Plasmashell failins to load on boot

WorkerAgent · June 26, 2026, 9:12pm

Basically when I boot up the computer, plasmashell seems to not load correctly. There is no taskbar and I cannot click or drag anything, and only some applications open like Librewolf. I can still open a terminal with a shortcut though, so when I hop into Btop, I can see that plasmashell is running, but if I type in sudo plasmashell into the terminal it tells me to export $(dbus-launch) and doing so does nothing. After about ~2 minutes, plasmashell will initialize and my taskbar, some auto opening apps (like GPU screen recorder) start, and I can drag/right-click on my desktop again. All is fine.

When I looked at the logs, I think I found out that it’s because it fails to register itself with dbus.

journalctl -r _COMM=plasmashell output:

Jun 26 13:38:22 arch-desktop plasmashell[1513]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesk
top.DBus.Error.NoReply", "Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus securit
y policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.")
Jun 26 13:36:21 arch-desktop plasmashell[1513]: Connecting to deprecated signal QDBusConnectionInterface::se
rviceOwnerChanged(QString,QString,QString)
Jun 26 13:36:21 arch-desktop plasmashell[1513]: Member enabled of the object DeclarativeDropArea overrides a
member of the base object. Consider renaming it or adding final or override specifier
Jun 26 13:36:21 arch-desktop plasmashell[1513]: Member visible of the object PlasmaQuick::Dialog overrides a
member of the base object. Consider renaming it or adding final or override specifier
-- Boot 74e18bb98e14412aabeaf07642561f83 --

journalctl --user -b | grep -i dbus output:

Jun 26 13:36:21 arch-desktop plasmashell[1513]: Connecting to deprecated signal QDBusConnectionInterface::serviceOwnerChanged(QString,QString,QString)
Jun 26 13:36:29 arch-desktop /usr/lib/xdg-desktop-portal[1764]: Failed to load RealtimeKit property: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name is not activatable
Jun 26 13:36:29 arch-desktop /usr/lib/xdg-desktop-portal[1764]: Failed to load RealtimeKit property: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name is not activatable
Jun 26 13:36:29 arch-desktop /usr/lib/xdg-desktop-portal[1764]: Failed to load RealtimeKit property: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name is not activatable
Jun 26 13:36:29 arch-desktop vesktop[1761]: [1761:0626/133629.710911:ERROR:dbus/object_proxy.cc:573] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.systemd1.Manager.StartTransientUnit: object_path= /org/freedesktop/systemd1: org.freedesktop.systemd1.UnitExists: Unit app-org.chromium.Chromium-1761.scope was already loaded or has a fragment file.
Jun 26 13:36:45 arch-desktop polkit-kde-authentication-agent-1[1536]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply", "Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.")
Jun 26 13:36:45 arch-desktop kded6[1506]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply", "Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.")
Jun 26 13:36:45 arch-desktop ksmserver[1507]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply", "Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.")
Jun 26 13:36:45 arch-desktop kactivitymanagerd[1531]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply", "Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.")
Jun 26 13:36:45 arch-desktop kaccess[1535]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply", "Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.")
Jun 26 13:36:45 arch-desktop xembedsniproxy[1538]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply", "Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.")
Jun 26 13:36:45 arch-desktop gmenudbusmenuproxy[1534]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply", "Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.")
Jun 26 13:36:53 arch-desktop xdg-desktop-portal-kde[1936]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply", "Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.")
Jun 26 13:36:53 arch-desktop org_kde_powerdevil[1537]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply", "Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.")
Jun 26 13:36:54 arch-desktop easyeffects[1753]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply", "Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.")
Jun 26 13:36:54 arch-desktop systemd[1172]: Created slice Slice /app/dbus-:1.2-org.freedesktop.impl.portal.desktop.kwallet.
Jun 26 13:36:54 arch-desktop systemd[1172]: Started dbus-:1.2-org.freedesktop.impl.portal.desktop.kwallet@0.service.
Jun 26 13:36:54 arch-desktop xdg-desktop-portal-kde[1936]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.portal.Error.Failed", "Could not register app ID: Connection already associated with an application ID")
Jun 26 13:36:54 arch-desktop kactivitymanagerd[1531]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.portal.Error.Failed", "Could not register app ID: App info not found for 'org.kde.ActivityManager'")
Jun 26 13:36:54 arch-desktop kaccess[1535]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.portal.Error.Failed", "Could not register app ID: Connection already associated with an application ID")
Jun 26 13:36:54 arch-desktop ksmserver[1507]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.portal.Error.Failed", "Could not register app ID: App info not found for 'org.kde.ksmserver'")
Jun 26 13:36:54 arch-desktop easyeffects[1753]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.portal.Error.Failed", "Could not register app ID: Connection already associated with an application ID")
Jun 26 13:36:54 arch-desktop org_kde_powerdevil[1537]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.portal.Error.Failed", "Could not register app ID: Connection already associated with an application ID")
Jun 26 13:36:54 arch-desktop kded6[1506]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.portal.Error.Failed", "Could not register app ID: App info not found for 'org.kde.kded6'")
Jun 26 13:36:54 arch-desktop xembedsniproxy[1538]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.portal.Error.Failed", "Could not register app ID: App info not found for 'org.kde.xembedsniproxy'")
Jun 26 13:36:54 arch-desktop polkit-kde-authentication-agent-1[1536]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.portal.Error.Failed", "Could not register app ID: Unable to open /proc/1536/root")
Jun 26 13:36:54 arch-desktop gmenudbusmenuproxy[1534]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.portal.Error.Failed", "Could not register app ID: App info not found for 'org.kde.gmenudbusmenuproxy'")

