Invalid Encoding message in Nemo File Manager

[NelsonEdgar]

Using Linux Mint Uma 20.2
When I open Nemo file manager all root directories are displayed and then several garbage listings followed by message - (invalid coding)
Any ideas on how to fix this ?
Thanks

[mikeflan]

You haven't supplied enough information. If possible, take a screen shot, get it below 200KB, and attached it to a post here.

[NelsonEdgar]

Here is a screenshot of the issue

[karlchen]

Hello, NelsonEdgar.

Please, open a terminal window.
Execute the command: ls -l $HOME (The -l is minus lowercase L, not minus one)
Mark the complete output, which the command will display in the terminal window.
Press <Shift><Ctrl>c to copy the marked text.
Paste it into your next reply.

Reason for the request:
Would like to find out, whether the terminal window can display correctly, where on your system Nemo seems to fail for a reason, which needs to be determined still. (Something to do with incorrect language and/or font settings maybe.)

Regards,
Karl

[NelsonEdgar]

Hello Karl,
Here are the results:

[mikeflan]

Follow karlchen's instructions. Instead of posting a pic, post the directory list in <code> tags.
Do you know what those files are? In a terminal use the 'file' command to determine what kind of files those are. I would supply the command, but you posted a pic.

[NelsonEdgar]

Code: Select all

enlinux@lenlinux-MS-7786:~$ ls -l $HOME
total 84
-rw-rw-r--  1 lenlinux lenlinux   77 Sep 16 22:12 '0'$'\r\314''-qU'
-rw-rw-r--  1 lenlinux lenlinux   77 Sep 17 22:12 ''$'\260''4'$'\316''H'$'\216''U'
-rw-rw-r--  1 lenlinux lenlinux   77 Sep  8 22:14 ''$'\020\254''9'$'\374\213''U'
drwxr-xr-x  2 lenlinux lenlinux 4096 Jul 28 18:24  Desktop
drwxr-xr-x  4 lenlinux lenlinux 4096 May 31 19:59  Documents
drwxr-xr-x  6 lenlinux lenlinux 4096 Sep 20 19:38  Downloads
drwxrwxr-x 47 lenlinux lenlinux 4096 Aug 25 10:08  LNW
drwxr-xr-x 23 lenlinux lenlinux 4096 Jun 26 09:37  Music
-rw-rw-r--  1 lenlinux lenlinux   77 Sep 13 22:08 ''$'\240\006''N'$'\027\220''U'
drwxrwxr-x  3 lenlinux lenlinux 4096 May 28 20:42  opt
drwxr-xr-x  2 lenlinux lenlinux 4096 Jun  5 15:47  Pictures
drwxr-xr-x  2 lenlinux lenlinux 4096 May 28 15:18  Public
-rw-rw-r--  1 lenlinux lenlinux   77 Sep 14 21:55 'p'$'\355''蟔U'
-rw-rw-r--  1 lenlinux lenlinux   77 Sep 10 22:16 '@qi-'$'\016''V'
-rw-rw-r--  1 lenlinux lenlinux   77 Sep 18 22:14 ''$'\340''Q'$'\006''M$V'
drwxr-xr-x  4 lenlinux lenlinux 4096 Jun  7 21:28  snap
drwxr-xr-x  2 lenlinux lenlinux 4096 May 28 15:18  Templates
-rw-rw-r--  1 lenlinux lenlinux   77 Sep 15 22:02 ''$'\220\316\365\003\335''U'
-rw-rw-r--  1 lenlinux lenlinux   77 Sep 15 09:22 ''$'\220\322''|'$'\245''`U'
-rw-rw-r--  1 lenlinux lenlinux   77 Sep 19 22:16 ''$'\360\274''uS'$'\374''U'
drwxr-xr-x  2 lenlinux lenlinux 4096 May 28 15:18  Videos
lenlinux@lenlinux-MS-7786:~$

[mikeflan]

Rename a few of those goofy files to 0001, 0002, 0003.
Then type this in a terminal:

Code: Select all

file ~/0001
file ~/0002
file ~/0003

and report the output in your next post.

Or if you want to do it via the terminal type these commands in a terminal, one after the other. First:

Code: Select all

mkdir ~/copy

That will create a 'copy' directory.
Then type:

Code: Select all

rename -n 'our $i; $_ = "~/copy/" . sprintf "File-%04d", ++$i' ~/*

If the output looks good to you, then remove the -n, so you type this in the terminal:

Code: Select all

rename 'our $i; $_ = "~/copy/" . sprintf "file-%04d", ++$i' ~/*

That will rename all the goofy files and the renamed files will be in $HOME/copy/
Then type these commands one at a time and report the output in your next post:

Code: Select all

file ~/copy/file-0001
file ~/copy/file-0002
file ~/copy/file-0003
file ~/copy/file-0004

Use Ctrl-Shift-c to copy from the terminal. Ctrl-v to paste in your post.

[mikeflan]

I notice that all those files are only 77 bytes, so fairly short.
After doing the above, look at the contents of the files by typing this in a terminal:

Code: Select all

cat ~/copy/file-0001
cat ~/copy/file-0002
cat ~/copy/file-0003
cat ~/copy/file-0004

Post those results also.

You really have no idea how those files got there??

[NelsonEdgar]

Thanks to karlchen and mikeflan for your comments and suggestions. I converted to Linux Mint to get out from under Microsoft's continual intrusion. I am not a programmer and can handle simple Terminal tasks if the code is provided to me.
Mikeflan asked if I knew why this is happening. My only response is that it seemed to start once I upgraded from 20.1 to 20.2
For the moment, I will just delete these files as they appear - they don't seem to be affecting anything else.
nelsonedgar

[karlchen]

Hello, NelsonEdgar.

The weird thing about these filenames, which are really very strange, is that all the files have got the same size: 77 bytes.
Looks a bit as if such files are created triggered by an almost regular event, like e.g. launching a specific application once per day.

If you type the command locale in a terminal window and press enter, what is the output, please?

Regards,
Karl

[jud]

These are the 77 character in those files with junk names:

Code: Select all

======================================== Logging finished on --- at 16:59:02

What could be creating these files?

[harisano]

Hhmm, just searched for this very issue, and found this one post. Was really hoping to find an answer, since I have this very same issue.
well, if anyone feels like digging more into it, I'd be happy to provide whatever help I can.

- h

[harisano]

These are the 77 character in those files with junk names:

Code: Select all

======================================== Logging finished on --- at 16:59:02

What could be creating these files?

Very good question, which I am also curious about!
Also; is it safe to delete these files?

- h

[deepakdeshp]

It should be safe to delete these files. But just as a test rename them and if all is well delete them after some weeks.