Troubleshooting (Linux)

Problem

The SUID sandbox helper binary was found, but is not configured correctly. 
Rather than run without sandboxing I'm aborting now. You need to make sure
that /tmp/.mount_neo4j-0qHCJ1/chrome-sandbox is owned by root and has mode 4755.

Solution

Neo4j Desktop is an Electron app. Electron is using a feature from the Linux kernel that is disabled in some distributions (eg. Debian). They have a fallback binary for these cases but it seems like electron-builder is packaging it with the wrong permissions, hence the permission error you got.

This comment explains the issue more in detail.

To fix that error you can try executing (as a regular user) Neo4j Desktop with the --no-sandbox flag, or run this command to enable the kernel feature Electron is using:

sysctl kernel.unprivileged_userns_clone=1

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Problem

App initialization error: Error: The name org.freedesktop.secrets was not provided by any .service files {
  constructor: 'Error',
  stack: 'Error: The name org.freedesktop.secrets was not provided by any .service files'
}

Solution

Neo4j Desktop uses the system keyring to store credentials. On Linux (regardless of distribution or desktop environment) this is gnome-keyring. On previous versions not having gnome-keyring would make the application fail to start. Now it switches to the built-in keyctl utility if it can't find gnome-keyring.

Solution: Update to the latest Neo4j Desktop or install and enable gnome-keyring.

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Problem

Error: spawn keyctl ENOENT

Solution

keyctl is a key management utility used as a fallback when gnome-keyring is not available as the system keyring. This utility is included in the core packages of most distributions, but if you see this error it means you don't have it installed.

Installing the keyutils (or gnome-keyring) package will fix this error.

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Problem

Neo4j Desktop is not showing in the applications menu.

Solution

Install AppImageLauncher and integrate the Neo4j Desktop AppImage.