRY, ID_RECALC_HIERARCHY source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRScene Collection flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=SCScene flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRCollection flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GROVERRIDE_RESYNC_LEFTOVERS flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRScene Collection flags=TRANSFORM, GEOMETRY, COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=SCScene flags=TRANSFORM, GEOMETRY, COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=SCScene flags=TRANSFORM, GEOMETRY, COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRScene Collection flags=GEOMETRY, ID_RECALC_HIERARCHY source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRCollection flags=GEOMETRY, ID_RECALC_HIERARCHY source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GROVERRIDE_RESYNC_LEFTOVERS flags=GEOMETRY, ID_RECALC_HIERARCHY source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRScene Collection flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=SCScene flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRCollection flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GROVERRIDE_RESYNC_LEFTOVERS flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
DEG_relations_tag_update: Tagging relations for update.
DEG_relations_tag_update: Tagging relations for update.
DEG_relations_tag_update: Tagging relations for update.
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRScene Collection flags=GEOMETRY, ID_RECALC_HIERARCHY source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRCollection flags=GEOMETRY, ID_RECALC_HIERARCHY source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRScene Collection flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=SCScene flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT
graph_id_tag_update: id=GRCollection flags=COPY_ON_WRITE source=USER_EDIT

I managed to get it working once, by deleting the preference folders at ~/.config/blender/ and rebooting, but the no GUI bug is here again, and deleting these files don’t seem to do the trick anymore.

Any help is greatly appreciated !

Hunkadoodle · October 2, 2024, 2:50pm

First of all, welcome to the community, @Gwenju! I’m sorry you’re having this issue. While I have less experience with either snap or deciphering debug logs, I would recommend you try to download the standalone archive - blender-4.2.2-linux-x64.tar.xz, extract it, and try to run the executable from there to see if you have a different result.

One of the common recommendations is to make sure you’re using the most recent graphics card drivers.

Regarding some more specific Linux windowing system troubleshooting, please take a look at this page from the Blender manual and see if it addresses any issues based on your personal configuration:
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/getting_started/installing/linux_windowing_environment.html#troubleshooting

Without more information about your system (processor architecture, graphics card, when exactly Blender stopped working, etc.), we can’t really help much more on our end. Hope this helps and let use know if you have any success!

Gwenju · October 4, 2024, 1:33pm

Hey, thank you for your answer !

I actually tried snap and the standalone version with the same results.
HOWEVER, upon reading your comment, I tried the blender 4.2.2 standalone version once again, and… it just worked. The snap version is also working now.

I apt update and apt upgrade some time in between my first post and your answer, so that is what probably did the trick. No GPU driver update though, so I’m not sure what was causing this issue.

Anyway, it’s fixed now