Arch Linux terminal not starting

For me gnome-terminal opened after running with dbus-launch gnome-terminal.

Afterwards I also run dbus-update-activation-environment --all and now it starts without a problem but I am not sure if the latter one did anything.

I just meet the same problem here. I googled a lot, and I found a solution. If u can use Alt+F2(maybe laptop +Fn) , u can do:

1.login as root (use sudo 'ur pwd')

2. $locale-gen "en_US.UTF-8"

then u should could open terminal succesfully.

This worked for me

in your ~/.xinitrc replace

exec gnome-session

with

exec dbus-launch --exit-with-session gnome-session 

Source: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=203918

I had the same issue and found the solution :

1. Copy the file /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc to your ~/.xinitrc
2. Add just after the line "#start some nice programs" : exec gnome-session
3. logout and restart startx

I just fought with this issue for an hour. It turned out that my problem was that LC_COLLATE was set to "C " (it had an extra space) instead of "C" in /etc/locale.conf.

I had the same issue after a fresh install of arch. I checked, double checked and triple checked the locale.gen and even removed every locale except en_US.UTF-8. I was just about to give up when I checked under settings, Regions & Language and discovered the language was not set even though I had run the command to set it. After picking english and rebooting it works fine.

Sounds like you messed up your /etc/locale.gen file.

If you are english/US, comment out any of the other entries in that file, UNLESS YOU NEED THEM. They are for other languages. If you are american you more then likely only need en_US.UTF8.

Edit the /etc/locale.gen file and uncomment en_US.UTF8.

Comment out any others, unless of course you need them to be able to read.

Then run: sudo locale-gen

gnome-terminal should start then. If not install xterm and run gnome-terminal from it to see what is going on:

• pacman -S xterm

• Try CtrlaltF2, or exit X.

• Then hit CtrlaltF1 to get back to X.

• Hit AltF2 and type xterm

• In the xterm window type gnome-terminal

Unless you really care about GNOME terminal, the best way is probably to install a different terminal emulator. Pick one you like.

Remember that CtrlAltF1 gets you to the GUI. Then, press CtrlAltF2 to go to a TTY. Log in, and search the repositories for the terminal you chose. I chose Guake:

pacman -Ss guake

It should come up with something. For me, it was:

community/guake 0.4.4-3
    Drop-down terminal for GNOME

Then, take the name and install that package:

pacman -S guake

You should then be able to launch the application by switching back to GNOME, pressing Super (the Windows key) and typing the name of the terminal.