I already uninstalled/reinstalled it through the Software Manager but still it doesn’t open. I usually launch it through Ctrl+Alt+T but that no longer works nor clicking on the item in the Menu. Xterm does work. Any hints? Am I the only one having this problem?
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Are you running Gnome DE, or just using Gnome terminal in another DE?
If the latter, you may have some essential gnome package missing.
Try starting gnome terminal by typing its name at the CLI … it may give some helpful error message.
Try ldd <path to gnome terminal binary> it will tell you which libraries it needs… check they are all present
There may be a locale problem. Try sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales
You can make Xterm a lot better by editing .Xresources file… eg add a scrollbar.
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I would not have thought about this, but Copilot suggested it and it does make sense, I think.
LMDE 7 is based on Debian 12, and one very common failure mode after an upgrade is a broken locale configuration. When LANG or LC_* variables point to a locale that isn’t actually generated on the system, gnome-terminal refuses to start, while xterm still works — exactly the symptoms described.
Here’s what the user should try from xterm:
1. Check current locale
Code
locale
If anything shows as UTF-8 but not fully defined (e.g., LANG= empty, or LC_ALL unset), that’s a red flag.
2. Reconfigure locales
Code
sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales
Then:
Select en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 (or their preferred locale)
Set en_US.UTF-8 as the default
3. Apply the new locale
Code
source /etc/default/locale
4. Try launching gnome-terminal again
Code
gnome-terminal
If it launches from xterm, the keyboard shortcut and menu entry will work again after logging out and back in.
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Thank you for the suggestion! I am using Cinnamon as DE. It is indeed a problem with locales
Like the user in the github issue, I prefer the UI in English but all other settings are for Portuguese and Portugal.
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Thank you for the suggestion. Unfortunately setting en_US.UTF-8 as the default returns error “locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory UTF-8”
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You may need to install some more locale languages.
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I managed to fix it using the reconfigure locales command, but had to switch to terminal mode (Ctrl+Alt+F1). Running the command from Xterm in a windowed desktop does not work.
Thank you both for the suggestions!
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One small detail (and one of the main reasons I don’t use AI): it will make up facts and present them as knowledge. LMDE 7 is based on Debian 13 (not 12). It was not relevant for the problem but it is worrying that AI makes up facts and writes them in an assertive way.
Thank you @pdecker for your help! Your hints allowed me to get to the solution!
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It is worrying . It should have been able to get that simple fact correct
That is strange. ?
Maybe Xterm locks something while it is running?
Thanks for the feedback.
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I had something similar but removed all the languages except american english. Ran a system update, then installed uk english, 2 french languages (not sure why as I thought there was only one, set the défaut to uk english, removed american and one french. Then changed all settings to french.
Several times it asked me to install or removed.
Everything then was fine.
But I did it all through the GUI as did not know the command line to use
Also many system updates.
Then of course had to update libreoffice.
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