CLion/PyCharm/PHPStorm/IntelliJ won't start, says "IDE has not been initialized yet"

Question

When I try to start my CLion IDE (or another JetBrains IDE, like PyCharm, IntelliJ IDEA, PHP Storm etc), it fails, and I get the following message on the console:

IDE has not been initialized yet

(after the usual JVM warning I always get before and didn't prevent the IDE from starting up.)

Why is this happening? What can I do about it?

Notes:

• I have a valid license.
• May be related to this (resolved) issue for IntelliJ Idea.

Manners

Answer 1

Another instance of the IDE may be running

While you might not see it for some reason, there is another instance of your IDE already running (probably for your own user). The error message is somewhat misleading.

Let's assume you're running CLion for example. The executable's name is clion. Look for it with the ps command: ps aux | grep -i clion, or with pgrep: pgrep clion. Then terminate it (e.g. using kill with the process ID), and re-run.

Caveat: There may not be the only scenario in which you get the same error message.

Manners

Works for PyCharm too, probably the other IDEs as well. – Ctenoid

Worked for PhpStorm. – Missioner

Answer 2

just in case someone runs into this error. I have installed IntelliJ in Linux Mint through tarball file and get this erro. I have installed it on /opt folder. The error is due the lack of permission. I just give permission to intelliJ inside /opt folder and /home/user/.cache/JetBrains

to give permission run:

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER path/of/intellij
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /home/your_user/.cache/JetBrains

Synthesis

s/is due/may be due/ . – Manners