While Ubuntu and Linux, in general, has long been known to be for terminal elitists, that couldn’t be further from the truth in modern-day Linux distros. In Ubuntu, you can now use the Software Centre to install programs instead of using the terminal.

However, the Software Centre doesn’t always work as expected. In this article, we’re talking about a few fixes you can try out if the Ubuntu Software Centre isn’t loading on your machine. 

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Try an update

The first and foremost thing you should try when troubleshooting issues on Linux is to update the system. Just open your terminal and run the following command.

sudo apt update && sudo apt -y upgrade

Also read: Debian vs Ubuntu: Which Linux distro should you pick?

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Restart the Software Centre

A relatively common solution to the Software Centre not loading is to kill its process and restart it as you usually would. Open a terminal and run the following command.

killall gnome-software

Once the command has finished running. Launch Software Centre as usual.

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Reinstall

You can try reinstalling the Software Centre as well. Just run the following command.

sudo apt autoremove gnome-software && sudo apt install gnome-software

Alternatively, you can run the following command.

sudo apt install --reinstall software-center

Finally, you can try running this command as well.

sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade -f

Also read: How to install Zoom in Ubuntu?

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Clear out the cache

Clearing out the apt cache can help get rid of corrupt files that may be causing issues with fetching the software list for the Software Centre. Try the following commands in succession.

sudo apt clean

The command above will clean apt’s cache. Once it’s done running, run this command to fetch the repository list again.

sudo apt update

Now try searching the Software Centre for your desired program.

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Workaround: Switch to Synaptic

Software Centre might be great in terms of utility, but if you’re running into way too many troubles with it or are simply having a hard time running the tool, you can switch to Synaptic.

sudo apt install synaptic

Synaptic isn’t as user-friendly as the Software Centre but is much less resource-intensive and runs smoothly even on older hardware. 

Also read: How to install GCC in Ubuntu?