After Switch from Ubuntu to Kubuntu GUI file transfer via SFTP doesn't work!

[stevecoh1]

Ubuntu Version:

Kubuntu installed via kubuntu-desktop over Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS

Desktop Environment (if applicable):

KDE Plasma now

Problem Description:

I was persuaded by someone to try Kubuntu Plasma instead of Ubuntu Gnome for appearance’s sake. Ubuntu Gnome has some real ugliness in Dark mode. No window borders, etc. etc., especially with Qt apps which I’m now using more.

It was easy enough to install this by sudo apt install kubuntu-desktop and after a few appearance tweaks, I was satisfied by this change. It did what I wanted it to do. It looks much nicer.

Then I hit a roadblock.

I use my system to process astrophotography images from my telescope controller. I frequently have to upload captured images and logs. I have become accustomed to doing this with the Ubuntu Files app or FileZilla. I just switch my network connection to the controller hotspot and update the files. I can connect either app to the controller hotspot, make an sftp connection, and copy/move the files, whatever, as if they were local.

However, under Kubuntu, this doesn’t work. Under Kubuntu, once I click the “Copy To” or “Move To” command, the app (Files or Filezilla) immediately hangs and cannot even be killed, for example with the Kill command. Of course it can’t be close either. The app puts up a “Force Quit/Wait” button but clicking it has no effect. The only way to kill it is to disconnect from the hotspot, reconnect to my network, and then the app can be closed. Oddly enough, this does NOT happen, if instead of "Copy To " or “Move To”, I instead just do “Copy” and then “Paste” to the destination, so that is a workaround I could use. But still, I’d like to know what is happening here.

The friend who suggested this, suggested I just use sftp or scp, which he says every Linux user should be comfortable with. He has a point, I suppose, but I’d rather not! The whole purpose of this switch was to improve system appearance!

Does anyone know what the difference is between Kubuntu and Ubuntu in this regard? I thought it was just an appearance thing, or what I might need to do to make it work? I’d like to keep the Kubuntu if I can.

Relevant System Information:

Screenshots or Error Messages:

What I’ve Tried:

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[dinomonster]

It’s not really advisable to install kubuntu-desktop over existing install. At least this was case in the past, so if I’m wrong, be free to correct me. If I remember right, I once did this and results were pretty much the same.

Usually mixing two DEs is not easiest way around .

That being said, my advice is that if you want to use Kubuntu, clean install would probably be best solution.

[vidtek99]

I have to agree with @dinomonster . A clean install would be the way to go. However, I think this issue will still be apparent. With KDE for many years, using the network folder wizard with sftp or fish to create a network connection has always been very hit and miss, sometimes it will work others not. I have never been able to discover why that is, spent hours trying to work it out and failed every time. I just use the url in the address bar now and don’t even try the wizard.

[stevecoh1]

While I agree with you both that a clean install of kubuntu would be, well, cleaner, I am not sure that it is the answer to this problem. In addition to my comment that the two-step Copy and then Paste does succeed, there is also the Kubuntu Dolphin file manager app which, does not even the offer the “Copy To” and “Move To” options. I think “Copy To” and “Move To” are convenience options to do in one step what can easily be done in two. And I really don’t find them that convenient. In Ubuntu, Files pops up a second window for the “To” location which I find to be as much confusing as convenient. Does it really save a step? You still have to identify the To location. Additionally, the Kubuntu Files app looks exactly like the Ubuntu one until you invoke Copy To or Move To, where they’ve written their own functionality which looks more user-friendly, but absolutely doesn’t work on a network connection.

It would be interesting to hear from a user with a clean Kubuntu system if they have this problem. My suspicion would be that they do. In other words, I think it’s a bug.

And then there is the question of why, if this kubuntu-desktop package is so harmful, it continues to be offered in the regular Ubuntu repository.

[vidtek99]

@stevecoh1 You are confusing me here.

@stevecoh1

the Kubuntu Files app looks exactly like the Ubuntu one until you invoke Copy To or Move To, where they’ve written their own functionality which looks more user-friendly, but absolutely doesn’t work on a network connection.

Kubuntu doesn’t have a “files” app. Have you installed a third-party app? Or do you mean Dolphin?

Dolphin does not play nicely with networks.

[dinomonster]

@stevecoh1

And then there is the question of why, if this kubuntu-desktop package is so harmful, it continues to be offered in the regular Ubuntu repository.

What? It’s there because Kubuntu is flavor of Ubuntu. Where else it should be? When you install Ubuntu, ubuntu-desktop is installed and when Kubuntu, then kubuntu-desktop is installed.

They are both metapackages, which are not packages itself but they depend other packages to be installed and thus making some packages needed for desktop etc., like these, more easily installable. You don’t need to install all by yourself, but you get whole set by selecting this one.

