[Post-Install] Kubuntu 26.04: My experience after several days of daily use and why I returned to 24.04

[wonder]

I have been testing Kubuntu 26.04 for several days as my daily working environment (multi-monitor setup, Chrome, Thunderbird, suspend-then-hibernate, KDE applications, etc.).
In the end I decided to return to Kubuntu 24.04. None of the issues below are critical on their own, but the accumulation of many small problems made the overall experience less comfortable than 24.04 for me.

Wayland / Session Restore

1. With Wayland, multiple browser windows (non-Firefox browsers) are not properly restored after reboot. Only one instance is reopened.
This did not happen to me on Debian 12 with Wayland (KDE 5), which I used on another machine for about a year. Therefore, I am not sure whether this is a KDE 6 issue or a Wayland + Kubuntu issue.

2. With Wayland, if I leave files open in Kate and reboot the system, those files are not restored when Kate starts again.
3. The previous issue disappears when using X11.
Because of the above, I ended up installing and using X11, even though it is no longer the primary supported session.
Multi-Monitor / Window Placement

4. Multiple windows (browser download dialogs, Thunderbird dialogs, etc.) always open on the secondary monitor even though another monitor is configured as primary.
Even if I move them manually, the next time they appear they open on the secondary monitor again.
Dolphin / KDE Usability

5. PDF previews stored on other internal drives are not displayed.
6. Dolphin Settings always opens with a very small window size, requiring manual resizing in order to see all options comfortably.
7. I use single-click activation for files and folders. Selecting files now feels more difficult because the clickable/selection area is larger than before.

Plasma Widgets
8. This seems to be a KDE 6 issue.
System widgets such as Memory Usage, Total CPU Usage and Individual CPU Core Usage do not reliably keep their configuration after reboot.
Widget ordering and settings may change after restarting the system.
It is not a serious problem, but it affects usability.

Application Launcher
9. I use the "Application Dashboard" launcher.
I cannot manage the power-related favorites (shutdown, suspend, hibernate, etc.). I cannot remove them, reorder them, edit them or add them again from the application menu.
Right-click does nothing for these entries, while all other favorite entries work correctly.

Security / Desktop Integration
10. Immediately after login, KWallet asks to be opened.
11. If updates are available and Discover shows its notification icon, opening Discover allows installation without asking for a password. I am not sure whether this is intended behaviour or a bug.

Power Management
12. Suspend-then-hibernate is working correctly in Kubuntu 26.04 (which is a welcome improvement compared to the early days of 24.04).
However, inactivity timers appear inconsistent.
Example:

* Turn off screen after 10 minutes
* Suspend after 20 minutes

Sometimes I leave the computer for 25–30 minutes and everything is still active. Later, the screen finally turns off and suspension occurs.

I have been unable to identify which activity source is preventing the timers from triggering at the configured times. I do not observe this behaviour in 24.04.

Thunderbird / Wayland

13. In 2026, a common desktop workflow such as minimizing Thunderbird to the system tray is still not available under Wayland.
Under X11 this works correctly with Birdtray.
Wayland is supposed to be the future, but some long-standing desktop workflows are still not possible.
https://www.phoronix.com/news/KDE-Plasma-Wayland-Ex-X11

Positive Notes
Not everything was negative.
One pleasant surprise was that hd-idle appears to work correctly out of the box in Kubuntu 26.04. I no longer needed to install or configure it manually.
Overall, I did not encounter any critical failures, crashes or data loss.

However, the accumulation of many small issues made Kubuntu 26.04 less comfortable for my daily workflow than Kubuntu 24.04.
For now, I have decided to remain on 24.04 and revisit 26.04 at a later point.

[boospy33]

First of all, thank you very much for your report. Here are my comments on the things I'm familiar with:

1. With Wayland, multiple browser windows (non-Firefox browsers) are not properly restored after reboot. Only one instance is reopened.
This did not happen to me on Debian 12 with Wayland (KDE 5), which I used on another machine for about a year. Therefore, I am not sure whether this is a KDE 6 issue or a Wayland + Kubuntu issue.

