Re: User Can Not Log In
Michael wrote: "You say that you can log in as rootquestion: does the root login take you to a graphical desktop??" Yes, it does. There is a menu icon in the upper left which offers: Default Xsession Fvwm Xfce Session I pick Xfce, but if I pick Fvwm. I get a desktop similar to Xfce and that may be the smoking gun. The Xfce desktop has 4 workspaces. The Fvwm desktop has 3 rows of 12 workspaces IIRC. "Were it my system, I would simply delete all hidden files in /home/ with the command rm -r /home//.*, however, a very reasonable first gambit would be to rm -r /home//.config, and then the more comprehensive rm -r /home//.*. In either case, you lose not actual data, just configuration/setup/preference information that has to be re-done." In my case, .mozilla and .icedove were essential so that bookmarks and saved emails could be preserved. - Dan
Re: User Can Not Log In
On 02/24/2017 07:29 PM, Dan Norton wrote: On 02/23/2017 08:40 PM, Michael Milliman wrote: On 02/23/2017 04:16 PM, GiaThnYgeia wrote: Michael Milliman: On 02/23/2017 10:47 AM, Dan Norton wrote: While playing around with Xfce, startx, and fvwm I've managed to clobber something such that the user can't log in. All attempts result in a fresh login box with my inputs removed. However, it is still possible to log in as root. fvwm was installed using Synaptic and run from an Xfce terminal session. When it did not produce the expected result, I shut down and rebooted. At this point it was no longer possible to log in as user - only as root. Do I have to rename /home/, delete , then re-define it as a new user and restore its home directory? Or is there a better way? It should be possible to do some serious research and figure out exactly which package is croaking, and why, and then edit the configuration file for that package in /home/. But in my experience with similar situations, this takes much more time than it is worth. I have found that usually just deleting the configuration files in /home/ will work. This is probably easier than the solution that you propose, but your solution should work as well, as long as you don't copy back the configuration files when you do the restore. Encouraged by the previous brave response, I have done similar hacks in the past. 1 One thing I look at is date ordered of @home/ directory. See what was last edited and reconfigured, most probably is the culprit. With some packages renaming that directory in the home folder as something else temporary (ie home/gnubg --> home/gnubg.tmp may result into a login and when you run gnubg it will act as started for first time -- not a good example I am afraid). 1.1 It may be more than one thing gone bad. 2 Create a new user, copy config files that you don't suspect are related to the problem and then go one at a time with the rest. 3 See if the file and directory rights are still in tact in your #home, maybe you locked yourself out. Root should always have the right to set a new password for a user. 4 Are you switching between desktops, do you have an alternative (openbox .. gnome .. mate ..etc). Did you try a different desktop? It may relate to desktop settings or if you removed one you may have affected an other in case you were crossing desktop specific packages. 5 Check your autostart folders for crap you can remove. All very good suggestions...but I usually just get fed up looking before I find the problem, and just go for broke. It seems much easier to just re-apply my preferences than to continue digging. But it is a little like using a shot-gun rather than a scalpel. The user has been deleted after making a copy of his home directory. A user of the same name has been added back, with a different password and can be logged in. I'm restoring things a little at the time from the backup. Firefox, Icedove, Smalltalk, and GitHub are working as before. Documents directory is restored. Now I'm wondering what all that other stuff is good for Are the config files in one place or are they scattered? When the backup was made, only root could be logged in. The backup was made with "cp -r " which changed all owners and groups to root. The backup would have been better made with "cp -ra " I think. Yeah, I always use cp --archive for such things. Thanks, Michael and GiaThnYgeia. - Dan -- 73's de Mike, WB5VQX
Re: User Can Not Log In
