Linux shortcuts no longer appear in Windows start menu

[daedsidog]

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19044.5247]

WSL Version

2.3.26.0

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

5.15.167.4-1

Distro Version

Arch Linux

Other Software

GNU Emacs 29.4 (build 1, x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.24.43, cairo version 1.18.2)

Repro Steps

n/a

Expected Behavior

Installing programs through pacman should have the Linux shortcuts be available from the Windows start menu.

Actual Behavior

After full system update via pacman -Syu, most shortcuts are unavailable. It is not clear why some are available why others are not. For instance, I have Emacs installed, but it does not appear in the start menu:

Restarting WSL, whether by wsl.exe --shutdown or by disabling the Windows features, did not solve the issue, neither did reinstalling the programs.

Diagnostic Logs

[daedsidog@DESKTOP-OC5833J applications]$ pwd
/usr/share/applications
[daedsidog@DESKTOP-OC5833J applications]$ ls
avahi-discover.desktop  emacsclient.desktop       java-java-openjdk.desktop      org.gnupg.pinentry-qt5.desktop
bssh.desktop            emacsclient-mail.desktop  jconsole-java-openjdk.desktop  org.gnupg.pinentry-qt.desktop
bvnc.desktop            emacs.desktop             jshell-java-openjdk.desktop    vim.desktop
cmake-gui.desktop       emacs-mail.desktop        mimeinfo.cache                 xdvi.desktop
[daedsidog@DESKTOP-OC5833J applications]$ cat emacs.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Emacs
GenericName=Text Editor
Comment=Edit text
MimeType=text/english;text/plain;text/x-makefile;text/x-c++hdr;text/x-c++src;text/x-chdr;text/x-csrc;text/x-java;text/x-moc;text/x-pascal;text/x-tcl;text/x-tex;application/x-shellscript;text/x-c;text/x-c++;
Exec=emacs %F
Icon=emacs
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Categories=Development;TextEditor;
StartupNotify=true
StartupWMClass=Emacs
[daedsidog@DESKTOP-OC5833J applications]$ cat cmake-gui.desktop 
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=CMake
Comment=Cross-platform buildsystem
Exec=cmake-gui %f
Icon=CMakeSetup
Terminal=false
X-MultipleArgs=false
Type=Application
Categories=Development;Building;
StartupNotify=true
MimeType=application/x-cmakecache;
[daedsidog@DESKTOP-OC5833J applications]$ 

[github-actions]

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View similar issues

Please view the issues below to see if they solve your problem, and if the issue describes your problem please consider closing this one and thumbs upping the other issue to help us prioritize it!

Open similar issues:

• No start menu entry for flatpaks (#9586), similarity score: 0.71

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[daedsidog]

It might be the same problem as in No start menu entry for flatpaks (#9586) , though mine seems systemic vs. just a single application. I'm unsure whether I should close it or not, for now, I'll leave it open unless told otherwise.

[daedsidog]

Okay so, I'm not sure exactly what I did, but since I really needed an Emacs shortcut, I took the CMake one (one of the few that worked) and pasted it as the emacs.desktop, changing only the name and the Exec parameter, then saved it.

That didn't work, at least not at first.

I then created a batch script that would start Emacs from Windows:

wsl bash -c "emacs &"

Th script itself didn't work (started a console and closed immediately), but as I clicked the start menu, I suddenly noticed the Emacs shortcut (with the CMake app image). It appears that all the shortcuts are now visible again, after being absent for two weeks:

I don't know what I did exactly.