Firefox is the only browser that does this correctly. None of the Chrome-based browsers can do this yet. Wayland integration isn't finished yet. I solved this by launching the Brave browser with the following option: "--ozone-platform=x11 %U". The only downside is that there's no HDR in the browser.

4. Multiple windows (browser download dialogs, Thunderbird dialogs, etc.) always open on the secondary monitor even though another monitor is configured as primary.
Even if I move them manually, the next time they appear they open on the secondary monitor again. 6. Dolphin Settings always opens with a very small window size, requiring manual resizing in order to see all options comfortably.

My resolution is 5120x1440. And yes, that was annoying at first, too. I solved it by configuring the window types and classes with specific positions and sizes. It works very well, but it’s not something you can expect a regular user to do.

5. PDF previews stored on other internal drives are not displayed.

Works here normal.

System widgets such as Memory Usage, Total CPU Usage and Individual CPU Core Usage do not reliably keep their configuration after reboot.
Widget ordering and settings may change after restarting the system.
It is not a serious problem, but it affects usability.

I can confirm that, too. It was incredibly annoying. I finally figured it out when I switched the setting to “Horizontal Bars.” The configuration is saved correctly now, too.

11. If updates are available and Discover shows its notification icon, opening Discover allows installation without asking for a password. I am not sure whether this is intended behaviour or a bug.

I noticed that too. Sometimes it asks for a password, and sometimes it doesn't. I figured it's because sudo is managed centrally via AD/Kerberos here, and certain operations are allowed to be performed without password authentication. But maybe not...

Security / Desktop Integration
10. Immediately after login, KWallet asks to be opened.

Hmm... maybe you changed your password? Or enabled or disabled auto-login?

---

Since I also use it for my daily work, the workstation obviously has to function properly. I stay with 26.04. It has more advantages for me personally. HDR on the desktop and in some games is really pretty cool. And after investing quite a bit of time in getting things right and also submitting a bug report, I hope that the first bug fix update (26.04.1) will resolve some of the issues.

[wonder]

Thank you for taking the time to reply and share your experience.

Firefox is the only browser that does this correctly. None of the Chrome-based browsers can do this yet. Wayland integration isn't finished yet. I solved this by launching the Brave browser with the following option: "--ozone-platform=x11 %U".

This is what confuses me the most.

I used Debian 12 with KDE 5 and Wayland on another machine for about a year, using Chrome-based browsers, and I never experienced this behaviour. Multiple browser windows were restored correctly after reboot.

That's why I'm still unsure whether this is a Chromium limitation, a KDE 6 issue, a Wayland issue, or something specific to the Kubuntu 26.04 stack.

As for launching Brave with "--ozone-platform=x11", I completely understand the workaround, but to me it feels more like avoiding the problem than solving it. If X11 is eventually going away, long-term solutions will have to work natively under Wayland.

My resolution is 5120x1440. And yes, that was annoying at first, too. I solved it by configuring the window types and classes with specific positions and sizes.

I agree that window rules can help in some cases, but many of the windows I mentioned are dynamically generated (browser downloads, Thunderbird save dialogs, etc.), so maintaining rules for all of them quickly becomes impractical.

I can confirm that, too. It was incredibly annoying. I finally figured it out when I switched the setting to “Horizontal Bars.”

Thank you for confirming the Plasma widget issue. Knowing that another user can reproduce it is actually very useful.

I noticed that too. Sometimes it asks for a password, and sometimes it doesn't.

That's interesting.

My system is a standalone home installation without AD, Kerberos or centralized authentication, so your explanation probably does not apply in my case. That is one of the reasons why the behaviour caught my attention.

Hmm... maybe you changed your password? Or enabled or disabled auto-login?

