lightdmUbuntugetsstuckinaloginloopAskUbuntu

Developer

Design

Discourse

Hardware

Insights

Juju

Shop

More

signup

AskUbuntuisaquestionandanswersiteforUbuntuusersanddevelopers.It's100%free,noregistrationrequired.

login

Ask!

Community

Ubuntu

4/30/2015

tour

help

Takethe2minutetour

Ubuntugetsstuckinaloginloop
Myproblem:AsyoucanguessmyUbuntuisstuckinaloginloopwhentryingtoentermydesktop.WhenIlogin,thescreengetsblackand
soonafterthattheloginscreencomesback.I'maUbuntunewbiesoifthere'sanyanswerpleaseexplaininasimpleunderstandable
language.
I'vealreadyreadthattheproblemmightbecausedbyanerrordependingonthegraphics,soIpostmygraphicscard:ATIRadeon7670M

login

lightdm

loginscreen

editedApr25at10:14

askedNov29'12at16:57

minerz029
9,394

CalvinWahlers

26

62

428

6 Lookin~/.xsessionerrorstheremightbeacluethere.offby1Apr21'12at23:09
Checkoutmyanswerintheend.SiddharthaRTNov29'12at22:55
@CalvinWahlersSinceyouinstalledQuantal,youcouldn'tstartthesystemcorrectly?Haveyouinstalled
driverssome?CouldyouconnectfromsomeTTY(Ctrl+Alt+F1..F6)withanyuser?LucioNov30'12at
2:13
no,itworkedfinforIthinkmonth...Butsuddenlythathappened CalvinWahlers Nov30'12at12:45
seemsthatIcan'tpostananswer.Ihadasimilarproblemandaftertryingallworkaroundsmentionedhere
withnosuccess,Ifoundthatmysessionswheremessedupin/usr/share/xsessions.Movedallfilesthere
tomy/homedir(tohaveacopy)andtriedtologinusingkdm(IuseKubuntu).Toselectkdmaslogin
screen,Iexecuted sudodpkgreconfigurelightdm andselectedkdm.Withkdmyoucanselecta
previoussessionoradefaultone.Thiswasthewaytogo.IvanFerrerVillaFeb12'14at21:40

17Answers

Press

Ctrl

Alt

F3

andloginintotheshell.

Nowrun lslah .Ifintheoutputtheline

rw1rootroot53Nov2910:19.Xauthority

thenyouneedtodo chownusername:username.Xauthority andtryloggingin.

Else,do lsld/tmp .Checkforthefirst10lettersintheleft:theyshouldreadexactlyso:
drwxrwxrwt .
drwxrwxrwt15rootroot4096Nov3004:17/tmp

Else,youneedtodo sudochmoda+wt/tmp andcheckagain.

Ifnotboth,I'drecommendyoueither
1. dpkgreconfigurelightdm
2. oruninstall,reinstallit.
Nowpress

Alt

>

untilyoureachtheloginscreenagain,andrestart.

editedApr19'13at5:41

answeredNov29'12at23:01

RaduRdeanu
54.9k

17

106

SiddharthaRT
193

1,714

14

4 I'vesameproblem,chownusername:username.Xauthorityhelped.But,anyonehasanexplanation?
ts01Jan23'13at8:41
@ts01Ithinkmyproblemwas"gdmsessionworkercrashedwithSIGSEGVinact_user_is_loaded()"
ElzoValugiFeb11'13at17:13
2 Iactuallyevenhadtoremovemy.Xauthorityforthingstowork.Forsomereasons,noneoftheabove
solvedmyproblem.jlengrandOct15'13at8:51
1 Thiswasexactlymyproblem.Couldn'tthedevsthinkofsomethingsimplelikepoppingup"Permission
deniedwhileattemptingtoedit/home/username/.Xauthority.Ensureusernamehasread/write
permissions."?Thiscouldhavesavedthe41000peoplewhohaveviewedthisquestionsofarsomehuge

http://askubuntu.com/questions/223501/ubuntugetsstuckinaloginloop

1/7

4/30/2015

lightdmUbuntugetsstuckinaloginloopAskUbuntu

headaches.MikeDec22'13at6:18
2 +1AlthoughIhadtodothisforboth.Xauthorityand.ICEauthority AustJan17'14at16:00

