File manager context menu misses clicks

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Ubuntu Version: 24.04

Desktop Environment: Gnome

Problem Description: The context menu in Ubuntu sometimes misses clicks, the menu just closes without selecting the action - see video below.

https://imgur.com/a/ftbrHkU

It seems to only appear with the X11 session and not on Wayland.

I also tried the lastest 25.04 version, and the problem seems to exist there as well.

It seems to be limited to the file manger.

I was wondering if anyone have experienced the same thing?

While it’s not a massive issue, it is quite annoying.

I know x11 is being phased out, but i was hoping that there might be a workaround or something i can do.

Relevant System Information:
Intel® Core™ i5-8600K × 6
48.0 GiB Memory
AMD 6600 xt 8gb

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A handful of us on 24.04/25.04 have noticed that the Files (Nautilus) context-menu sometimes ignores the click and just vanishes on X-sessions. Two things are going on:

It’s an X11-only quirk. Nautilus and most of GNOME moved to GTK 4, and the devs spend far more time testing on Wayland. On X11 the pointer-grab logic in GTK occasionally drops the click, so the menu closes before the item gets the event. People on Reddit and Launchpad have filed similar complaints .
Wayland is already fixed. Log in to the default Ubuntu on Wayland session and the problem disappears.

Quick work-arounds while you stay on X11

Work-around What to do Notes
Use Wayland for just Nautilus GDK_BACKEND=wayland nautilus & Lets Files run with Wayland back-end even inside an X session. Good stop-gap, but drag-and-drop to non-Wayland apps won’t work.
Try another file manager sudo apt install nemo (or Thunar, PCManFM…) Handy if you need stable right-clicks until Nautilus is patched.
Add yourself to the bug Launchpad bug #2067626 More “This affects me” clicks = higher priority.

Bottom line

Until a patched Nautilus/GTK hits the repos, the cleanest fix is simply to use the Wayland session (or run Nautilus with the Wayland backend). Everything else is just a temporary band-aid, but it’ll keep your workflow sane in the meantime. Hope that helps!

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I was not aware that i could run wayland for specific things? what do i do with this?

I have not found drag and drop to be too reliable on gnome anyway, so i mostly don’t use it

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Nvm that does not work. I might just have to swap to another desktop environment then or attempt to replace the file manager.

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Close every Nautilus window first.
Open a terminal and run

GDK_BACKEND=wayland nautilus &

That starts a fresh Nautilus process using Wayland even though the rest of your session is X11.

If the command just blinks and nothing opens, it usually means GTK can’t get a Wayland connection (some Nvidia drivers or older GTK stacks block it). In that case you’re down to:

Install an alternative file manager (sudo apt install nemo or thunar) and set it as default, or
Log in to the full Wayland session from the greeter for everything.

Those are the only reliable fixes until the upstream patch lands. Hope that clears it up!

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