I am in a similar situation after trying to remove obs-studio. Looking at tasks helped me understand why the removal was stuck, but now that I’ve cleared the issue how do I tell snapd to retry? Nothing seems to work, not even rebooting.
FTR:
$ snap changes obs-studio
ID Status Spawn Ready Summary
506 Done today at 13:48 PST today at 13:49 PST Install "obs-studio" snap
507 Done today at 13:51 PST today at 13:51 PST Connect obs-studio:alsa to snapd:alsa
508 Done today at 13:51 PST today at 13:51 PST Connect obs-studio:audio-record to snapd:audio-record
509 Done today at 13:51 PST today at 13:51 PST Connect obs-studio:avahi-control to snapd:avahi-control
510 Done today at 13:51 PST today at 13:51 PST Connect obs-studio:camera to snapd:camera
511 Done today at 13:51 PST today at 13:51 PST Connect obs-studio:jack1 to snapd:jack1
512 Done today at 13:51 PST today at 13:51 PST Connect obs-studio:kernel-module-observe to snapd:kernel-module-observe
513 Done today at 13:53 PST today at 13:53 PST Connect obs-studio:removable-media to snapd:removable-media
514 Undo today at 14:03 PST - Remove "obs-studio" snap
$ snap tasks 514
Status Spawn Ready Summary
Undo today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Stop snap "obs-studio" services
Undo today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Run remove hook of "obs-studio" snap if present
Done today at 14:03 PST today at 18:21 PST Disconnect interfaces of snap "obs-studio"
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Save data of snap "obs-studio" in automatic snapshot set #7
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Remove aliases for snap "obs-studio"
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Make snap "obs-studio" unavailable to the system
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Remove security profile for snap "obs-studio" (1316)
Error today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Remove data for snap "obs-studio" (1316)
Hold today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Remove snap "obs-studio" (1316) from the system
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:sound-themes from gtk-common-themes:sound-themes
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:network from snapd:network
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:gpu-2404 from mesa-2404:gpu-2404
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:camera from snapd:camera
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:unity7 from snapd:unity7
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:kernel-module-observe from snapd:kernel-module-observe
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:desktop-legacy from snapd:desktop-legacy
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:network-bind from snapd:network-bind
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:desktop from snapd:desktop
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:avahi-control from snapd:avahi-control
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:screen-inhibit-control from snapd:screen-inhibit-control
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:alsa from snapd:alsa
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:removable-media from snapd:removable-media
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:gtk-3-themes from gtk-common-themes:gtk-3-themes
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:browser-support from snapd:browser-support
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:pulseaudio from snapd:pulseaudio
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:audio-playback from snapd:audio-playback
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:upower-observe from snapd:upower-observe
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:x11 from snapd:x11
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:icon-themes from gtk-common-themes:icon-themes
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:jack1 from snapd:jack1
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:opengl from snapd:opengl
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:gnome-46-2404 from gnome-46-2404:gnome-46-2404
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:wayland from snapd:wayland
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:audio-record from snapd:audio-record
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:gsettings from snapd:gsettings
Undone today at 14:03 PST today at 14:03 PST Disconnect obs-studio:home from snapd:home
......................................................................
Make snap "obs-studio" unavailable to the system
2025-12-01T14:03:23-08:00 INFO cannot link snap "obs-studio" back, some of its data has already been removed
......................................................................
Remove data for snap "obs-studio" (1316)
2025-12-01T14:03:23-08:00 ERROR failed to remove snap "obs-studio" base directory: remove /home/aieri/snap/obs-studio/current: directory not empty
This issue is blocking me from connecting plugs on unrelated snaps.
There was a bug in undoing failed removals that could cause the change to hang. This was fixed in 2.73 which is currently in beta. If you’re still experiencing this issue (the “Run remove hook …” task is stuck in “Undo”), please follow the steps in Comment #16 : Bug #2130315 : Bugs : snapd package : Ubuntu to unblock it and move to 2.73.