Iencounteredthisexactproblemandnonofthesuggestedfixesaboveworkedforme.After
almostgivingupIlookedatthe .xsessionerrors andnoticedIhadatypoinmy .profile (Ihad
anextra } inthefileafterIediteditearlierintheday).
Thatwascausingtheloginloop.Itmightbeanotherplacetolookiftheothersuggestedfixes
don'tworkforyou.
editedJan24'13at1:53

answeredJan24'13at1:19

EricCarvalho
18.7k

13

44

DanCundiff
77

181

1 Mysituationwasverysimilar.Ihadrecentlyaddedarunfunctionforrunningcommandsmultipletimesin
my.profileandthatfunction,thoughitworkedasadvertised,seemstohavebeenthecauseofmy
problem.Commentingitoutfixedit.pthurmondJun6'13at16:05
Thisworkedforme.MyPClostpowerduringanelectricalstormandsomehowIendedupwitha
extraneouslineattheendofmy.profile.Nocluehowitgotthere.Anyway,I'dsaythegeneralsolution
shouldjustbetocheck.xsessionerrorsandseewhatitsays.BrandonYates Jun7'13at15:57
1 Thisisagoodone!Ihitthesamelightdmloginloopproblem,spent30minstroubelshootingwithnoluck
(triedallpossibleworkaroundIcanfind).Turnedouttobeasyntaxerrorin ~/.profile causedby
rbenv . TerryWang Oct7'13at2:58
1 Thissolvedmyproblemfailinglinein~/.profileJoshuaNov9'13at1:39
+1Thanksformentioning .xsessionerrors AustJan17'14at15:59

Ihadanearlyidenticalproblemafewmonthsago.SwitchingintoaconsolefromtheLightDM
loginscreen(CtrlAltF1),logginginwithadministrativeusernameandpassword,andenteringthe
followingcommandsresolvedtheissue:
sudomv~/.Xauthority~/.Xauthority.backup
sudoservicelightdmrestart

answeredAug28'12at15:53
mblasco
939

10

,ThanksIjusttypethesecondcommandItsolvedmyproblembutwhatthiscommandwilldowillyouplz
elaborateali786Aug6'14at10:25
Thiscommandrenames".Xauthority",whichisafilethatstorescredentialsusedforauthenticationofX
sessions(basicallyacookie),to".Xauthority.backup".Renamingthisfilecausesxauthtocreateanew
".Xauthority"file,therebyreauthenticating.mblascoAug11'14at13:53

Facedthesameproblemtoday.
Thecausewasabitstrangetome. xubuntudesktop wasremoved,sowas ubuntudesktop .
LightDMexitedwithnoerrormessage.TriedlxdmandwhenItriedtologin,itpoppedupa
messagesayingXubuntucouldnotbefound.
Reinstalled xubuntudesktop andit'sfixednow.Think aptgetautoremove removedthepackage.
editedJan29'13at11:22

answeredJan29'13at10:51

EricCarvalho
18.7k

13

44

sooth
77

61

YoumightbehavingproblemswithLightDM,theloginmanagerthatcomesinUbuntubydefault.
In12.04itusedtodothesameproblemyouaredescribing.
YoucaninstallGDM,analternativeloginmanager,togetaroundthis:
Attheloginscreen,pressandhold Ctrl + Alt +
loginherewithyourusernameandpassword.