Jun 26 13:38:22 arch-desktop plasmashell[1513]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply", "Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.")
Jun 26 13:38:22 arch-desktop plasmashell[1513]: Failed to register with host portal QDBusError("org.freedesktop.portal.Error.Failed", "Could not register app ID: Connection already associated with an application ID")
Jun 26 13:38:22 arch-desktop flatpak[3388]: Info: gsr-kwin-helper: DBus server initialized on com.dec05eba.gpu_screen_recorder

I tried multiple things, and nothing really seemed to fix it. If it is worth mentioning I did originally have Hyprland installed, but I got rid of it when games were being annoying with it. I deleted it entirely. I have never really dealt with dbus issues before except with Flatpak packages, so I do not really know what is the right way to fix this. Any help would be appreciated.

Some other info:

Arch w/ 7.0.12 kernel

AMD Radeon 9070

skyfishgoo · June 26, 2026, 9:26pm

i don’t have a response to the journal entries but when this kind of behavior has come up before with my install, i found that going into settings > session and setting it to open an empty session for a reboot cycle or two seemed to shake it loose and then i was able to return to having it restore my previous session.

so you could try that, and in the future when posting long journal outputs it’s easier to read if you use the preformatted </> button up there in the editor menu.

WorkerAgent · June 26, 2026, 10:06pm

Sorry for the bad formatting, next time I will make sure to take that into account so it’s easier for others to read.

I just enabled that setting, and upon restarting the same issue persists

skyfishgoo · June 26, 2026, 10:30pm

then likely something else is borked about your configuration files

to see if that’s true, create a new user and boot to the account and see if the issue persists.

WorkerAgent · June 26, 2026, 11:59pm

I just made a new account and booted into it. Everything worked fine. Taskbar showed up and everything. I’ll have to dig around my ~/.config I guess and see what’s wrong. Thanks for the help!

skyfishgoo · June 27, 2026, 1:06am

from my notes:

# brute force troubleshooting...
mv ~/.config ~/.configBORKED
mv ~/.local ~/.localBORKED
# logout and log back in again to force plasma to recreate the folders with default settings
# open split views of the folders for comparison and file copy
dolphin --split ~/.config ~/.configBORKED
dolphin --split ~/.local ~/.localBORKED
# copy back half of the BORKED folder contents at a time and relog to see if issue returns
# if it does, then delete the folder again, relog, and only copy half of that previous half
# repeat until the culprit is found, then finally, copy back everything BUT that culprit bit