Nautilus/Files freezes regularly

Applications
1

Hi!

I’m a bit of a linux noob, so I’m not really sure how to handle this. I’ve been using openSuse TW and Fedora 42 since February this year. With both distros, I’m encountering the same issue, Nautilus/Files hangs after some time. Usually I can work for 5 minutes or so, but after that, all Files windows freeze. I can open new windows, but they just spawn and become unresponsive. The rest of the OS seems to be unaffected, apart from the file/folder picker in other applications. Issuing the command “nautilus -q” shuts down the file browser service and I can continue to work for 5 more minutes (or sometimes less).

Via “journalctl --follow”, it appeared that the following errors were thrown:

Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c904e44b0(GtkGridView)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c90e62760(GtkScrolledWindow)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c91005a70(GtkOverlay)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c90e10730(NautilusGridView)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c90bbf170(GtkOverlay)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c9030be80(NautilusFilesView)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c9081e720(GtkBox)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c908131b0(GtkStack)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c900ca170(NautilusWindowSlot)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c909a9d70(AdwBin)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c900137f0(AdwTabView)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c9028a600(AdwToolbarView)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c904c8d00(AdwBin)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c90458540(AdwOverlaySplitView)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c904cb250(AdwToastOverlay)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c904cb9d0(NautilusShortcutManager)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c90014060(AdwBreakpointBin)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c9013f860(AdwBin)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c9011cff0(AdwDialogHost)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c900cfeb0(NautilusWindow)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c904e44b0(GtkGridView)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c90e62760(GtkScrolledWindow)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c91005a70(GtkOverlay)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c90e10730(NautilusGridView)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c90bbf170(GtkOverlay)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c9030be80(NautilusFilesView)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c9081e720(GtkBox)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c908131b0(GtkStack)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c900ca170(NautilusWindowSlot)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c909a9d70(AdwBin)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c900137f0(AdwTabView)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c9028a600(AdwToolbarView)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c904c8d00(AdwBin)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c90458540(AdwOverlaySplitView)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c904cb250(AdwToastOverlay)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c904cb9d0(NautilusShortcutManager)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c90014060(AdwBreakpointBin)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c9013f860(AdwBin)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c9011cff0(AdwDialogHost)
Aug 14 12:54:59 pj-pc nautilus[11318]: Broken accounting of active state for widget 0x560c900cfeb0(NautilusWindow)

I think this starts happening after I install gaming related flatpak apps (like heroic and steam), but removing them doesn’t solve the problem.

When Nautilus freezes, apps like Dolphin, Thunar, SSH, bash… are still able to access files and folders.

Browsing the internet shows vaguely similar problems, but usually only one or two widgets fail. Not 40. So I’m not sure what the next steps are. How do I continue from here?

Thanks in advance for (any) reply.

edit: it seems that this freeze only occurs when Steam or Heroic are actually running. Other flatpak apps do not cause this issue (like LibreWolf or VLC). I could test with the rpm Steam package, but that would introduce a lot of extra dependencies…

2

Hi, please open an issue at Issues · GNOME / Files · GitLab

A set of steps on how you can reproduce this reliably would be helpful, as in at what point does nautilus start issuing these warnings. It might also matter whether you run Xorg or Wayland. I suspect that opening the file chooser is part of the issue.

3

It’s Wayland for all distro’s. But I think I found it. I sometimes click nervously on random blank spots on the desktop. A bit like a nervous tic. This never had an effect, until now. Apparently, when I click left, right, middle at the same time, those errors pop up and Nautilus freezes. Debian 13 recovers after 20 seconds, but not Fedora or openSUSE. Odd.

Solution is trying to be a little less nervous. Seems to be working so far :slight_smile:

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