F2

togototheterminal.Don'tbeafraid!Just

Then,type sudoaptgetinstallgdm .Letitinstallandtype sudodpkgreconfiguregdm andfollow

thepromptstosetitasyourloginmanager.
Press Ctrl + Alt + F7 togetbacktotheloginscreenwhichshouldnowlookdifferent.Does
logginginwork?Ifitdoes,yourproblemissolved!

http://askubuntu.com/questions/223501/ubuntugetsstuckinaloginloop

2/7

4/30/2015

lightdmUbuntugetsstuckinaloginloopAskUbuntu

Ifitdoesn't,gobacktothefullscreenterminalandtype sudodpkgreconfigurelightdm toset

LigthDMasyouloginmanageragain.Nowyouknowthatthisisaproblemwithyourgraphics
driversforsure.
editedApr19'13at7:27

answeredNov29'12at17:27

RaduRdeanu
54.9k

17

WindowsEscapist

106

193

724

31

ok,IthinkI'mnotquitesuchanoob,Iknowhowtoenteraterminalthereandhowtologin:)AndIalready
haveinstalledgdm:doesn'twork.lightdm:doesn'twork.lxdm:doesn'twork... CalvinWahlers Nov29
'12at17:53
OK.YoudefinitelyhaveagraphicsproblemthenLightDMcansometimesmirrortheproblemsyou're
describing(itmighthelpifyousaidhowlongthedelayis).SorryIcouldn'thelp.WindowsEscapistNov29
'12at19:12
Delaymeansthetimebetweenhavingenteredanappearingagain? CalvinWahlers Nov29'12at21:52
Right.Itislikeacoupleseconds,ormorelike30,etc.Ican'thelpyouwithgraphicsissuesbutI'msure
thereissomeoneherethatcan.Goodluck!WindowsEscapistNov29'12at22:56

YesIcausedaLoginLooponmymainUbuntu12.10userandthefixwassimple.
Background:Ubuntu12.10isinstalledinVirtualBoxrunningonWindows7andusesUnity.
Cause:FromtheDesktopI Ctrl + Alt + T intoterminalmodeandthentriedtorun'startx'(I
wastryingtohelpafriendoverthephonelateatnight...butthiswasastupidthingtodo).Anew
blankUnitydesktopappearedandeverythinghung...
Problem:
ForcingVirtualBoxtocloseandthenrebootingUbuntuIgottotheloginscreenbutkeptlooping
backtothissamescreeneverytimeafterenteringthepassword.Noerrorsweredisplayed.I
couldloginasGuestbutIhadnoSudorightsandthusnocontrol...Howeveronceloggedinas
GuestI Ctrl + Alt + F3 andgottoaterminallogin.
Ienteredmymainusernameandpasswordandloggedinwithcommandmode.Logouttookme
backtoCLIloginand Ctrl + Alt + F7 tookmebacktoGuestdesktop.Somyaccountstill
worked.Ithenaddedatestuserandgavethemsudorights.FromtheUnityloginIcouldlogin
andlogoutTestuserwithnoproblem.SoUnitystillworked.
Fix:SomymainaccountwasstillaccessableviaCLIandUnitywasworkingforallother
accounts.Thisindicatedaconfiguationproblemonmymainaccount.Ifollowedtheadviceof
SiddharthaRTatthetopofthispostanddid chownusername:username.Xauthority .Thisfixedmy
problem.Thanks!!
editedJun21'13at6:59

answeredMar9'13at12:36

Nickolas
1,585

Dig

I'vepressed
command:

Ctrl

27

Alt

51

F3

andloggedintotheshell.Afterwardswiththis

chownusername:username.Xauthority

Where username ismyloginname,I'vesolvedtheproblem.

editedApr16'13at9:46
BasharatSialvi
12k

33

answeredApr16'13at9:28
RaduRdeanu

57

54.9k

17

106

193

Ifoundmy /tmp filechmodsettingswerenotcorrect.Itwaschmodtorootonly.Thiswasmy

ownmistake.Iforgotthatadayearlier,Ideletedthe /tmp folderwith sudo rightsandafter
recreatedthefolderagainwith sudomkdirtmp .Bigmistake.Icreateda/tmpfolderwithroot
permissionsonly.
Inthe ~/.Xsessionerrors fileIcouldseethatx11wasnotabletowriteafilein /tmp .After
executethesecommandsfromtherootaccount(or Alt + Ctrl + f1 )inwelcomescreenand
usetheproblemaccountcredentialstologin)Isolvedtheproblem:
sudochmod1777/tmp
sudochownroot.root/tmp