Forwarded Message Subject:Re: User Can Not Log In Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2017 17:42:30 -0600 From: Michael Milliman <michael.e.milli...@gmail.com> To: Dan Norton <dnor...@mindspring.com> On 02/24/2017 02:12 PM, Dan Norton wrote: -Original Message- From: Michael Milliman <michael.e.milli...@gmail.com> Sent: Feb 23, 2017 8:40 PM To: debian-user@lists.debian.org Subject: Re: User Can Not Log In On 02/23/2017 04:16 PM, GiaThnYgeia wrote: Michael Milliman: On 02/23/2017 10:47 AM, Dan Norton wrote: While playing around with Xfce, startx, and fvwm I've managed to clobber something such that the user can't log in. All attempts result in a fresh login box with my inputs removed. However, it is still possible to log in as root. fvwm was installed using Synaptic and run from an Xfce terminal session. When it did not produce the expected result, I shut down and rebooted. At this point it was no longer possible to log in as user - only as root. Do I have to rename /home/, delete , then re-define it as a new user and restore its home directory? Or is there a better way? It should be possible to do some serious research and figure out exactly which package is croaking, and why, and then edit the configuration file for that package in /home/. But in my experience with similar situations, this takes much more time than it is worth. I have found that usually just deleting the configuration files in /home/ will work. This is probably easier than the solution that you propose, but your solution should work as well, as long as you don't copy back the configuration files when you do the restore. Encouraged by the previous brave response, I have done similar hacks in the past. 1 One thing I look at is date ordered of @home/ directory. See what was last edited and reconfigured, most probably is the culprit. With some packages renaming that directory in the home folder as something else temporary (ie home/gnubg --> home/gnubg.tmp may result into a login and when you run gnubg it will act as started for first time -- not a good example I am afraid). 1.1 It may be more than one thing gone bad. 2 Create a new user, copy config files that you don't suspect are related to the problem and then go one at a time with the rest. 3 See if the file and directory rights are still in tact in your #home, maybe you locked yourself out. Root should always have the right to set a new password for a user. 4 Are you switching between desktops, do you have an alternative (openbox .. gnome .. mate ..etc). Did you try a different desktop? It may relate to desktop settings or if you removed one you may have affected an other in case you were crossing desktop specific packages. 5 Check your autostart folders for crap you can remove. All very good suggestions...but I usually just get fed up looking before I find the problem, and just go for broke. It seems much easier to just re-apply my preferences than to continue digging. But it is a little like using a shot-gun rather than a scalpel. The user has been deleted and re-defined with a different password. It is now possible to log in as that user. I am now cautiously restoring the user's home directory, trying to avoid pulling in some configuration which might cause trouble again. It seems that ~/.config would be a source of configurations, but is that the only one? ~/.config is the most likely, however, your desktop also usually has configuration files in folders like ~/.gnome or ~/.mate (or maybe its ~/.mate-desktop), etc. If the problem exists under multiple desktop environments, then something in ~/.config is almost certainly the problem. One other thing, though. You say that you can log in as rootquestion: does the root login take you to a graphical desktop?? This is disabled in most installations, though it can be enabled (I have modified my configuration to allow graphical login for root). If you log in as root from the command line, you might try logging in as the user from the command line to make sure that works. If you can log in as root from the graphical environment, then the problem is certainly in the user configurations probably in ~/.config. If your system is not set up to allow root logins from the graphical environment, then this can't be confirmed, but ~/.config is the most likely culprit. If your system will allow graphical root logins, and the same problem happens with graphical root login, then the problem is over in /etc, a much more troubling problem. Were it my system, I would simply delete all hidden files in /home/ with the command rm -r /home//.*, however, a very reasonable first gambit would be to rm -r /home//.config, and then the more comprehensive rm -r /home//.*. In either case, you lose not actual data, just configuration/setup/preference information that has to be re-done. As I wrote this, I thought about another quick test to run. Create a new u
Re: User Can Not Log In
