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In ChromeOS's crostini_containerless, ActivityWatch cannot be launched.

Open kamome-run opened this issue 3 months ago • 1 comments

  • ChromeOS 142.0.7444.147 (Official Build) (64bit)
  • ActivityWatch version 0.13.2

Describe the bug

After enabling the crostini_containerless flag in ChromeOS and removing the Linux development environment, an error message appeared when attempting to install and launch ActivityWatch.

[=========| ] Configuring Linux container             Error starting crostin
Launching vmshell failed: Error starting crostini for terminal: 50 (CONTAINER_SETUP_FAILED)

To Reproduce

  1. Enable the crostini_containerless flag
  2. In the ChromeOS Settings app, locate the “Remove Linux development environment” menu and click the “Remove” button
  3. The Linux development environment will be removed
  4. Re-create the Linux development environment from the ChromeOS Settings app
  5. Download the latest version of ActivityWatch from the Release page using wget
  6. Install the ActivityWatch .deb package using dpkg -i
  7. To avoid Wayland compatibility issues and test the startup, specify the environment variable QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb to force startup in X11 (Xcb) mode Execution command: QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb /opt/activitywatch/aw-qt Running this command will output logs to the terminal and display the ActivityWatch icon in the system tray (the tray icon may not be visible without the GNOME extension, but the process is running).
  8. As is, restarting the PC (Crostini) will cause it to attempt to launch without xcb again and fail. Add this environment variable to the configuration file that runs automatically at login.
    1. Create the user's startup directory. mkdir -p ~/.config/autostart
    2. Copy the system default configuration file Copy the configuration file placed by the .deb package in /etc/ to ~/.config/ (user settings). This takes precedence. cp /etc/xdg/autostart/aw-qt.desktop ~/.config/autostart/
    3. Edit the copied configuration file vim ~/.config/autostart/aw-qt.desktop
    4. Modify the Exec= line The file contains a line Exec=/opt/activitywatch/aw-qt. Change this line as follows: [Before] Exec=/opt/activitywatch/aw-qt [After] Exec=env QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb /opt/activitywatch/aw-qt
    5. Save and exit the text editor (e.g., vim)
  9. After rebooting, double-clicking the ActivityWatch icon in the system tray still fails to access the WebUI
  10. Opening Terminal displays the following error message
[=========| ] Configuring Linux container             Error starting crostin
Launching vmshell failed: Error starting crostini for terminal: 50 (CONTAINER_SETUP_FAILED)

kamome-run avatar Nov 20 '25 05:11 kamome-run

Hi there! As you're new to this repo, please make sure you've used an appropriate issue template and searched for duplicates (it helps us focus on actual development!). We'd also like to suggest that you read our contribution guidelines and our code of conduct. Thanks a bunch for opening your first issue! 🙏

github-actions[bot] avatar Nov 20 '25 05:11 github-actions[bot]