Cinnamon settings not working anymore

[topesio]

Since a couple of days Cinnamon Settings (and Control Center too) does not work anymore.
Error message is No module named 'PIL'
I did lot of search about this error, tried each and every workaround found (i.e. reinstall imtools, reinstall pillow, reinstall python, reinstall cinnamon control centre, etc.) but problem still is here.

Mint 20.2 Cinnamon Edition, kernel 5.4.0-89, system updated.

Any suggestions?

[xenopeek]

It sounds like you messed up Python on your system. Did you manually install any Python extra version or libraries? I mean, did you run any commands to install Python related stuff not using your system's package manager (apt / apt-get / aptitude / dpkg).

You will want to remove that extra Python stuff, probably somewhere in a hidden directory in your home directory.

[JoeFootball]

Any suggestions?

Sounds similar to ...

viewtopic.php?f=208&t=359604

[SMG]

Any suggestions?

Do you have any Timeshift snapshots from when the system was working?

The person in the thread JoeFootball mentioned found restoring to an older snapshot and then updating the system again cleared the issue.

[topesio]

Do you have any Timeshift snapshots from when the system was working?

The person in the thread JoeFootball mentioned found restoring to an older snapshot and then updating the system again cleared the issue.

Yes I have a Timeshift Image to restore (2 weeks old), but I was trying to find a "clean" solution and, most of all, want to understand where the real problem is.

BTW I didn't find any hidden python istuff in my home.

I will look after for another bit of time, then if not resolved will restore previous system image...

[topesio]

Update:

Reverted to timeshift image (one month old), everything's ok.
Did update as requested, cinnamon settings does not work anymore.
I believe that Cinnamon update broke something in python.
Now I'm sure it's not my fault, but something went wrong in update.
Maybe an update bug?
Anyone else experienced this problem?

[SMG]

Anyone else experienced this problem?

I've been running 5.0.6 since it was released and I'm not having any issues.

The only thing I can think to try is to revert to the snapshot again, only do the non-uma updates to make sure nothing else might be the issue. Then do the uma updates in small groups (or one at a time) to see if you can pin-point what is causing an issue on your system.