New install on Linux - no Menu (On Debian)

Issue

Just installed the latest Rstudio on my system via the .deb package on the download page, and there is no menu bar at all, so I can not access Files, settings etc.
The rest seems to be working just fine so far.

What it looks like

What I tried

  • I took a look at several files under ~/.config/Rstudio but could not find a suitable option for controlling the menu bar.
  • I tried deleting the ~/.local/share/rstudio directory to reset Rstudio, but that din;t affect anything, as expected due to the fact that it's a fresh install

System Info

An x86 Asus running

  • Debian forky (the current Debian Testing) and
  • KDE Plasma 6.6.5 (wayland session)
❯ rstudio --version
2026.07.0+139
❯ rstudio --version-json
{
  "node": "24.17.0",
  "acorn": "8.16.0",
  "ada": "3.4.4",
  "amaro": "1.1.9",
  "ares": "1.34.6",
  "brotli": "1.0.9",
  "cldr": "47.0",
  "icu": "77.1",
  "llhttp": "9.4.2",
  "merve": "1.2.2",
  "modules": "145",
  "napi": "10",
  "nbytes": "0.1.4",
  "nc~rypto": "0.0.1",
  "nghttp2": "1.69.0",
  "nghttp3": "",
  "ngtcp2": "",
  "openssl": "0.0.0",
  "simdjson": "4.6.1",
  "simdutf": "7.7.0",
  "sqlite": "3.53.0",
  "tz": "2025b",
  "undici": "7.28.0",
  "unicode": "16.0",
  "uv": "1.52.1",
  "uvwasi": "0.0.23",
  "v8": "14.6.202.34-electron.0",
  "zlib": "1.3.1",
  "zstd": "1.6.0",
  "electron": "41.9.0",
  "chrome": "146.0.7680.216",
  "rstudio": "2026.07.0+139"
}

There are hints when I start Rstudio from the terminal:

❯ rstudio
[547549:0717/001241.902975:ERROR:ui/ozone/platform/wayland/gpu/wayland_surface_factory.cc:251]
'--ozone-platform=wayland' is not compatible with Vulkan. Consider switching to '--ozone-platfo
rm=x11' or disabling Vulkan
Gtk-Message: 00:12:42.137: Failed to load module "appmenu-gtk-module": 'gtk_module_display_init
': /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gtk-3.0/modules/libwindow-decorations-gtk-module.so: undefined sym
bol: gtk_module_display_init
[547510:0717/001242.296550:ERROR:ui/ozone/platform/wayland/host/wayland_wp_color_manager.cc:277
] Unable to set image transfer function.
[547510:0717/001242.296565:ERROR:ui/ozone/platform/wayland/host/wayland_wp_color_manager.cc:195
] Failed to populate image description for color space {primaries:BT709, transfer:SRGB, matrix:
RGB, range:FULL}
[547510:0717/001242.849966:ERROR:ui/ozone/platform/wayland/host/wayland_wp_color_manager.cc:277
] Unable to set image transfer function.
[547510:0717/001242.849978:ERROR:ui/ozone/platform/wayland/host/wayland_wp_color_manager.cc:195
] Failed to populate image description for color space {primaries:BT709, transfer:SRGB, matrix:
RGB, range:FULL}
[547510:0717/001242.849985:ERROR:ui/ozone/platform/wayland/host/wayland_wp_color_management_sur
face.cc:64] Failed to get image description for color space.

But I don't know what to make of them. For example, how can I disable Vulkan for this app, as suggested?

Those message in the terminal are probably unrelated. If you weren't getting any RStudio UI (i.e. a blank window) then they might be a factor. Even on a fully working instance, there are almost always some messages like these. I could suppress them, but occasionally they are useful.

The menubar is an Electron thing, so it's possible/likely this may require a newer Electron.

We have not done any testing on Debian 14. I'll try and install it in a VM and see if I can repro this.

Thanks heaps. Is there a way that I can help test this?

I installed RStudio 2026.07 on Debian 14 / forky with Plasma 6.6.5 on Wayland, and I am seeing the menu bar.

There is an RStudio setting for hiding the menu bar until you tap the Alt key, any chance you accidentally turned that on?

I never reached the menu to begin with, but I double checked via the command palette and it is off:


I could get by if I could somehow open the Settings menu without going through the menubar first, but I couldn't find a way to do that.

The menu commands can be accessed through the command-palette (but you do have to figure out what they are called...).

For the settings dialog, search for "Global Options" in command-palette.

Thanks, Gary. I was able to find the options this way (ctrl+Shift+P to bring up the command palette, then search for "Global" and find "Global Options") and it's enough for me to run Rstudio now, thanks to you!

Great, hopefully this magically fixes itself (the menu) with a future release / updated Electron.