No password changes, no autologin changes and no workflow changes compared to Kubuntu 24.04.

I have also used Debian and openSUSE with KDE in the past and I do not remember KWallet being presented immediately after login before opening any application.

Since I also use it for my daily work, the workstation obviously has to function properly. I stay with 26.04.

I completely understand your decision to stay on 26.04.

For me, reliability and predictability in daily use are more important than the new features, so I eventually decided to return to 24.04.

The issues I encountered were not critical, but there were enough of them to affect my daily workflow.

For now, 24.04 remains the better choice for my use case, and I expect to stay with it for the foreseeable future.

[Schwarzer Kater]

Thank you very much for sharing your experiences in such detail.
Even though I haven't had half of the issues you did, for other people's production systems I still install Kubuntu 24.04.x X11 and not 26.04 Wayland. You have provided me with a few more arguments for that.

Personally I quite enjoy Kubuntu 26.04 (mostly X11) on my machines.

[die.boer]

Personally I quite enjoy Kubuntu 26.04 (mostly X11) on my machines.

same here ,though i use X11 exclusively, no problems whatsoever

[vanadiumboy]

I have been testing Kubuntu 26.04 for several days as my daily working environment (multi-monitor setup, Chrome, Thunderbird, suspend-then-hibernate, KDE applications, etc.).
In the end I decided to return to Kubuntu 24.04. None of the issues below are critical on their own, but the accumulation of many small problems made the overall experience less comfortable than 24.04 for me.

Wayland / Session Restore
.....

1. Is this about pinned tabs?
Pinned tabs are suppose to stay forever but eventually, they randomly disappear. This happens to me with Firefox and Brave.
These are software bugs and they will never get fixed.

2. Sounds like your Kate is not set to open the same files when you open Kate. Open the settings, Session, checkmark load last used session.

4. IMO, an app should position itself. This should not be handled by Wayland.
My apps save their window position and size in their own Config.ini

10. I don’t understand this bizarre KWallet thing. It seems to be related to Wifi. The Wifi pwd is stored their?
Windows handled this better. It doesn’t ask me over and over again for a pwd.

11. I have noticed that.

ADDITIONAL:
1. The virtual keyboard at the login screen doesn’t work

2. I use Onboard as a virtual keyboard inside my session. It doesn’t work.

3. Ksnip for screen capturing doesn’t work.

4. Flameshot works for screen capturing but but the GUI became weird in this version.

[wonder]

Regarding Kate, the option to restore the previous session was already enabled. What I observed was a difference between Wayland and X11 on the same installation.

As for the browser issue, I was not referring to pinned tabs. The problem I observed was that multiple Chrome-based browser windows were open before reboot, but after reboot only a single window was restored.

Interesting additional findings regarding the virtual keyboard, Ksnip and Flameshot. I did not test those during my time on 26.04.

[boospy33]

3. Ksnip for screen capturing doesn’t work.

4. Flameshot works for screen capturing but the GUI became weird in this version.

I use "spectacle" for screenshots and screen-recording. If I need to record audio as well, I use "GPU screen recorder" via flatpak . Under X11, I used Simple-Screenrecorder, but it doesn't support Wayland. It probably never will.

[skyfishgoo]

this is the kind of experience that is keeping me from upgrading.... currently using 24.04 and most everything is working as i would like it.

the only thing i can offer is that on item 5 there is a new option in plasma 6 that resources on remote storage is not automatically thumbnailed because ppl requested that it not do that by default.

in dolphin you can turn on the preview feature for remote storage and whatever file types you have selected for preview should get thumbnailed from then on

[claydoh]

https://github.com/ksnip/ksnip/relea...2015%2C%202023 L< ---->The most current release is 3+ years old, unfortunately.

Flameshot has a beta out which may be well worth trying; the version in *buntu is a git pull, so slightly fresher than the last official release in 2025

Proper session restore is close as I understand it. All the different desktop and other Linux stakeholders (aka the herded cats) seem to have finally agreed or figured it out.

