Ubuntu – Mendeley desktop crash

16.04mendeley

My Mendeley-desktop application suddenly started crashing on Ubuntu 16.04. It says:

Another application has your Mendeley database open. Closing the other program or logging out of your computer may fix the problem.

It flashes for a second with this written on the login screen. I have another account 'Administrator' which I think has it opened since when I log in as 'Administrator', the application runs fine. Here is what I have tried:

  • reinstall in my account.

  • remove it from 'Administrator' account and install in mine.

I cannot get it to work on my account. How does it get it to stop capturing the said database?

Note: I can open it in my account using

sudo nautilus

But I want to be able to run it with my account.

Best Answer

Looks like you broke the access permissions inside your user home directory by running applications as super-user within the same home directory. You can reset the ownership and thus regain access with:

sudo chown -R "$USER:" "$HOME"

See Why should users never use normal sudo to start graphical applications? for an explanation why you shouldn't use sudo to start graphical applications and How do I start Nautilus as root? for alternatives (applies to other graphical applications too).

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