[guiverc]

@stevecoh1

And then there is the question of why, if this kubuntu-desktop package is so harmful, it continues to be offered in the regular Ubuntu repository.

I take exception to that comment sorry.

There is increased complexity when you install different packages intended to be used alone, and install them with other packages from different teams which again was expected to be used on its own.

To expect a team to cater for a user using their product (a flavor desktop in this case) in a manner very different to the way they intended (ie. with another teams product), and again very different to the way they performed their quality assurance testing, should NOT be blamed on that team; that is wrong.

Personally I’m a lover of a multi-desktop install, but I’m also very aware of the unique problems that can occur in such installs. I’ve written about it numerous times, eg. on an answer here where if you read my answer you’ll note issues also can occur only if desktops are installed in specific orders too; as different teams may use the same file but use it in different ways that the other team didn’t consider. These issues are also release specific I found (ie. one experience on 22.04 may be different on 24.04 as both teams adjusted their products in way that best suited their needs)…

( Historically I always downloaded Ubuntu Desktop as I could download that quota free and wasn’t in risk of hitting my monthly home internet quota and having my DSL internet connection drop to dialup speeds; I’d switch to ISPs Ubuntu mirror so package downloads were thus quota free too, delete ubuntu-desktop meta-package then install the flavor desktop I wanted to try… I also [in time] experimented with not deleting the prior desktop & actually liked that, thus my now love of multi-desktop installs… but to expect every one of the flavor desktops to QA their desktop with each of the other flavors, and in each possible combination of install orders, is to me ridiculous; especially on a product which you get gratis )

[stevecoh1]

I certainly didn’t mean to offend!

Thanks, you have given an excellent explanation of why this package is offered, in spite of its possible dangers. I had never heard of it until yesterday and would welcome any links you have written explaining why it’s not the best idea to install it.

And I’ll listen to any explanation as to why its use by me could have caused the problem I reported, something I don’t now believe to be the case.

[oldfred]

The one time I installed two desktops, years ago, I got some minor issues. I used to install many KDE apps in Ubuntu and now install some Ubuntu apps into Kubuntu.

For transfers I create a tiny bash file script with rsync commands.
I may have mounted or add mount commands into script.

I copy multiple folders with separate commands. I do not necessarily want all the folders in my data partition. I have an external SSD and copy to my data partition which has same folders.

rsync -aruvlP /media/fred/data-ssk/grampsdb /mnt/data
or
SOURCE=“/media/fred/data-ssk”
DEST=“/mnt/data”
rsync -aruvlP $SOURCE/Documents $DEST

Typically 10 or more commands, depending on what I want to copy.
After filling up / (root) with a copy when I forgot the mount and was copying to the external drive, I now add checks on mounts exist for commands run.

When first starting to use rsync I added the n parameter for test and ran command directly before adding to script.

[stevecoh1]

@vidtek99

@stevecoh1 You are confusing me here.

@stevecoh1

the Kubuntu Files app looks exactly like the Ubuntu one until you invoke Copy To or Move To, where they’ve written their own functionality which looks more user-friendly, but absolutely doesn’t work on a network connection.

Kubuntu doesn’t have a “files” app. Have you installed a third-party app? Or do you mean Dolphin?

Dolphin does not play nicely with networks.

I’ve installed nothing but kubuntu-desktop on top of my ubuntu system. Files was there from the beginning. Here I show it side by side with Dolphin. I suppose it might not exist in clean Kubuntu, but I’m not sure of that.

In the screenshot above, note that Files looks exactly like a Gnome app in look-and-feel, exactly as it looks in Ubuntu. And it stays that way, until you invoke the Copy-To or Move-To command.

Then a new screen, different from that in Gnome Files (which just pops up a new Files window), pops up:

Note that this screen has the KDE/Plasma look-and-feel, not the Gnome look-and-feel.

If the From side of the operation is a network directory and you choose to copy to a local directory, this is when it hangs. This does NOT happen, if, instead of choosing Copy-To or Move-To, you choose the two-step operation Copy (or Cut) followed by Paste.

As for Dolphin, I find it handles Network drives just fine, and it doesn’t offer me the problematic Copy-To and Move-To commands, which is fine with me because I just can do Copy (or Cut) followed by Paste.

Hope that clears up some of the confusion.

But where did this Files app, which you say is not part of Kubuntu, come from? I would accept that it is leftover from my previous Ubuntu desktop, EXCEPT for the fact that it has different Copy-To and Move-To functionality than the Gnome Files app has, so it’s not just the app that was previously installed on Ubuntu. Somebody, at some point in time, introduced a different version of the Files app for Kubuntu.

