Benjamin L. Stewart

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tagslinux, omarchy, guide
notes

5 min read

Omarchy - pCloud First-Time Setup

This is the tested procedure for installing pCloud Drive on Omarchy using the official pCloud AppImage.

It addresses:

  • pCloud not mounting in Files/Nautilus
  • missing FUSE 2 support
  • oversized pCloud windows
  • pCloud Drive not appearing in the file manager
  • automatic startup after login
  • distinguishing the AppImage mount from the real pCloud Drive mount

Important

On Omarchy, install fuse2 before first launching pCloud.
Omarchy already includes FUSE 3, but pCloud may also require the FUSE 2 compatibility library.

1. Install FUSE support

Open a terminal and run:

sudo pacman -S --needed fuse2

Verify:

pacman -Q fuse2 fuse3

Expected result should include both:

fuse2 ...
fuse3 ...

Also verify:

command -v fusermount
ldconfig -p | grep 'libfuse.so.2'
ls -l /dev/fuse

The important requirements are:

/usr/bin/fusermount
libfuse.so.2
/dev/fuse

2. Download pCloud

Download the official pCloud Linux AppImage from the pCloud website.

Create an applications directory:

mkdir -p "$HOME/Applications"

Move the downloaded AppImage there and rename it:

~/Applications/pCloud.AppImage

Then make it executable:

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

Verify:

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

3. Fix oversized pCloud window

On Omarchy/Hyprland, pCloud may initially open at an excessively large UI scale.

Create a permanent launcher wrapper:

mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin"
 
printf '%s\n' \
'#!/usr/bin/env bash' \
'exec "$HOME/Applications/pCloud.AppImage" --force-device-scale-factor=1 "$@"' \
> "$HOME/.local/bin/pcloud"
 
chmod +x "$HOME/.local/bin/pcloud"

From now on, launch pCloud with:

pcloud

or:

"$HOME/.local/bin/pcloud"

The important option is:

--force-device-scale-factor=1

This prevents the oversized pCloud window experienced under Omarchy.

4. First launch

Run:

pcloud

Sign in to the pCloud account.

Allow pCloud several seconds to initialize after login.

Important

Logging in is required before the virtual pCloud Drive can be mounted.

Do not manually create a fake ~/pCloudDrive bookmark before pCloud has successfully mounted the drive.

5. Verify that pCloud Drive mounted

Run:

findmnt "$HOME/pCloudDrive"

A successful mount should resemble:

/home/USERNAME/pCloudDrive pCloud.fs fuse rw,...

Another useful check is:

findmnt | grep -i pcloud

There may be two different types of pCloud-related mounts.

AppImage mount

Something resembling:

/tmp/.mount_pCloudXXXXXX

is merely the temporary mount used to execute the AppImage.

It is not the pCloud virtual drive.

Real pCloud Drive

The important mount is:

/home/USERNAME/pCloudDrive

with something resembling:

pCloud.fs fuse

That is the actual cloud filesystem.

6. If pCloud is running but pCloudDrive is missing

Check whether pCloud is running:

pgrep -af 'p[Cc]loud'

Then check the drive:

findmnt "$HOME/pCloudDrive"

If the process exists but the drive is not mounted, restart pCloud once:

pkill -f '[p]cloud' 2>/dev/null || true
sleep 3
pcloud

Wait approximately 10 seconds after logging in and check again:

findmnt "$HOME/pCloudDrive"

During the tested Omarchy installation, pCloud initially reported:

Failed to start filesystem
Filesystem mount failed

but subsequently retried and successfully mounted:

/home/ben/pCloudDrive pCloud.fs fuse

Therefore, an initial FUSE failure does not necessarily mean the installation is broken.

7. Open pCloud Drive in Files

Omarchy uses Nautilus/Files.

After confirming that the mount exists:

nautilus "$HOME/pCloudDrive"

The pCloud folders should now be visible.

Examples may include:

Automatic Upload
Backups
Crypto Folder
Public Folder
pCloud Backup
pCloudSync

8. Add pCloud Drive to the Files sidebar

Only do this after the real pCloud Drive is mounted.

Open:

nautilus "$HOME/pCloudDrive"

Then press:

Ctrl+D

This creates a Nautilus bookmark for pCloud Drive.

