Desktop file double click can not launch application

But open with text editor.

GNOME 46

  1. Beautiful kitty.
  2. Nautilus cannot open applications this way. .desktop files are text files, and Text Editor is the default app handling those. If you want execute .desktop file, you need to move it to ~/.local/share/applications/ and wait for GNOME Shell to load it (there was command for that, but I forgor).

The command would be update-desktop-database. Otherwise, you would need to logout and login again.


@sonichy, as it was already said:
Desktop files are intended for the system to provide application launchers in the desktop. Therefore, it is expected for them to be located in standardized directories and to be handled by the system.

Apart from that you should also consider that running any random desktop file from the file manager can lead to issues at best or security risks at worst.
If you for example tried to run a desktop file because you wanted to install a program, please consider using proper software management tools like Flatpak or your package manager.

1 Like