gvfsd-fuse does not create mount point

[Peter Saunderson]

gvfsd should not start twice...

I have just upgraded to 15.4 and found that gvfsd-fuse does not seem to be creating the mount points for gvfs-mount. I have found a work round for this problem that seem to indicate that at startup there is a problem with gvfsd.. Here is some more information.

I have a mounted file system that appear in nautilus when I log into the system.
$ cat .config/autostart/gvfs-mount.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Exec=gvfs-mount smb://homevista/Q
Hidden=false
NoDisplay=false
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true
Name[en_GB]=Mount Q
Name=Mount Q
Comment[en_GB]=
Comment=

$ gvfs-mount -l
Drive(0): WDC WD1001FAES-75W7A0
  Type: GProxyDrive (GProxyVolumeMonitorUDisks2)
Drive(1): PLDS DVDRW/BDROM DH-6E2S
  Type: GProxyDrive (GProxyVolumeMonitorUDisks2)
Drive(2): Generic- SD/MMC
  Type: GProxyDrive (GProxyVolumeMonitorUDisks2)
Drive(3): Generic- Compact Flash
  Type: GProxyDrive (GProxyVolumeMonitorUDisks2)
Drive(4): Generic- SM/xD-Picture
  Type: GProxyDrive (GProxyVolumeMonitorUDisks2)
Drive(5): Generic- MS/MS-Pro
  Type: GProxyDrive (GProxyVolumeMonitorUDisks2)
Mount(0): q on homevista -> smb://homevista/q/
  Type: GDaemonMount

But there is no mount point
$ ls -als /run/user/1000/gvfs
total 0
0 dr-x------ 2 pas pas 0 May 2 20:38 .
0 drwx------ 10 pas pas 280 May 2 20:39 ..

The following are the processes running:
$ ps axu | grep gvfs
pas 2280 0.0 0.0 193280 5788 ? Sl 20:38 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd
pas 2284 0.0 0.0 335220 5332 ? Sl 20:38 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-fuse /run/user/1000/gvfs -f -o big_writes
pas 2384 0.0 0.0 193384 5944 ? Sl 20:38 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd
pas 2662 0.0 0.1 467648 14820 ? SLl 20:38 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-smb --spawner :1.5 /org/gtk/gvfs/exec_spaw/0
pas 2681 0.0 0.1 282728 9320 ? Sl 20:38 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-udisks2-volume-monitor
pas 2695 0.0 0.1 322088 10332 ? Sl 20:38 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-afc-volume-monitor
pas 2700 0.0 0.0 197792 5448 ? Sl 20:38 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor
pas 2707 0.0 0.0 185620 5144 ? Sl 20:38 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-mtp-volume-monitor
pas 2742 0.0 0.0 267012 4788 ? Sl 20:39 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-burn --spawner :1.5 /org/gtk/gvf/exec_spaw/1
pas 2747 0.0 0.1 419004 8404 ? Sl 20:39 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-trash --spawner :1.5 /org/gtk/gvfs/exec_spaw/2
pas 2773 0.0 0.1 118512 10984 ? Sl 20:39 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-metadata
pas 3864 0.0 0.1 239880 8196 ? Sl 20:40 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-http --spawner :1.5 /org/gtk/gvf/exec_spaw/3
pas 3868 7.2 3.7 1021928 303460 ? Sl 20:40 0:17 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gvfs/+filebug/227be164-f103-11e4-b4dd-0025b3df357a?
pas 4023 0.0 0.0 9500 2124 pts/1 S+ 20:44 0:00 grep --color=auto gvfs

Notice that there are two /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd... very odd because if I try to start two from the command line I get
$ /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd
Failed to acquire daemon name, perhaps the VFS daemon is already running?

Anyway my work round for this issue is to unmount my smb drive, kill off gvfs and restart
$ sudo killall -9 gvfsd

