# Error: No executable profiles could be found **URL:** \ **Category:** Knowledge Base\ **Tags:** desktop, linux, thinlinc\ **Created:** [3 December 2020 09:09 UTC](https://community.thinlinc.com/t/error-no-executable-profiles-could-be-found/40 "2020-12-03T09:09:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![samuel](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/community.thinlinc.com/samuel/32/335_2.png) [@samuel](https://community.thinlinc.com/u/samuel)\ **Post date:** [3 December 2020 09:09 UTC](https://community.thinlinc.com/t/error-no-executable-profiles-could-be-found/40/1 "2020-12-03T09:09:56Z")
One common support issue we get is about the error message **“No executable profiles could be found”** that appears when trying to login to a ThinLinc session. The most common cause of this is that a session cant start because no working desktop environment is installed on the system. Many Linux distributions are available as “minimal” installs, this could mean that a desktop isn’t included. To check which desktop environments you have installed, you can run this command: ``` ls /usr/share/xsessions ``` Examples of desktop environments are GNOME, XFCE, Mate, KDE and Cinnamon. Note that if you run a ThinLinc cluster, only the Agents need to have working desktop environments. ---
**Author:** ![aaron](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/community.thinlinc.com/aaron/32/13_2.png) [@aaron](https://community.thinlinc.com/u/aaron)\ **Post date:** [3 December 2020 19:58 UTC](https://community.thinlinc.com/t/error-no-executable-profiles-could-be-found/40/2 "2020-12-03T19:58:29Z")
Most Linux distributions will have a way of installing entire desktop environments with a single command. For example, to install the MATE desktop on CentOS (must have `EPEL` repositories enabled): `$ sudo yum groupinstall "MATE Desktop"` On Fedora (you may also want to install the `mate-applications` group): `$ sudo dnf groupinstall mate-desktop` On Ubuntu 20.04: `$ sudo apt install ubuntu-mate-desktop` ---
**Author:** ![samuel](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/community.thinlinc.com/samuel/32/335_2.png) [@samuel](https://community.thinlinc.com/u/samuel)\ **Post date:** [21 September 2021 08:53 UTC](https://community.thinlinc.com/t/error-no-executable-profiles-could-be-found/40/3 "2021-09-21T08:53:24Z")
ThinLinc includes profiles for most popular desktops. However, if no ThinLinc profile is available yet for your desktop - fortunately, you can add your own. This is done either directly in the configuration file (default location is `/opt/thinlinc/etc/conf.d/profiles.hconf`) or by using the Web Admin Interface. Aside from learning from the existing profiles you can find information regarding each configuration parameter for a new profile here: [https://www.cendio.com/resources/docs/tag-devel/html/configuration\_customizing\_user\_session.html#configuration\_config-profiles](https://www.cendio.com/resources/docs/tag-devel/html/configuration_customizing_user_session.html#configuration_config-profiles) ---
**Author:** ![paleblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7993a0/32.png) [@paleblue](https://community.thinlinc.com/u/paleblue)\ **Post date:** [1 October 2024 21:56 UTC](https://community.thinlinc.com/t/error-no-executable-profiles-could-be-found/40/4 "2024-10-01T21:56:39Z")
Hi, what to do if I want to use ThinLinc on ZorinOS (which is based on Ubuntu, with GNOME but a custom theme)? I get the “No executable profiles could be found”. The topic regarding what is a profile and what are the requirements for a profile to work are not well documented. It just says “Note that other criteria must also be satisfied for a profile to be available to a user” in the web administration. But it does not say what these criteria are, or where I can read more about them. `ls /usr/share/xsessions` yields two files, `zorin.desktop` and `zorin-xorg.desktop`. Contents: `zorin.desktop` ```auto [Desktop Entry] Name=Zorin Desktop Comment=This session logs you into Zorin Desktop Exec=env GNOME_SHELL_SESSION_MODE=zorin /usr/bin/gnome-session --session=zorin TryExec=/usr/bin/gnome-shell Type=Application DesktopNames=zorin:GNOME X-GDM-SessionRegisters=true X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=gnome-session-3.0 ``` `zorin-xorg.desktop` ```auto [Desktop Entry] Name=Zorin Desktop on Xorg Comment=This session logs you into Zorin Desktop Exec=env GNOME_SHELL_SESSION_MODE=zorin /usr/bin/gnome-session --session=zorin TryExec=/usr/bin/gnome-shell Type=Application DesktopNames=zorin:GNOME X-GDM-SessionRegisters=true X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=gnome-session-3.0 ``` Any help is kindly appreciated! EDIT: I figured it out. I just needed to enter the name of that .desktop file. Then it worked. And sound works too. Awesome stuff. ![screenshot](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/uploads/thinlinc/original/1X/abc54e581e1d693a50aa3383477d0fe8a16d770f.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![aaron](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/community.thinlinc.com/aaron/32/13_2.png) [@aaron](https://community.thinlinc.com/u/aaron)\ **Post date:** [1 October 2024 22:34 UTC](https://community.thinlinc.com/t/error-no-executable-profiles-could-be-found/40/5 "2024-10-01T22:34:09Z")
Hi @paleblue Yep, you got it 🙂 We are aware of a number of distribution-specific DE variants (Budgie, COSMIC, Zorin, etc) which do work with ThinLinc, but aren’t provided in the default configuration. So it’s great to see that it’s at least “discoverable” how to do this yourself if needed. Thanks for the post! ---
**Author:** ![wilsj](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/community.thinlinc.com/wilsj/32/554_2.png) [@wilsj](https://community.thinlinc.com/u/wilsj)\ **Post date:** [16 May 2025 09:32 UTC](https://community.thinlinc.com/t/error-no-executable-profiles-could-be-found/40/6 "2025-05-16T09:32:57Z")
As RHEL10 and its derivatives have made further steps towards Wayland, this situation gets trickier under those distributions. I’ve published the following Knowledge Base article further detailing the problem: > [@No executable profiles found on RHEL 10, AlmaLinux 10, and Rocky 10](https://community.thinlinc.com/t/no-executable-profiles-found-on-rhel-10-almalinux-10-and-rocky-10/1553): > > Starting with version 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and RHEL-based distributions no longer include a traditional X server. Consequently, the /usr/share/xsessions/ files required by ThinLinc are not available through the standard package repositories. This will lead to the error “No executable profiles could be found” being shown during session startup. To work around this issue, you must manually create the entries under /usr/share/xsessions. Simply install the desktop environment in question an… ---
**Author:** ![Hitesh\_Jethva](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/community.thinlinc.com/hitesh_jethva/32/799_2.png) [@Hitesh\_Jethva](https://community.thinlinc.com/u/Hitesh_Jethva)\ **Post date:** [20 December 2025 09:17 UTC](https://community.thinlinc.com/t/error-no-executable-profiles-could-be-found/40/7 "2025-12-20T09:17:02Z")
I tried to create a zorin profile but it does not work for me ---
**Author:** ![matre](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/community.thinlinc.com/matre/32/732_2.png) [@matre](https://community.thinlinc.com/u/matre)\ **Post date:** [22 December 2025 10:28 UTC](https://community.thinlinc.com/t/error-no-executable-profiles-could-be-found/40/8 "2025-12-22T10:28:58Z")
Hi @Hitesh_Jethva, a basic Zorin profile for ThinLinc is [available here](https://community.thinlinc.com/t/create-a-custom-executable-profile-zorin-budgie-pop-os-etc/1226#p-3020-premade-templates-3). This profile configuration also works for Zorin 18, should you use that version. Please let me know if the instructions are unclear or if you run into any other issues.