Terminal not launching in Ubuntu 22.04

Question

For some reason, I can't open the terminal through the shortcut (terminal icon) in Ubuntu 22.04. It works through Visual Studio Code, though, so that makes me confused. I tried using the F keys, but they are only working to the fn functions (such as controlling the brightness). I am not very knowledgeable on how Ubuntu works, so I am terribly confused.

I did try (unsuccesfully) to change my python version to 3.11.

Edit: The contents of /usr/share/applications/org.gnome.Terminal.desktop:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Terminal
Comment=Use the command line
Keywords=shell;prompt;command;commandline;cmd;
TryExec=gnome-terminal
Exec=gnome-terminal
Icon=org.gnome.Terminal
Type=Application
Categories=GNOME;GTK;System;TerminalEmulator;
StartupNotify=true
StartupWMClass=Gnome-terminal
X-GNOME-SingleWindow=false
OnlyShowIn=GNOME;Unity;
Actions=new-window;preferences;
X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=gnome-terminal

[Desktop Action new-window]
Name=New Window
Exec=gnome-terminal --window
[Desktop Action preferences]
Name=Preferences
Exec=gnome-terminal --preferences

oh, I mistook 'python' for 'linux'. I did try (unsuccesfully) to change my python version to 3.11; — user480840, Nov 28 '22 at 23:13
@ArchismanPanigrahi, do you know what the problem could be, given the new information? — user480840, Nov 29 '22 at 20:10
Changing the default python version is bound to cause a lot of problems, for example see https://askubuntu.com/questions/1223013/i-accidentally-removed-python-from-ubuntu-graphical-interface-gone. If the already posted answer does not work for you, you will probably have to reinstall Ubuntu — Archisman Panigrahi, Nov 29 '22 at 23:55
You should be able to open xterm. It's hideous by default but you should be able to make any changes you need. — MDeBusk, Nov 30 '22 at 02:05
Duplicate of https://askubuntu.com/questions/1397938/terminal-not-opening-after-changing-python-version/1397940#1397940 — Archisman Panigrahi, Dec 03 '22 at 19:33
Does this answer your question? Gnome terminal will not start after trying to install newer version of Python 3 — wjandrea, Jun 25 '24 at 18:17

score 41 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 25 '24 at 17:57

41

If you try to change your python version in Ubuntu, it will most certainly cripple your environment. Python is an integral part and may not be changed under any circumstances. There are many questions & answers about it in this forum.

What could you do?

Depending on how you installed it, try to remove every remnant of your python 3.11.x and install the original python from the repos.

Since you cannot open terminal, open a virtual terminal with ctrl + alt + f3 and login with your username and password.

If your "orignal" version was not removed, you may tell the system to use it again:

sudo update-alternatives --config python3

Select the Version 3.10.6, if provided.

If the alternatives group was removed, that will not work. Try this command:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.10 1
sudo update-alternatives --config python3

If all else fails you may need to reinstall Ubuntu.

What if you need another python version?

There are many possible ways to install any python version in a special environment like "pipenv", "anaconda", "venv", you name it. See here for a small overview of virtual environments.

The current python version in Ubuntu 22.04 is 3.10.6 as of today.

edited Jun 25 '24 at 17:57

wjandrea

14,543

answered Nov 29 '22 at 22:21

kanehekili

7,496
1
21
38

8

I changed it back to python 3.10 and it worked! thanks! – user480840 Nov 30 '22 at 16:52
5

Fro me I have to use this command first sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.8 1 and then run sudo update-alternatives --config python3 – Jino Antony Jan 12 '24 at 08:01
1

@JinoAntony has the best solution in case the entire group was removed. – Tony Mar 24 '24 at 23:36
Why are you talking about update-alternatives? Different versions of python3 are not alternatives on Ubuntu (as you explained) and are not configured as such (at least as of 20.04). It should correctly say update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for python3 and you'll need to correct the symlink manually at /usr/bin/python3. – wjandrea Jun 25 '24 at 17:54
If you look at the history, someone else added this to my answer... But thanks for your edit. – kanehekili Jun 26 '24 at 20:46

score 13 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 02 '23 at 16:13

13

Had a similar issue, a youtube video resolved my case, without using any cmd line. Go to settings -> Language&Settings -> Change English (United States) to English (Canada) then restart.

answered Jun 02 '23 at 16:13

Inno

131

1

I change languages as this comment, restart and it work – Tung Vo Sep 10 '23 at 02:52
1

