# Pamac graphical gui not working **URL:** \ **Category:** Applications and GUI\ **Created:** [November 9, 2026, 7:26am UTC](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/t/pamac-graphical-gui-not-working/2623 "2026-11-09T07:26:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![buildid](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@buildid](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/u/buildid)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2026, 7:26am UTC](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/t/pamac-graphical-gui-not-working/2623/1 "2026-11-09T07:26:58Z")
latest ISO of mabox , while i try from the beginning to use pamac gui it always failed , there was a shaking autothencation popup that dissapear before i could read it or type something .so install programs without the cli was impossible . My knowledge of linux is almost zero so i use the ai -Lumo from proton to figure this out here is what i have done because AI told me so , it was a risk but it works for now , maybe it is helpfull , The missing PAM file is strange because iam new i dont throw away files . **The problem:** pamac-manager never showed a password prompt when installing software, and `pkexec` returned “Not authorized”. For months, graphical software installation was impossible. **The investigation — ruled out step by step:** 1. **Polkit agent?** — Running fine (first polkit-gnome, verified with `ps aux`). Not the cause. 2. **Group membership?** — You were correctly a member of `wheel`. Not the cause. 3. **Session registration?** — `loginctl` showed an active x11 session on seat0 (`Active=yes`). Not the cause. 4. **Authorization rules?** — `99-mabox.rules` proved harmless; the default rules (`50-default.rules`) were intact. Not the cause. 5. **The journal** produced the first real lead: authentication attempts _were reaching_ polkit, and the **polkit-agent-helper was crashing** with exit status 1. **The three actual defects and their repairs:** 1. **Missing PAM file** — `/etc/pam.d/polkit-1` had vanished entirely, leaving the helper unable to verify passwords. Recreated with: ` #%PAM-1.0` ` auth include system-auth` ` account include system-auth` ` session include system-auth` (The `session` line only proved necessary after testing — hence the two-step addition.) 1. **Missing setuid bit** — `/usr/lib/polkit-1/polkit-agent-helper-1` had permissions `-rwxr-xr-x` instead of `-rwsr-xr-x`; without the `s`, the helper could not present itself as root and crashed. Restored with `chmod u+s`. 2. **Broken socket route** — polkit 127 attempted to launch the helper through `polkit-agent-helper.socket`, which failed with “Pidfd not supported on this platform”. Following the error message’s own advice, the socket was masked with `systemctl mask`, allowing the setuid route to take over. **Two finishing improvements:** 1. **Agent modernised** — the outdated polkit-gnome agent was replaced by mate-polkit, made permanent in `~/.config/openbox/autostart` (line 32). ---
**Author:** ![napcok](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/user_avatar/forum.maboxlinux.org/napcok/32/410_2.png) [@napcok](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/u/napcok)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2026, 8:05am UTC](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/t/pamac-graphical-gui-not-working/2623/2 "2026-11-09T08:05:05Z")
Thanks for reporting @buildid , I will check latest ISO and current (unreleased) ISO and try to reproduce… On my main system ( installed 5 January 2026) all works fine. Question: Did you manually modify any important system files related to polkit or PAM? Or did you make any manual changes based on `.pacnew` files after an update? ---
**Author:** ![napcok](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/user_avatar/forum.maboxlinux.org/napcok/32/410_2.png) [@napcok](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/u/napcok)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2026, 8:51am UTC](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/t/pamac-graphical-gui-not-working/2623/3 "2026-11-09T08:51:12Z")
Trying to reproduce this behaviour… Testing by… right click **Web Browser** icon in the panel, then click Install… (some browser). ![Mabox_20261109-11-15-23](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/uploads/default/original/2X/e/e1071225144fbbeaa6c9426d184c1e4b9c7464ff.jpeg) Tests results ## 1. Current unreleased ISO (build date: 2026-11-09 today) - live session: ok ✅ - installed system: ok ✅ ## 2. Latest released ISO 26.09 2026-09-11 - live session: ok ✅ - installed system fresh (no updates): ok ✅ - installed system updated: ok ✅ * * * So… I tried very hard to reproduce this error using two installations - I couldn’t confirm that such an issue occurs. Perhaps you made changes to important configuration files on your own? ---
**Author:** ![buildid](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@buildid](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/u/buildid)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2026, 12:33pm UTC](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/t/pamac-graphical-gui-not-working/2623/4 "2026-11-09T12:33:20Z")
i dont do that on purpose i try not to delete anyfiles as only in my home directory , what i created .The invisible one i even cannot see . The strange thing is it happens from te start after installation i get this error . I once use the gui with pamac as root , i understand now i better dont do that . But that was after i get the error . .an i wanted to install a program. lets hope it will stay fixed for me , thankyou ---
