VLC player not starting (aborting)

[TO]

On the newest PCLOS - KDE (Feb. 2013) my trusted / best VLC player would not start. That is, it  -sort of-  begins; in the Panel the animated icon shows for a few seconds, but before the interface screen comes all dies down === end of story.

Pity, it's the best player, especially when customized. Neither will open when a DVD enters the Drive  (Open with ...) === same. All list of SW is updated. Pls, advise. Thx, rgds.

[daniel]

start vlc in a terminal and post output messages here, without any infos we can't help.

Regards
Daniel

[TO]

start vlc in a terminal and post output messages here, without any infos we can't help.
Regards,  Daniel

==A?== HOW do i start VLC "in a terminal" == probably you better finish the sentence, e?

[tschommer]

TO, press ALT-F2, type konsole in the field and press <enter>.

The terminal application will open and you can type in vlc and press <enter>.

Copy any text that is displayed after that and paste it in a post here.

[TO]

TO, press ALT-F2, type konsole in the field and press <enter>. ==No, i have it on the desktop by a default icon; so ....==

The terminal application will open and you can type in vlc and press <enter>.

Copy any text that is displayed after that and paste it in a post here.

==Most surprising msg, because i have been using VLC as Root for YEARS! Quote:
"VLC is not supposed to be run as root. Sorry.
If you need to use real-time priorities and/or privileged TCP ports
you can use vlc-wrapper (make sure it is Set-UID root and
cannot be run by non-trusted users first)." == why all this? cannot understand the "wrapper" etc. Thx, tschommer

[daniel]

Why you using vlc as root?

For what is it good?

Are logged in as root now?

[tschommer]

You're logged in root???

You can do all you need as a regular user. By using root you're undermining the security of Linux in a big way!

[TO]

You're logged in root???

You can do all you need as a regular user. By using root you're undermining the security of Linux in a big way!

===YES, for many years, all my customizations are in ROOT; Guest user is just the default of PCLOS booted automatically. Bad habit, you say? Never knew, alas! Fine, i will configure another User too.

Again, why VLC used to run perfectly fine before?

[dcwbis]

TO,
Something else to try.  Reboot.  I have had the same thing happen occasionally with LibreOffice Calc and Writer.  They would refuse to start.  I would see the icon in the panel and then it would disappear.  Doing a complete shutdown and then restarting brought everything back to normal.  Of course, as mentioned above, don't run as root.

[daniel]

Never log in as root...
You can all things do as root by giving the root password.
Create your user account...

Regards
Daniel

[tschommer]

Again, why VLC used to run perfectly fine before?

I'm sure VLC has this additional feature for security reasons. When creating VLC ("compiling form source"), there's a configuration flag --enable-run-as-root flag which can be used, but I'd guess the latest version was compiled without this option.

Please take our advice and use Linux as a regular user. As Daniel mentioned, whatever needs to be done as root will ask you specifically for the root password (such as Synaptic for software installation and upgrade).

Torsten

[TO]

Yes, Thorsten, will do, thx, rgds