[vidtek99]

@stevecoh1 Wow, I am even more confused about what is actually happening. Kubuntu definitely does not have any version of files when I use my normal package manager synaptic, as in this screenshot:

I never use the built-in Discover package manager, but when I fire it up, hey presto, there are 3 versions of files when I do a search. See this screenshot:

I have been using Kubuntu for many years and this is the first time I have seen this. I have used other file managers such as Total Commander and Thunar but never seen Files. Screenshot of the top version of Files not installed in discover:

And here is a screenshot of the second installed version:

As you can see it is installed by the launch button top right.

And here is the third version also installed:

Well just shows, you live and learn.

What I would suggest is to install a completely new version of Kubuntu from scratch so you have a base point as a reference on your system. I will do exactly that on one of my spare machines. My main driver at the moment (and the one shown in the screenshots) is a Plucky Puffin snapshot 4 a pre-release version so I would suggest an LTS release such as Noble Numbat for the new install.

Steve thanks for showing me a new wrinkle on KUbuntu I had no idea existed, I can now see why you are just as confused as I!
Cheers Tony.

[eeickmeyer]

Just throwing this out there with my hat on as a flavor lead for Ubuntu Studio and technical lead for Edubuntu:

Kubuntu and Ubuntu (Desktop) are both Ubuntu and not separate distributions. As is every official flavor as well as Server. They are different ways to experience Ubuntu with a different look and feel depending on the user’s needs or wants.

In order to accomplish this, flavors must be built from packages in the repository and not have separate repositories. This is what defines a Linux distribution: the repository. The minute one uses a different repository, even if it’s an addition to the Ubuntu repositories, they are now separate distributions.

Kubuntu is an official flavor, and therefore, uses no repositories in addition to Ubuntu’s repositories. The same goes for all official flavors.

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Packages in the Ubuntu repository do not guarantee coinstallability. Hence, if you install something that is not intended to be installed alongside something else, you might run into problems, up to and including unintended package removal. Therefore, it is imperative that you watch what you install and what its effects will be when installing it. That responsibility is yours, not the distribution maintainers’.

[vidtek99]

@eeickmeyer Does this include the universe (and the other one - forget it’s name) repositories?
Or just blow-ins like the Daniel Richter ones?
Tony.

[eeickmeyer]

This includes main, universe, and multiverse. No “blow-in” repositories are allowed for official Ubuntu flavors.

[vidtek99]

Thanks for clearing that up Eric.

[mweddle]

Hi @stevecoh1 . My primary desktop is Kubuntu 25.04. I upgraded from a clean install of Kubuntu 24.04, to 24.10, then to 25.04. When I click the Kubuntu icon, then Search for “files”, the top match is Dolphin. I don’t see a specific Files app, so that may be an artifact of installing Kubuntu over Ubuntu.

In Dolphin, I can go to Network and map an SFTP location. In Dolphin, when I right-click a file, I get options for Cut or Copy, but not “Copy To”. I can have two Dolphin windows open, one with the Remote SFTP location, and one with a local directory location, and I can drag-and-drop between the two windows.

My preferred method is to right-click and Copy the file(s), then right-click in the destination location to “Paste (x) files”. This also allows me to use the Kubuntu enhanced Clipboard, so I can go back and choose different batches of files (from different folders) to paste into the destination location. For instance, if I am applying two patches with files from three different locations, I can open the Remote SFTP location, then Paste the first set of files, use the Clipboard to select the second set of files, Paste again, use the Clipboard to select the third set of files, then Paste again. Run the patches, then repeat on the next machine (SFTP location) to patch.

I recommend waiting a bit, then trying a clean installation of Kubuntu 25.10 when it is released. KDE is a different beast than Gnome. Give the clean install a try and see if you like the quirks of KDE over the way you used to do things on Gnome.

[eeickmeyer]

@mweddle

I can have two Dolphin windows open, one with the Remote SFTP location, and one with a local directory location, and I can drag-and-drop between the two windows.

You can also hit F3 for a split-pane view in Dolphin.

[stevecoh1]

I am not in any rush to reinstall my OS at this point in time. It’s a major time-suck and I have had nothing but trouble doing upgrades on this hardware (a Lenovo Thinkpad P16, with a NVidia RTX3500 GPU). Lenovo is slow in releasing proprietary drivers. It was four or five months before I could do a successful upgrade from the supplied 22.04 to 24.04. But I will get around to it eventually and when I do, it will be Kubuntu. Maybe 25.10, maybe 26.04.

[YamiYukiSenpai]

can you go on the terminal and run

apt list --installed xdg-desktop-portal*

I think if you have multiple xdg-desktop-portal-* it can cause weird stuff happening.

In my situation, I was playing around with Trinity desktop in a VM and replaced LXQt on it. I noticed that when I had xdg-desktop-portal-lxqt (or whatever it was) on top of Trinity, it wasn’t playing well (most crucial is that files weren’t downloading), and removed that and made sure the only one that remained was xdg-desktop-portal-trinity (in addition to xdg-desktop-portal itself).

Also, use Dolphin. It’s way better than GNOME’s Nautilus