Create App Shortcut fails

User Support General
1

I created a qube from whonix-workstation-17 template to host gajim client… I installed it according

As there is no Shortcut added I created a .desktop file in the app cube according

Problem is, there is still no shortcut added to the app shortcuts menu of the cube…

Or is the first procedure only for template qubes and I should go the following route?

If you only want to create a shortcut for a single app qube, you can create a custom menu entry instead:

If you only want to create a shortcut for a single app qube, you can create a custom menu entry instead:

  1. Open a terminal window to Dom0.
  2. Create a custom .desktop file in ~/.local/share/applications. Look in the same directory for existing examples, or see the full file specification. You may use qvm-run inside the .desktop file; see Behind the scenes for more details.
  3. Edit the ~/.config/menus/applications-merged/<vmname>-vm.menu file for the app qube.
  4. Add a custom menu entry referring to your newly created .desktop file.
<Menu>
     <Name>Webmail</Name>
     <Include>
             <Filename>custom.desktop</Filename>
     </Include>
</Menu>
2

Did you create the desktop file in the /usr/share/applications in template?
What Name= did you use in the desktop file? Maybe it contains forbidden characters.
Did you refresh the applications list for the qube in its Settings → Applications tab by pressing the Refresh Applications button?
You don’t see the app entry for the newly created desktop file in the columns?

3

No I created it in the Whonix App Qube… Name is simply “Gajim” (without quotes)… I also refreshed… I’m guessing I should have done this in the template instead? But I don’t want to modify the template if not nessesary… And yes, I don’t see it in the columns…

But I just noticed gajim is gone after restarting the cube… I guess this is normal when creating a Whonix App Cube, but can I change this?

Sorry, absolute qubes noob…

4

Create the desktop file in the ~/.local/share/applications directory in your app qube so it’ll be persistent.

5

Ah okay, but I guess my first problem is now that the gajim app is not persistent…

6

You can’t install the apps using apt in app qubes. You must install them in the template.

But you can install gajim in the app qube using flatpak. The flatpak is available in Whonix template.

7

Thank you very much, creating .desktop file in ~/.local/share/applications did the trick! Also I had to give a higher private storage size, cause the flatpak install was relative big… Now gajim is starting from menu :slight_smile:

8

Silly me, had a typo…

9

Tried the same procedure with Feather Wallet, runs fine and I could create a shortcut, but when launching the shortcut nothing happens… I guess the Exec= line is wrong, how can I determine the right value?

flatpak run org.featherwallet.Feather

I assumed it has to be Exec=Feather but it doesn’t work…

10

I think when you install flatpak, it should create .desktop file automatically and you don’t need to manually create it:

Just refresh the list of the applications in the qube’s Settings → Applications tab.

11

Seems to work in case of Gajim, but not for Feather Wallet…

12

What’s the output of this command in the qube where you’ve installed it?

find /home/user -name "*.desktop"
13

Only launcher and tor browser…

On the Gajim Qube I can find the desktop file in ~/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share/applications/

14

I think you should ask this from the Feather Wallet devs:

15

Just to inform you, problem was that it not installed in user space and instead in root space, so after reboot it gets wiped… With “–user” added it worked correctly and didn’t nee anything else except a refresh applications… Thanks for the hint with Feather Support, the Dev was a great help and immediately fixed this and another finding…