lshw-gtk menu entry is inoperative

[Captain Chaos]

Binary package hint: lshw

I installed lshw-gtk ("Hardware Lister") from the Ubuntu Software Center, but the resulting menu entry in the System -> Preferences menu does not work. When you select it you get an Error dialog with the message "Could not launch 'Hardware Lister' Failed to execute child process "su-to-root" (No such file or directory)".

Looks to me like it is missing a dependency.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: lshw-gtk 02.15-1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri May 20 12:39:15 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
SourcePackage: lshw
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-30 (19 days ago)

[Miguel López (polimatio)]

I have the same problem in Ubuntu 11.04 (x86). Launching the application from the dash accomplishes nothing.

I went to /usr/share/applications/lshw-gtk.desktop and looked at what command the launcher executes:

su-to-root -X -c lshw-gtk

Now, I have never seen "su-to-root" (I am a newbie) so I changed it to "gksudo lshw-gtk", which is what I wanted it to do, and now it works.

[Virendra Singh (virendra-singh)]

There is a dependency on "menu" package, please install that first, then it will work from the menu!

[justin (j-t-scarpelli)]

I'm not sure if, in my case, its a bug or missing dependency. I am using Xubuntu 14.04 (GNOME 3.8.4, Kernel 3.13.0-24-generic, GCC 4.8, Xorg 1.15.1). However, when I did what Polimatio suggested, it worked -- changing "su-to-root -X -c lshw-gtk" to "gksudo lshw-gtk.
I'm sorry if my comment isn't formatted correctly, as I am still very new to launchpad. Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated!

[J. McDonald (mcdonald-joseph)]

Wow, 5 years on and this is still a bug. I also installed lshw-gtk while using XFCE, in my case, Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa XFCE and the Linux 3.19.0-32-generic version. I found that I could successfully start using "gksudo lshw-gtk". If there really is a dependency on the "menu" package, then why isn't apt including this dependency during installation? I just changed the launcher for Hardware Lister in /usr/share/applications/ from "su-to-root -X -c lshw-gtk" to "gksudo lshw-gtk" and Hardware Lister opened as it should, requiring a sudoer password.