I was able to solve the problem for me with Inno's Answer. After switching to "English (Canada)" I was able to switch back to "English (United States)" with the same procedure and it still works. – Twistios_Player Oct 27 '23 at 22:09
1

I actually just did a simple reboot and it fixed it too. Curious to hear if there are any reasons why the language change should have any effect here. – Niko Fohr Dec 08 '23 at 06:57
1

works with my case (in a VBox virtual machine) – Xavier Z Apr 11 '24 at 02:55
1

Worked for me too. It's annoying that freshly installed ubuntu have this bug. – mugiseyebrows Apr 17 '24 at 15:08
It worked for me too, I run Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on a virtual machine of Oracle VM Virtual Box – Tạ Lục Gia Hoàng Aug 26 '24 at 04:46
Also worked for a Hyper-V Guest (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS) – vakio Oct 01 '24 at 11:51
I changed the language in the settings system-wide from German to Canadian English and after a restart, I could open the terminal. – questionto42 Dec 25 '24 at 14:55

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 24 '24 at 15:28

3

An alternative to kanehekili's answer: my problem was that I redirected the python and python3 links in /bin to my newly-installed python3.11 (instead of the original python3.10).

So I had to:

Go into virtual terminal mode (with CTRL + ALT + F3).
cd /bin
Verify the bad state with ln -s | grep python (see the bad python/python3 directions).
Remove soft links with sudo rm ./python and sudo rm ./python3.
Create new soft links with sudo ln -s python3.10 python3 and sudo ln -s python3 python.
Close virtual terminal mode (with CTRL + ALT + F2).

After that everything worked.

answered Jun 24 '24 at 15:28

A. Kali

131

This and all the other answers are not really a fix. You change python then you reinstall there is no 100 percent way to fix this. – David DE Jun 24 '24 at 18:40
I'm not sure, in my case I just installed another python version on the machine, without removing the one that came out of the box (3.10.x still existed). The issue was that I replaced the soft links inside /bin, and (I think) this is where the terminal boot failed (expecting python to be python3.10 and not python3.11). – A. Kali Jun 26 '24 at 07:29
The result is the same you messed with the default python. – David DE Jun 26 '24 at 07:40
The problem was not because I installed another python version (this didn't affect anything), but that I manually changed files in /bin - reverting this fixed the issue. Didn't need to reinstall anything – A. Kali Jun 26 '24 at 08:13
I had to use Vscode terminal to remove the symbolic link as I couldn't go into virtual terminal mode. – AiA Apr 20 '25 at 14:56

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 29 '23 at 12:33

0

For me it was Default Locales.

nano /etc/default/locales

Remove lines that have "LC" or just delete all lines. Reboot.

answered Oct 29 '23 at 12:33

SamTzu

91

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 23 '23 at 20:05

0

I had to update my locale settings in ubuntu:

sudo update-locale LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 LC_MESSAGES=POSIX

Maybe you have to renew your locales or set it to your country.

answered Nov 23 '23 at 20:05

Andy

1

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 03 '25 at 15:38

0

Because of VirtualBox's Auto mode, you can try this Youtube video explanation

This video also fixes other issues.

You can try changing language and region but after all => you should install manually instead of Auto mode of Virtual Box.

answered Jul 03 '25 at 15:38

Trần Hoàng Kim Long

111

18446744073709551615 · Answer 7 · 2025-09-25T16:56:50.813

As a workaround, you may install Konsole, a terminal from KDE. It will work, but since the problem is in Python, a lot of stuff will not work. (And yes, I upgraded my python3 to 3.11.13)

$ gnome-terminal
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/gnome-terminal", line 9, in <module>
    from gi.repository import GLib, Gio
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/gi/__init__.py", line 40, in <module>
    from . import _gi
ImportError: cannot import name '_gi' from partially initialized module 'gi' (most likely due to a circular import) (/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/gi/__init__.py)

So my recommendation is: if you really have to use Python 3.11, install both 3.10 and 3.11 for use with update-alternatives:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.11 1

and a similar command for 3.10, which one should be 1 and which should be 2 is arguable; install Konsole to be used in the case of emergency; start your system with python 3.10 and only then switch it to 3.11 with

sudo update-alternatives --config python3

You will be able to open new terminal windows with Ctrl Shift N (but not via the launcher), while python3 --version will report "Python 3.11.13".

Terminal not launching in Ubuntu 22.04

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