Kali Linux Failed to launch preferred application for category “TerminalEmulator” and all files missing

Solution 1:

I had a similar problem today. Installed Kali 2020.4 64-bit and ran sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade as you described. Rebooted the system and was unable to open terminal or browse files (I only tried via the "Home" folder on the desktop).

I was still able to open QTerminal directly from the application menu to run commands. I was able to fix this by running the following. Hopefully this works for you.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

This returned a list of packages that "were automatically installed and are no longer required:" Remove these packages with the below command.

sudo apt autoremove

Reboot. Then run sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade again. The following packages were required. Reboot again and terminal/file browsing should be working as expected.

I suspect one specific package "xfce4-helpers" is causing the issue. I'm new to Linux so not sure of the cause (hopefully someone can elaborate).

After completing the above steps, run sudo apt-get install xfce4-helpers.

After doing the above

• right click the terminal and remove it from panel
• then right click somewhere on the panel bar and go to "panel"
• next go to "Add New" then scroll down to verve terminal and click on it.
• Add it to the bar panel (it will show up next to notifications).
• Right click again and go to move and move it to where it was.
  (alternatively you can just go to app drop down menu and add Qterm to your desktop).