On 02/23/2017 08:40 PM, Michael Milliman wrote: On 02/23/2017 04:16 PM, GiaThnYgeia wrote: Michael Milliman: On 02/23/2017 10:47 AM, Dan Norton wrote: While playing around with Xfce, startx, and fvwm I've managed to clobber something such that the user can't log in. All attempts result in a fresh login box with my inputs removed. However, it is still possible to log in as root. fvwm was installed using Synaptic and run from an Xfce terminal session. When it did not produce the expected result, I shut down and rebooted. At this point it was no longer possible to log in as user - only as root. Do I have to rename /home/, delete , then re-define it as a new user and restore its home directory? Or is there a better way? It should be possible to do some serious research and figure out exactly which package is croaking, and why, and then edit the configuration file for that package in /home/. But in my experience with similar situations, this takes much more time than it is worth. I have found that usually just deleting the configuration files in /home/ will work. This is probably easier than the solution that you propose, but your solution should work as well, as long as you don't copy back the configuration files when you do the restore. Encouraged by the previous brave response, I have done similar hacks in the past. 1 One thing I look at is date ordered of @home/ directory. See what was last edited and reconfigured, most probably is the culprit. With some packages renaming that directory in the home folder as something else temporary (ie home/gnubg --> home/gnubg.tmp may result into a login and when you run gnubg it will act as started for first time -- not a good example I am afraid). 1.1 It may be more than one thing gone bad. 2 Create a new user, copy config files that you don't suspect are related to the problem and then go one at a time with the rest. 3 See if the file and directory rights are still in tact in your #home, maybe you locked yourself out. Root should always have the right to set a new password for a user. 4 Are you switching between desktops, do you have an alternative (openbox .. gnome .. mate ..etc). Did you try a different desktop? It may relate to desktop settings or if you removed one you may have affected an other in case you were crossing desktop specific packages. 5 Check your autostart folders for crap you can remove. All very good suggestions...but I usually just get fed up looking before I find the problem, and just go for broke. It seems much easier to just re-apply my preferences than to continue digging. But it is a little like using a shot-gun rather than a scalpel. The user has been deleted after making a copy of his home directory. A user of the same name has been added back, with a different password and can be logged in. I'm restoring things a little at the time from the backup. Firefox, Icedove, Smalltalk, and GitHub are working as before. Documents directory is restored. Now I'm wondering what all that other stuff is good for Are the config files in one place or are they scattered? When the backup was made, only root could be logged in. The backup was made with "cp -r " which changed all owners and groups to root. The backup would have been better made with "cp -ra " I think. Thanks, Michael and GiaThnYgeia. - Dan
Re: User Can Not Log In
On 02/23/2017 04:16 PM, GiaThnYgeia wrote: Michael Milliman: On 02/23/2017 10:47 AM, Dan Norton wrote: While playing around with Xfce, startx, and fvwm I've managed to clobber something such that the user can't log in. All attempts result in a fresh login box with my inputs removed. However, it is still possible to log in as root. fvwm was installed using Synaptic and run from an Xfce terminal session. When it did not produce the expected result, I shut down and rebooted. At this point it was no longer possible to log in as user - only as root. Do I have to rename /home/, delete , then re-define it as a new user and restore its home directory? Or is there a better way? It should be possible to do some serious research and figure out exactly which package is croaking, and why, and then edit the configuration file for that package in /home/. But in my experience with similar situations, this takes much more time than it is worth. I have found that usually just deleting the configuration files in /home/ will work. This is probably easier than the solution that you propose, but your solution should work as well, as long as you don't copy back the configuration files when you do the restore. Encouraged by the previous brave response, I have done similar hacks in the past. 1 One thing I look at is date ordered of @home/ directory. See what was last edited and reconfigured, most probably is the culprit. With some packages renaming that directory in the home folder as something else temporary (ie home/gnubg --> home/gnubg.tmp may result into a login and when you run gnubg it will act as started for first time -- not a good example I am afraid). 1.1 It may be more than one thing gone bad. 2 Create a new user, copy config files that you don't suspect are related to the problem and then go one at a time with the rest. 3 See if the file and directory rights are still in tact in your #home, maybe you locked yourself out. Root should always have the right to set a new password for a user. 4 Are you switching between desktops, do you have an alternative (openbox .. gnome .. mate ..etc). Did you try a different desktop? It may relate to desktop settings or if you removed one you may have affected an other in case you were crossing desktop specific packages. 5 Check your autostart folders for crap you can remove. All very good suggestions...but I usually just get fed up looking before I find the problem, and just go for broke. It seems much easier to just re-apply my preferences than to continue digging. But it is a little like using a shot-gun rather than a scalpel. Thanks, - Dan -- 73's de Mike, WB5VQX
