Lost and recovered snap store but stuck in old software centre version

Support and Help
, , , ,
1

Ubuntu Version: 24.04.3 LTS
Desktop Environment: GNOME

I have a problem. I searched on the forum and on the web more generally but haven’t been able to solve it. I don’t know what to try next and would be grateful for help. I’m on Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS.

I’ve been using Ubuntu LTS versions successfully for a long time and have used the old Ubuntu forums but this is my first post on Discourse

When my 20.04 security updates expired earlier this year I upgraded via 22.04LTS to 24.04LTS. All was well until one day last week when I logged in and noticed that the `orange A’ Ubuntu Software (Snap Store) icon had disappeared from the side tray. I thought the icon must have become unpinned from the tray and I searched in the apps to find it with the intention of pinning it back again. This worried me because the app was where my Firefox and Thunderbird updates had now been arriving (other updates were coming via the Software Updater (icon of a white capital A in a dark circle).

I couldn’t find an app in my software center with the lost icon. Instead there was the old version, like an orange briefcase with the letter A, so I installed that. Since then I’ve had Thunderbird and Firefox updates arive but I’m only aware of that because they’ve appeared briefly in a window on my Desktop. I thought that I would be able to find the new version of the Ubuntu Software app listed when I opened the old app but I then discovered that the central app listing window named `Installed’ was blank every time I tried it.

I was surprised yesterday when I tried it again and found the `Installed’ window was now populated with apps and the Snap Store icon was there. I did the obvious thing and clicked on Install but all I got was a window saying:

Unable to install “Snap Store”:
null: cannot refresh snap-store:snap “snap-store” has running apps (ubuntu-software), pids:2886

I’ve tried sudo snap refresh and it replies All snaps up to date'. So perhaps I'm OK for updates but I still have the old icon in the tray and get the old window when I click on it. Should I simply Leave well enough alone’ (old English saying!) or continue trying to get the later versions?

1 Like
2

To refresh snap-store you must before close it: right click on icon on the dock and select ‘Quit’
Then refresh it with sudo snap refresh snap-store and check what version you have snap info snap-store
If after refresh the problem remain try to re-install sudo snap remove snap-store and sudo snap install snap-store

1 Like
3

There is no need to worry, snap packages update themselves automatcially, you do not need a third party updater like you do with apt packages …

This error is only printed by the old snap store based on gnome-software …

What is the output of snap info snap-store particularly which channel are you tracking ?

4

Right click on the icon shows only New Window and Unpin.

5 
Snap Store is based on GNOME Software, optimized for the Snap experience.
commands:
  - snap-store
  - snap-store.ubuntu-software
  - snap-store.ubuntu-software-local-file
snap-id:      gjf3IPXoRiipCu9K0kVu52f0H56fIksg
tracking:     latest/stable/ubuntu-24.04
refresh-date: 6 days ago, at 09:07 GMT
channels:
  2/stable:          0+git.90575829   2025-10-09 (1270) 11MB -
  2/candidate:       ↑                                       
  2/beta:            ↑                                       
  2/edge:            0+git.5d0043ef   2025-10-22 (1306) 18MB -
  latest/stable:     41.3-72-g80e7130 2024-09-22 (1216) 12MB -
  latest/candidate:  ↑                                       
  latest/beta:       ↑                                       
  latest/edge:       0+git.5d0043ef   2025-10-22 (1306) 18MB -
  preview/stable:    –                                       
  preview/candidate: 0.2.7-alpha      2023-02-02  (864) 10MB -
  preview/beta:      ↑                                       
  preview/edge:      0.3.0-alpha      2023-08-14 (1017) 11MB -
  1/stable:          41.3-72-g80e7130 2024-09-22 (1216) 12MB -
  1/candidate:       ↑                                       
  1/beta:            ↑                                       
  1/edge:            41.3-72-g80e7130 2024-09-16 (1216) 12MB -
installed:           41.3-72-g80e7130            (1216) 12MB -
6

Try switching to the newer one which lives in the 2/stable track:

sudo snap refresh --channel=2/stable snap-store

That should get you the new flutter based one and not the old gnome-software based version …

1 Like
7

Thanks, this is the output…

peter@peter:~$ sudo snap refresh --channel=2/stable snap-store
[sudo] password for peter: 
error: cannot refresh "snap-store": snap "snap-store" has running apps
       (ubuntu-software), pids: 2829
peter@peter:~$
8

Just kill the process that the old software-center keeps running in the background (this was actually one of the reasons the app was re-written :slight_smile: )

sudo kill -9 2829
sudo snap refresh --channel=2/stable snap-store
2 Likes
9

Thanks ogra, that’s done a perfect job and I’m very relieved to feel in control of my updates and apps again.

2 Likes
10

This topic was automatically closed 3 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.