$ ps axu | grep gvfs
pas 2681 0.0 0.1 282728 9320 ? Sl 20:38 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-udisks2-volume-monitor
pas 2695 0.0 0.1 322088 10332 ? Sl 20:38 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-afc-volume-monitor
pas 2700 0.0 0.0 197792 5448 ? Sl 20:38 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor
pas 2707 0.0 0.0 185620 5144 ? Sl 20:38 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs-mtp-volume-monitor
pas 2742 0.0 0.0 267012 4788 ? Sl 20:39 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-burn --spawner :1.5 /org/gtk/gvfs/exec_spaw/1
pas 2747 0.0 0.1 419004 8404 ? Sl 20:39 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-trash --spawner :1.5 /org/gtk/gvfs/exec_spaw/2
pas 2773 0.0 0.1 118512 10984 ? Sl 20:39 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-metadata
pas 3864 0.0 0.1 239880 8196 ? Sl 20:40 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-http --spawner :1.5 /org/gtk/gvfs/exec_spaw/3
pas 3868 4.6 4.4 1062836 362492 ? Sl 20:40 0:59 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gvfs/+filebug/227be164-f103-11e4-b4dd-0025b3df357a?
pas 4190 0.0 0.0 274008 6732 pts/1 Sl 20:54 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-network --spawner :1.89 /org/gtk/gvfs/exec_spaw/0
pas 4195 0.0 0.1 537216 14276 pts/1 Sl 20:54 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-smb-browse --spawner :1.89 /org/gtk/gvfs/exec_spaw/1
pas 4203 0.0 0.0 275764 5996 pts/1 Sl 20:54 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-dnssd --spawner :1.89 /org/gtk/gvfs/exec_spaw/2
pas 4285 0.0 0.0 193280 5760 pts/3 Sl+ 21:01 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd
pas 4295 0.0 0.1 335220 11688 pts/3 Sl+ 21:01 0:00 /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd-fuse /run/user/1000/gvfs -f -o big_writes
pas 4303 0.0 0.0 9500 2112 pts/1 S+ 21:02 0:00 grep --color=auto gvfs

Now there is only one gvfsd so the mount works
$ gvfs-mount smb://homevista/Q
Password required for share q on homevista
Domain [PASCOM]:
Password:

$ ls -als /run/user/1000/gvfs
total 12
 0 dr-x------ 3 pas pas 0 May 2 21:01 .
 0 drwx------ 10 pas pas 280 May 2 20:39 ..
12 drwx------ 1 pas pas 12288 Apr 16 21:00 smb-share:server=homevista,share=q

My conclusion is that somehow gvfsd gets started twice at login... this should not be possible but appear to occur. In earlier version of Ubuntu like 14.10 this did not happen. It has only started happening when I upgraded to 15.4

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.04
Package: gvfs 1.24.1-1ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.19.0-15.15-generic 3.19.3
Uname: Linux 3.19.0-15-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.17.2-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sat May 2 20:40:29 2015
InstallationDate: Installed on 2011-02-22 (1529 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
SourcePackage: gvfs
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to vivid on 2015-05-02 (0 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Pablo180 (paultait22)]

Same problem for me and the problem also only occurred after the same upgrade (14.10 > 15.04). Peter's workaround also works for me.

[Winston Smith (oerngeek)]

Same problem on one of 4 Notebooks after upgrade from 15.04 to 15.10. Killing the gvfsd process(es) did work ... until next reboot.

[Bello Field (belfeldt)]

Similar behavior here on two trusty (14.04.3) machines. Killing gvfsd and quitting nautilus afterwards (nautilus -q) put things right temporarily.

uname -rvi
3.13.0-66-generic #108-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 7 15:20:27 UTC 2015 x86_64

apt-cache policy gvfs
gvfs:
  Installiert: 1.20.3-0ubuntu1.2
  Installationskandidat: 1.20.3-0ubuntu1.2
  Versionstabelle:
 *** 1.20.3-0ubuntu1.2 0
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.20.1-1ubuntu1 0
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages

apt-cache policy nautilus
nautilus:
  Installiert: 1:3.10.1-0ubuntu9.11
  Installationskandidat: 1:3.10.1-0ubuntu9.11
  Versionstabelle:
 *** 1:3.10.1-0ubuntu9.11 0
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:3.10.1-0ubuntu8 0
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages

[Greg Whiteley (greg-whiteley)]

Problem occurs on a pristine 14.04.4:

$ uname -rvi
4.2.0-34-generic #39~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Fri Mar 11 11:38:02 UTC 2016 x86_64

gvfs and nautilus report versions as per comment #5

Workaround is OK

[R. Diez (rdiezmail-ubuntu)]

I am having this issue with Kubuntu 14.04 and the latest supported Linux kernel as of april 2016:
  $ uname -rvi
  4.2.0-35-generic #40~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Fri Mar 18 16:37:35 UTC 2016 x86_64

Only there were no multiple instances of gvfsd. Killing all gvfsd processes does not help. This Kubuntu was not an upgrade, but a fresh install. I did upgrade the kernels though with the latest "Hardware Enablement Packs".

[R. Diez (rdiezmail-ubuntu)]

Please ignore my comment above. The cause was not having installed the "gvfs-fuse" package and not being a member of the "fuse" group.

[Firebird (frederic-scherma)]

Had this issue since a recent update. I'm using a 16.04. All worked fine, and after an update the /run/user/xxxx/gvfs stayed empty. I added my user to fuse group, killed gvfs and restarted nautilus, and it worked.

[Firebird (frederic-scherma)]

Sorry, but it seems that adding the user to the fuse group is not necessary. Just killing gvfs, nautilus -q and restart it does the trick.