Re: User Can Not Log In
Michael Milliman: > On 02/23/2017 10:47 AM, Dan Norton wrote: >> While playing around with Xfce, startx, and fvwm I've managed to >> clobber something such that the user can't log in. All attempts result >> in a fresh login box with my inputs removed. However, it is still >> possible to log in as root. >> fvwm was installed using Synaptic and run from an Xfce terminal >> session. When it did not produce the expected result, I shut down and >> rebooted. At this point it was no longer possible to log in as user - >> only as root. >> >> Do I have to rename /home/, delete , then re-define it as >> a new user and restore its home directory? >> Or is there a better way? > It should be possible to do some serious research and figure out exactly > which package is croaking, and why, and then edit the configuration file > for that package in /home/. But in my experience with similar > situations, this takes much more time than it is worth. I have found > that usually just deleting the configuration files in /home/ will > work. This is probably easier than the solution that you propose, but > your solution should work as well, as long as you don't copy back the > configuration files when you do the restore. Encouraged by the previous brave response, I have done similar hacks in the past. 1 One thing I look at is date ordered of @home/ directory. See what was last edited and reconfigured, most probably is the culprit. With some packages renaming that directory in the home folder as something else temporary (ie home/gnubg --> home/gnubg.tmp may result into a login and when you run gnubg it will act as started for first time -- not a good example I am afraid). 1.1 It may be more than one thing gone bad. 2 Create a new user, copy config files that you don't suspect are related to the problem and then go one at a time with the rest. 3 See if the file and directory rights are still in tact in your #home, maybe you locked yourself out. Root should always have the right to set a new password for a user. 4 Are you switching between desktops, do you have an alternative (openbox .. gnome .. mate ..etc). Did you try a different desktop? It may relate to desktop settings or if you removed one you may have affected an other in case you were crossing desktop specific packages. 5 Check your autostart folders for crap you can remove. >> Thanks, >> - Dan > -- "The most violent element in society is ignorance" rEG
Re: User Can Not Log In
On 02/23/2017 10:47 AM, Dan Norton wrote: While playing around with Xfce, startx, and fvwm I've managed to clobber something such that the user can't log in. All attempts result in a fresh login box with my inputs removed. However, it is still possible to log in as root. I've tried passwd to no avail. I've tried editing /etc/shadow and removing everything between the first two : (expecting to log in with a blank or no password) to no avail. To get to this point, I used Xfce on: #1 SMP Debian 3.16.39-1 (2016-12-30) fvwm was installed using Synaptic and run from an Xfce terminal session. When it did not produce the expected result, I shut down and rebooted. At this point it was no longer possible to log in as user - only as root. Do I have to rename /home/, delete , then re-define it as a new user and restore its home directory? Or is there a better way? It should be possible to do some serious research and figure out exactly which package is croaking, and why, and then edit the configuration file for that package in /home/. But in my experience with similar situations, this takes much more time than it is worth. I have found that usually just deleting the configuration files in /home/ will work. This is probably easier than the solution that you propose, but your solution should work as well, as long as you don't copy back the configuration files when you do the restore. Thanks, - Dan -- 73's de Mike, WB5VQX
User Can Not Log In
While playing around with Xfce, startx, and fvwm I've managed to clobber something such that the user can't log in. All attempts result in a fresh login box with my inputs removed. However, it is still possible to log in as root.I've tried passwd to no avail.I've tried editing /etc/shadow and removing everything between the first two : (expecting to log in with a blank or no password) to no avail.To get to this point, I used Xfce on:#1 SMP Debian 3.16.39-1 (2016-12-30)fvwm was installed using Synaptic and run from an Xfce terminal session. When it did not produce the expected result, I shut down and rebooted. At this point it was no longer possible to log in as user - only as root.Do I have to rename /home/, delete , then re-define it as a new user and restore its home directory?Or is there a better way?Thanks, - Dan
