netbird-ui doesnt show tray icon under Debain 12

[n3tkiller]

Describe the problem

Under Debain 12.11 the tray icon of netbird-ui is not showed. UI is therefore not usable.
systray error: failed to register: The name org.kde.StatusNotifierWatcher was not provided by any .service files
I am using gnome desktop.

To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

run netbird-ui with or without sudo

Expected behavior
applications starts, tray icon appers

Are you using NetBird Cloud?
yes

NetBird version
0.49.0

Is any other VPN software installed?
no

Debug output

2025-07-03T00:58:05+02:00 DEBG version/update.go:115: fetching version info from https://pkgs.netbird.io/releases/latest/version
2025-07-03T00:58:05+02:00 DEBG client/ui/network.go:376: Exit node menu already up to date
2025-07-03T00:58:05+02:00 INFO client/ui/event/event.go:76: subscribed to daemon events
2025/07/03 00:58:05 systray error: failed to register: The name org.kde.StatusNotifierWatcher was not provided by any .service files
2025-07-03T00:58:06+02:00 DEBG client/ui/network.go:376: Exit node menu already up to date
2025-07-03T00:58:08+02:00 DEBG client/ui/network.go:376: Exit node menu already up to date
2025-07-03T00:58:10+02:00 DEBG client/ui/network.go:376: Exit node menu already up to date

Have you tried these troubleshooting steps? - N/A

• Reviewed client troubleshooting (if applicable)
• Checked for newer NetBird versions
• Searched for similar issues on GitHub (including closed ones)
• Restarted the NetBird client
• Disabled other VPN software
• Checked firewall settings

[n3tkiller]

tested with all following versions up to version 0.50.3 - still the same

[bannert1337]

What desktop environment do you use?

[n3tkiller]

gnome, as stated in the description

[lixmal]

Can you check if you have this package installed?

sudo apt install libayatana-appindicator3-1

[n3tkiller]

~$ sudo apt install libayatana-appindicator3-1
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
libayatana-appindicator3-1 is already the newest version (0.5.92-1).
libayatana-appindicator3-1 set to manually installed.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

so, in short - yes, it's installed :)

[guija]

Same issue on NixOS.
I installed it via my /etc/configuration.nix file as described in your documentation:
https://docs.netbird.io/how-to/installation/linux#nix-os-22-11-unstable

[nazarewk]

@guija could you tell me more about your setup? Which nixpkgs channel/branch are you using? What is the desktop environment and how are you setting it up?

the UI and tray icon works just fine for me on:

• nixos-unstable
• Sway (Wayland)
• waybar with it's default tray plugin

[titouan-joseph]

Hello @n3tkiller,

In my side I install this gnome extension and it's finally work

https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/615/appindicator-support/

[n3tkiller]

@titouan-joseph indeed, now I got it also working! Thanks!

[alexandre-abrioux]

@nazarewk Does the tray sub-menus work on your side? Like the "About" or "Settings" sub-menus? I have a similar setup as yours (Netbird 0.59.10 on NixOS unstable + Waybar), but with Hyprland instead of Sway. The tray works but sub-menus are all empty. I wonder if the issue comes from Netbird, Hyprland, or Waybar. Sorry for hijacking the discussion, I can create another issue if necessary. Appreciate any help.

Edit: It appears to be an issue with Waybar. I've migrated to ashell for the time being, the tray sub-menus work as intended.