**Author:** ![SauronsMouth](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/user_avatar/forum.maboxlinux.org/sauronsmouth/32/4064_2.png) [@SauronsMouth](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/u/SauronsMouth)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2026, 2:23pm UTC](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/t/pamac-graphical-gui-not-working/2623/5 "2026-11-09T14:23:57Z")
Install Timeshift, and use it. I can’t tell you the amount of times I have inadvertently lost an important system file due to my ignorance and/or stupidity and it yanked my feet back out of the fire with a simple system restore. ---
**Author:** ![M0nst3r](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/user_avatar/forum.maboxlinux.org/m0nst3r/32/1669_2.png) [@M0nst3r](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/u/M0nst3r)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2026, 2:28pm UTC](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/t/pamac-graphical-gui-not-working/2623/6 "2026-11-09T14:28:52Z")
This seems oddly [related with my issue](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/t/browser-installer-not-working/2616). Will post current configs and see how it goes. In my case I never touched or changed any files or permissions either. ---
**Author:** ![buildid](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@buildid](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/u/buildid)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2026, 3:55pm UTC](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/t/pamac-graphical-gui-not-working/2623/7 "2026-11-09T15:55:05Z")
i found my old laptop an HP with mabox 26.01 , didnot touched it from end of januari till now . with excact the same problem , just try to update that old one did not work with the gui . i remember i saw this before … could not remember anymore . just to let you know i dont update it for now in case you want me something todo, this week i will update with the consolle. ---
**Author:** ![napcok](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/user_avatar/forum.maboxlinux.org/napcok/32/410_2.png) [@napcok](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/u/napcok)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2026, 4:13pm UTC](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/t/pamac-graphical-gui-not-working/2623/8 "2026-11-09T16:13:59Z")
I never, ever do update via GUI… always from command line. It is simple as typing `yay`. I use Pamac GUI only to search pkgs and sometimes to install single package. ---
**Author:** ![buildid](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@buildid](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/u/buildid)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2026, 4:20pm UTC](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/t/pamac-graphical-gui-not-working/2623/9 "2026-11-09T16:20:34Z")
did you try to update with the gui and did it work ? because for me on 2 different netbooks it aint working . well use to be ---
**Author:** ![napcok](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/user_avatar/forum.maboxlinux.org/napcok/32/410_2.png) [@napcok](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/u/napcok)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2026, 4:24pm UTC](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/t/pamac-graphical-gui-not-working/2623/10 "2026-11-09T16:24:42Z")
No, I never use GUI to install updates. I prefer and always use cli for that 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rdtsc](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/user_avatar/forum.maboxlinux.org/rdtsc/32/2168_2.png) [@rdtsc](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/u/rdtsc)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2026, 6:36pm UTC](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/t/pamac-graphical-gui-not-working/2623/11 "2026-11-09T18:36:41Z")
- Did the laptop miss a bunch of updates? Mabox is a rolling-release and must be updated regularly. Missing a string of updates can bork it in very weird ways, because each update depends on the previous update. `Weekly` might be a good minimum-update cadence. - Did you download the Mabox install .iso from the official website? [Download and installation | MaboxLinux](https://maboxlinux.org/users-guide/download-and-installation/) I’d suggest re-downloading it just to be sure and delete all old copies; maybe yours is corrupted. ---
**Author:** ![buildid](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@buildid](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/u/buildid)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2026, 6:47pm UTC](https://forum.maboxlinux.org/t/pamac-graphical-gui-not-working/2623/12 "2026-11-09T18:47:43Z")
Both were from the website , same behaviour one year between the iso downloaded from the website My newest netbook wil get a new battry , when it is back i will install a fresh Iso from the website .