1. Not sure. I moved to using Chrome and Chromium well before I moved to Wayland because only one window would open, when it opened at all.
2. Same
3. ..
4. Mine all open on the main screen here.
5. Normal on KDE since forever; there is a setting in Dolphin for this.
6. I don't see this
7. I use this as well, but selection area size I have not noticed. I can see how that would be a change that people would need to adjust to.
8. I have not seen this, either widgets on a panel or on the desktop. I don't use these specific ones, though.
9. I do not use this one. There are a crap ton of third party launcher alternatives, though, if you want a random time-wasting activity.¹
10. Not the expected occurrence. Not seeing that here. Are you using autologin? Historically, this has been a thing. Maybe even KDE 3 old.
11. This is the new and expected action. Other distros have been doing this here and there as well.
12. Not sure. I *think* the tray icon may be able to show what is inhibiting this. I haven't noticed it here, but have not looked.
13. Since Tbird does not even offer a tray icon, it unfortunately means you have to find some random person who makes one It seems the latest release of birdtray is ancient despite the project being active, and good wayland support means compiling from source,. I see no good addon repo for it. Some workarounds seem to exist, such as running birdtray under XWayland, which might help.

the only thing i can offer is that on item 5 there is a new option in Plasma 6 that resources on remote storage is not automatically thumbnailed because ppl requested that it not do that by default.

That is not a new setting at all; it has been around for ages
It is definitely there in KDE 4



This was a trip down memory lane. Boy was that fugly. I can't recall what theming I used back then, though.

¹Time-wasting activity, Note the scrollbar:

[vanadiumboy]

I use "spectacle" for screenshots and screen-recording. If I need to record audio as well, I use "GPU screen recorder" via flatpak . Under X11, I used Simple-Screenrecorder, but it doesn't support Wayland. It probably never will.

Yes, I guess I can use Spectacle. These sort of screen capture apps tend to be basic and quite similar.

I have used Simple-Screenrecorder once and to my surprise, it worked while the app warned that it might not work with a nVidia driver.

But why are certain apps "damaged" by Wayland? Do they use X11 function calls directly? Shouldn't such calls all get redirected to Wayland?
I feel like something is not well implemented in this Wayland idea and it breaks a certain class of apps.
I remember trying out Wayland on Kubuntu 24.04 and LibreOffice was showing a W icon, at the top left (This is called The system icon or app icon).
Also, I had turned off animation but in Wayland, there was still some kind of smooth animation where the window grows if you launch an app.

In my mini apps, I use Qt and they all work fine.

Anyway, they should have implemented a proper replacement for X11. Breaking perhaps 50 to 100 apps is a bad idea since there is probably no maintainer.

I remember someone recommended Notepadqq. I tried it and like it. Eventually, Notepadqq began to crash randomly. When I asked about it, someone said it hasn't been maintained since 2018 and to use CudaText instead
I think a lot of apps are going to go the way of the dodo since there is no maintenance.

[claydoh]

But why are certain apps "damaged" by Wayland? Do they use X11 function calls directly? Shouldn't such calls all get redirected to Wayland?

Mainly they are old and not much maintained.
But X11 is a server and has full, unfettered access to everything. So super easy do do the screen grabbing and key-logging, etc. Just make a GUI and tell it to grab that screen (oversimplified, for sure, but basically accurate)

Wayland is NOT a server, it is more a set of protocols. Which are implemented by the desktop compositor being used. Kwin on Plasma, Mutter in Gnome, all those funky tiling window managers, etc.
So much of the lack of support on third-party apps is that they need to recode things that fit potentially multiple APIs
So, if you made a nice GUI that is just a wrapper around some command-line tools, you may not have the knowledge or skill or time to figure out the APIs.


