I just did the normal software update in KDE Neon. Afterwards it said I should reboot, so I did. Now I get to the KDE logon screen and I can put in my password and then it starts to load and I see the spinning circle but eventually the circle freezes and then nothing else happens. I can use ctrl-alt-f2 and log on to the command line but I can't do anything on a graphical desktop.

Where should I go from here?

I am happy to post info but please tell me what command I should run to get the info. Thank you.

Exacly same here, update killed kde.

How do i revert the update ?

Same thing. I investigated a bit and I think it's that kwin doesn't start, or at least that's part of it.

If I run it in konsole (I can start software with Alt+F2) I get the below:

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kwin_x11: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libkwin.so.5: undefined symbol: _ZN14KWaylandServer17XdgShellInterface14surfaceCreatedEPNS_24XdgShellSurfaceInterfaceE

I've installed and started openbox so I can move windows around, but it seems there's more parts of Plasma failing than kwin. No panels or background appear either, this is why it looks like the splash screen is stuck.

Hi there,

I'm having the same issues. After the loading screen all I can do is start programs with Krunner or switch with CTRL-ALT-F2. I am getting the this kwin error when I try to start kwin with "kwin --replace":

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kwin: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libkwin.so.5: undefined symbol: _ZN14KWaylandServer17XdgShellInterface14surfaceCreatedEPNS_24XdgShellSurfaceInterfaceE

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Same problem here. A laptop and a desktop computer. Tried 'recovery mode' to no avail. Using an old computer now, lucky to have it.

gerdeg wrote:Same problem here. A laptop and a desktop computer. Tried 'recovery mode' to no avail. Using an old computer now, lucky to have it.

Temporary workaround is to launch Konsole via alt-F2, install a secondary window manager like xfwm4, launch it, and then relaunch the plasmashell. Got me a "functional" desktop at least.

I created a bugreport, but I'm not sure if all the information is correct or if more is needed:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=427493

If anyone else can provide more information to the bugreport, please do so

kde-skryking wrote:

gerdeg wrote:Same problem here. A laptop and a desktop computer. Tried 'recovery mode' to no avail. Using an old computer now, lucky to have it.

Temporary workaround is to launch Konsole via alt-F2, install a secondary window manager like xfwm4, launch it, and then relaunch the plasmashell. Got me a "functional" desktop at least.

Thanks for that! I got as far as the window manager but didn't think of trying to start plasmashell. It works. So I guess kwin is the only broken part.

I had the same issue and based on the symbol error I identified the libkwaylandserver5 package as the culprit.

A new version of this package was installed in the upgrade that caused the problem.

I downgraded the libkwaylandserver5 package to the previous version 5.19.5-0xneon+20.04+focal+build10 which fixed the issue for me

Run this as root to downgrade

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apt-get install libkwaylandserver5=5.19.5-0xneon+20.04+focal+build10


Will hold off any future upgrade until a fix is out.

markfergy wrote:Run this as root to downgrade

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apt-get install libkwaylandserver5=5.19.5-0xneon+20.04+focal+build10


Thank you very much. This worked for me as well.

Thanks, downgrading it works. It seems the bad build has been removed from the repository, too.

From now on, I'm not going to update my system anymore. This is the second time it had broke my system since the start of corona.

orcuan wrote:From now on, I'm not going to update my system anymore. This is the second time it had broke my system since the start of corona.

Not upgrading keeps you from security updates too, which could cause a bigger problem than the desktop not loading.

If a short breakage is something you really want to avoid (and just in case, I'm not saying that condescendingly at all), perhaps consider moving to Kubuntu? Neon is semi-rolling, so there's a higher chance of stuff breaking, while Ubuntu generally keeps software versions stable and mainly offers security updates.

The downgrade worked for me, too. Thank you! Big smile here