Benjamin L. Stewart

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tagsfedora, gnome, pcloud, linux, troubleshooting

3 min read

Fedora GNOME pCloud Tray Icon Fix

Problem

After reinstalling Fedora GNOME, pCloud may run correctly and mount ~/pCloudDrive, but the small pCloud status/tray icon may not appear in the GNOME panel.

This note documents the working fix for pCloud installed as an AppImage at:

/home/ben/Applications/pCloud.AppImage

The key fix was:

  1. Install and enable GNOME AppIndicator support.
  2. Run pCloud under XWayland/X11 instead of native Wayland by setting:
ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT=x11

1. Confirm pCloud is installed

Expected AppImage location:

ls -l "$HOME/Applications/pCloud.AppImage"

Make it executable:

chmod +x "$HOME/Applications/pCloud.AppImage"

2. Install GNOME tray/AppIndicator support

Fedora GNOME does not show traditional tray icons by default.

Install the required extension and library:

sudo dnf install -y   gnome-shell-extension-appindicator   libappindicator-gtk3

Confirm installation:

rpm -q gnome-shell-extension-appindicator libappindicator-gtk3

Confirm the extension directory exists:

ls -ld /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/appindicatorsupport@rgcjonas.gmail.com

3. Log out and back in

On GNOME/Wayland, log out completely and log back in after installing the extension.

Then verify the extension:

gnome-extensions info appindicatorsupport@rgcjonas.gmail.com

Expected result:

Enabled: Yes
State: ACTIVE

If it is installed but not enabled:

gnome-extensions enable appindicatorsupport@rgcjonas.gmail.com

4. Restart pCloud using XWayland

First stop the currently running pCloud processes:

pkill -f pCloud.AppImage
pkill -f '/tmp/.mount_pCloud.*/pcloud.bin'
sleep 3

Then launch pCloud with X11/XWayland forced:

ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT=x11 "$HOME/Applications/pCloud.AppImage" >/tmp/pcloud.log 2>&1 &

After several seconds, the small pCloud status icon should appear in the GNOME panel.

This was the step that solved the missing tray icon.

5. Make the fix permanent at login

pCloud already creates an autostart file here:

~/.config/autostart/pcloud.desktop

Inspect it first:

cat "$HOME/.config/autostart/pcloud.desktop"

Edit it:

nano "$HOME/.config/autostart/pcloud.desktop"

Change the Exec= line so pCloud always starts with X11/XWayland forced.

Example:

Exec=env ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT=x11 /home/ben/Applications/pCloud.AppImage

Save and exit Nano:

  • Ctrl+O
  • Enter
  • Ctrl+X

Then log out and back in to test.

6. Verify after reboot/login

Check that pCloud is running:

pgrep -af -i pcloud

Check that the pCloud drive is mounted:

mount | grep -i pcloud

or:

ls "$HOME/pCloudDrive"

Check that AppIndicator support is active:

gnome-extensions info appindicatorsupport@rgcjonas.gmail.com

Expected:

Enabled: Yes
State: ACTIVE

7. Important distinction: tray icon vs launcher

The desired icon is the small pCloud status icon in the GNOME panel, not a pinned launcher in the dock.

If pCloud was accidentally added as a GNOME favorite, remove it from favorites with:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell favorite-apps "['org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop', 'org.mozilla.firefox.desktop', 'org.mozilla.thunderbird.desktop']"

Do not remove the AppImage itself.

Quick reinstall checklist

chmod +x "$HOME/Applications/pCloud.AppImage"
 
sudo dnf install -y   gnome-shell-extension-appindicator   libappindicator-gtk3

Then log out and back in.

Enable AppIndicator support if needed:

gnome-extensions enable appindicatorsupport@rgcjonas.gmail.com

Restart pCloud with XWayland:

pkill -f pCloud.AppImage
pkill -f '/tmp/.mount_pCloud.*/pcloud.bin'
sleep 3
 
ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT=x11 "$HOME/Applications/pCloud.AppImage" >/tmp/pcloud.log 2>&1 &

If the tray icon appears, make this permanent in:

~/.config/autostart/pcloud.desktop

with:

Exec=env ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT=x11 /home/ben/Applications/pCloud.AppImage

Working configuration summary

  • OS: Fedora GNOME
  • Session: Wayland
  • pCloud package type: AppImage
  • pCloud AppImage: /home/ben/Applications/pCloud.AppImage
  • pCloud mount: /home/ben/pCloudDrive
  • GNOME extension: appindicatorsupport@rgcjonas.gmail.com
  • Critical workaround: ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT=x11
  • Result: pCloud status/tray icon visible in GNOME panel

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