Warning

If the bookmark is created before pCloud Drive exists, Files may display:

Unable to find the requested file

because the bookmark points to a mount that has not yet been created.

9. Start pCloud automatically with Omarchy

Use Omarchy’s native session autostart configuration.

Open:

~/.config/hypr/autostart.lua

Add:

o.launch_on_start("pcloud")

For example, edit it with:

nano "$HOME/.config/hypr/autostart.lua"

Save with:

Ctrl+O
Enter
Ctrl+X

Verify:

grep -n pcloud "$HOME/.config/hypr/autostart.lua"

You should see:

o.launch_on_start("pcloud")

pCloud will now start through the corrected launcher whenever an Omarchy session begins.

Avoid duplicate autostart

Use one startup mechanism only.

If an older setup created:

~/.config/autostart/pcloud.desktop

remove it:

rm -f "$HOME/.config/autostart/pcloud.desktop"

Also avoid enabling a second startup mechanism inside pCloud itself if Omarchy is already launching it.

10. Verify the complete setup

Run:

echo "===== PCLOUD EXECUTABLE ====="
ls -lh "$HOME/Applications/pCloud.AppImage"
 
echo
echo "===== LAUNCHER ====="
ls -lh "$HOME/.local/bin/pcloud"
 
echo
echo "===== FUSE ====="
pacman -Q fuse2 fuse3
 
echo
echo "===== PROCESS ====="
pgrep -af 'p[Cc]loud' || echo "pCloud not running"
 
echo
echo "===== REAL PCLOUD MOUNT ====="
findmnt "$HOME/pCloudDrive" || echo "pCloud Drive not mounted"
 
echo
echo "===== AUTOSTART ====="
grep -n pcloud "$HOME/.config/hypr/autostart.lua" || echo "pCloud not configured for Omarchy autostart"

A healthy setup has:

pCloud AppImage        ✓
fuse2                  ✓
fuse3                  ✓
pCloud process         ✓
~/pCloudDrive mount    ✓
Omarchy autostart      ✓
UI scale = 1           ✓

Troubleshooting

pCloud window is enormous

Confirm that pCloud is being launched through:

pcloud

Check the wrapper:

cat "$HOME/.local/bin/pcloud"

It should contain:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
exec "$HOME/Applications/pCloud.AppImage" --force-device-scale-factor=1 "$@"

pCloud runs but Files cannot find pCloudDrive

Check:

findmnt "$HOME/pCloudDrive"

If nothing appears:

pkill -f '[p]cloud' 2>/dev/null || true
sleep 3
pcloud

Then wait and check again:

findmnt "$HOME/pCloudDrive"

Check pCloud logs

The main log is normally:

~/.config/pcloud/logs/main.log

View recent filesystem/FUSE messages:

grep -niE \
'mount|fuse|filesystem|failed|failure|error|login' \
"$HOME/.config/pcloud/logs/main.log" \
| tail -50

Useful messages include:

Login Required
No valid token found
Failed to start filesystem
Filesystem mount failed

Login Required or No valid token found means the account must be authenticated before pCloud Drive can mount.

GNOME SessionManager warning

Under Omarchy, the pCloud log may contain something similar to:

Could not register with GNOME SessionManager

This did not prevent pCloud Drive from mounting in the tested Omarchy configuration.

The important test is:

findmnt "$HOME/pCloudDrive"

not the presence of that warning.

File manager integration

Recent versions of pCloud support Nautilus integration.

In pCloud:

Settings → General → Show context menu

After enabling it, restart Files:

nautilus -q

Then reopen Files with:

Super+Shift+F

Recommended configuration summary

Use:

Application:
~/Applications/pCloud.AppImage
 
Launcher:
~/.local/bin/pcloud
 
UI scaling:
--force-device-scale-factor=1
 
Virtual drive:
~/pCloudDrive
 
Required compatibility package:
fuse2
 
Omarchy startup configuration:
~/.config/hypr/autostart.lua
 
Startup command:
o.launch_on_start("pcloud")

This provides a clean pCloud installation on Omarchy with the correct window size, FUSE support, Files/Nautilus access, and automatic startup.

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