But ultimately, this is (IMO) all from an overextended foot-dragging session over many years by most of the parties involved, big and small. Now that there have been some band-aid ripping, suddenly these things come up that should have been addressed 5 or more years ago. At the very least, the line in the sand perhaps should have been determined and set years ago. But since Wayland includes more than just display/input-related devs, but now the whole Linux ecosphere, people bicker and bikeshed.

Add in the poor support from Nvidia's closed source drivers mucking things up for a LOT of people, as dominant as their GPUs are.

I think a lot of apps are going to go the way of the dodo since there is no maintenance.

This is very common in the FOSS world, in my 26 years of use.

[wonder]

https://github.com/ksnip/ksnip/relea...2015%2C%202023 L< ---->The most current release is 3+ years old, unfortunately.

Flameshot has a beta out which may be well worth trying; the version in *buntu is a git pull, so slightly fresher than the last official release in 2025

Proper session restore is close as I understand it. All the different desktop and other Linux stakeholders (aka the herded cats) seem to have finally agreed or figured it out.

1. Not sure. I moved to using Chrome and Chromium well before I moved to Wayland because only one window would open, when it opened at all.
2. Same
3. ..
4. Mine all open on the main screen here.
5. Normal on KDE since forever; there is a setting in Dolphin for this.
6. I don't see this
7. I use this as well, but selection area size I have not noticed. I can see how that would be a change that people would need to adjust to.
8. I have not seen this, either widgets on a panel or on the desktop. I don't use these specific ones, though.
9. I do not use this one. There are a crap ton of third party launcher alternatives, though, if you want a random time-wasting activity.¹
10. Not the expected occurrence. Not seeing that here. Are you using autologin? Historically, this has been a thing. Maybe even KDE 3 old.
11. This is the new and expected action. Other distros have been doing this here and there as well.
12. Not sure. I *think* the tray icon may be able to show what is inhibiting this. I haven't noticed it here, but have not looked.
13. Since Tbird does not even offer a tray icon, it unfortunately means you have to find some random person who makes one It seems the latest release of birdtray is ancient despite the project being active, and good wayland support means compiling from source,. I see no good addon repo for it. Some workarounds seem to exist, such as running birdtray under XWayland, which might help.

That is not a new setting at all; it has been around for ages
It is definitely there in KDE 4



This was a trip down memory lane. Boy was that fugly. I can't recall what theming I used back then, though.

¹Time-wasting activity, Note the scrollbar:

Thank you for the detailed feedback.

It is good to hear that proper session restore is actively being worked on. The browser issue was one of the things that surprised me the most.

Regarding window placement, I should probably clarify that I was observing that behaviour under X11 as well, not only under Wayland.

As for Dolphin Settings, I have been using Kubuntu since 16.04 or 14.04 and I do not remember the settings window repeatedly reopening at such a small size after resizing it manually. That was new to me in 26.04.

The KWallet behaviour was also unexpected. I have used Kubuntu, Debian and openSUSE with KDE over the years and I normally only see KWallet when an application actually needs it. Seeing it immediately after login felt unusual.

In any case, I appreciate all the feedback. It is interesting to see which issues are reproducible by other users and which ones seem to depend on individual setups.

[claydoh]

As for Dolphin Settings,

I mean the setting for thumbnails on remote locations.

The sizing of the window thing, I do not think I have ever seen in Dolphin proper, but have seen this a few times over the years in some random applications, but it always stayed at the new size I set it to.

[boospy33]

I mean the setting for thumbnails on remote locations.

The sizing of the window thing, I do not think I have ever seen in Dolphin proper, but have seen this a few times over the years in some random applications, but it always stayed at the new size I set it to.

Basically, yes. But you HAVE to use window rules and force Wayland to handle adaptive windows, such as properties or settings. Otherwise, they stay small and bad unusable.
I notice this with higher resolutions, like “4K and up.” With Full HD (1920x1080), it's not that bad.