Apps that require elevated permission to run are no longer opening from Menu

Support & Help Requests
#1

I don't know at what point this started happening (some time after upgrading from 18.04 LTS to 20.04 probably) but I can no longer start an app from the Menu if it requires elevated permissions to run.

In the past, when I opened (for example) Synaptic or Gparted from the Applications Menu I would get a pop-up window requesting the password for the elevated permissions. NOW, I can only get these apps to start if I use the command line with sudo (e.g., as the command to run that particular app). Otherwise, I click on the app in the Menu and nothing at all happens other than the Menu minimizing again.

Is this a new security feature in 20.04?

#2

Worked for me since day 1 of a clean install. Just tried now.Bleachbit Adm GParted Synaptic Quick search didn't find anything.
Edit: This is the command that shows for me in GParted menu entry
/usr/sbin/gparted %f

#3

Thanks, Mendy, the screen caps that you've shared show exactly what is not happening with my Ubuntu-MATE install any more.

My GParted menu entry is the same as what you listed: /usr/sbin/gparted %f

I wonder if anybody else has experienced this problem?

#4

Nope, this is not a new security feature. Something in your install is borked.

As a workaround, you can edit the menus (right-click on the menu icon) to include pkexec to invoke root privileges prior to starting something like the following:
pkexec /usr/sbin/gparted %f
pkexec synaptic
pkexec gdebi-gtk %f

This will do until you find the source of your problem. Good luck docbac.