Afterthese,IwasabletologintoUnityagainwiththenormalaccountagain.Soifyouhave,what
lookslikea .Xauthority problem,youcouldtrythisifnothingelseworks.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/223501/ubuntugetsstuckinaloginloop

3/7

4/30/2015

lightdmUbuntugetsstuckinaloginloopAskUbuntu

See:http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=868941
editedFeb22'14at13:54

answeredFeb22'14at13:24

Braiam
29k

Dirk

13

57

113

11

Yeah,press ALT + F3 .Youshouldbegivenanunixstyleloginprompt,soenteryour

usernameandpasswordthere.Fromthereyoushouldbegivenashell(aprogramthatallows
youtoentercommands,sortoflikewindows' cmd.exe ).Enterthesecommandsandpress
ENTER (or Return )afterwritingeachone(youwillhavetoenteryourpasswordwhenitshows
somethinglike [sudo]passwordforUSERNAME .Notethatthepasswordwillnotshowwhenyouare
typingit!):
sudoaptgetupdate
sudoaptgetydistupgrade
sudoaptgetyinstallfglrx

Thenrebootyourcomputerusingthiscommand:
sudoreboot

Seeifthisworks:)

Ifthisdoesnotwork,trygoingbacktothe3rdterminal(
command(pressing ENTER afteryouhavetypedit):

ALT

F3

),login,andenterthis

sudoaptgetyinstalllxdm

ThiswillshowaDOSlikedialogafterabit.If lxdm isnotselected,selectitbyusingthe UP

and DOWN arrowkeys,andpress ENTER toacceptthatselection.Thenrebootusingthe
samecommandasbefore( sudoreboot ).

Ifthisstilldoesn'twork,gobacktothe3rdterminal(
(sameprocedure):

ALT

F3

),login,andenterthiscommand

sudoaptgetyinstalllubuntudesktop

Thiswillinstallamuchlighterdesktopenvironmentwhichshouldworkfornow(shouldenable
youtologinanduseyourcomputer).Oncethatisdone,reboot( sudoreboot ),andwhenyouare
confrontedwiththeloginpage,selectthe Lubuntu environmentinsteadof Ubuntu .
editedNov29'12at17:19

answeredNov29'12at17:04
MiJyn
1,701

21

Thiswillnotwork.Xisrunningheiscrashingpostlogin(ithink).coteyrNov29'12at17:10
Iknow,thatisbecauseUnitycrashes.Probablybecause3Ddoesnotwork.TheLXDMsolutionisforusing
aslittle3DresourcesaspossiblesothatmoreresourcesarefreedforUnity.MiJynNov29'12at17:13
Isee,couldwork,Ihavenoideaiflightdmuses"3D"ornot.coteyrNov29'12at17:16
Ithinkitdoes...oratleastit'sseriously heavyweight.MiJynNov29'12at17:16
Iflightdmuses3Dthenshouldn'tittriggerthecrash,notafterithandscontroltounity?coteyrNov29'12
at17:18

Changetoanotherloginscreen.
Ctrl

Alt

F2

toopenaterminal.

Ctrl

Alt

F7

togobacktothegraphicmode.

Type sudodpkgreconfiguregdm
Inagraphicscreen,selectgdmandOK.
Type sudoreboot
editedApr19'13at7:27

answeredNov29'12at17:07

RaduRdeanu
54.9k

17

106

HoracioGalan
193

27

2 Idon'tthinkthisswillwork,heishavingproblemsaftergdm/lightdmcoteyrNov29'12at17:09

http://askubuntu.com/questions/223501/ubuntugetsstuckinaloginloop

4/7

4/30/2015

lightdmUbuntugetsstuckinaloginloopAskUbuntu

No,thelightDMloopdoesactuallyhappenlikethis(althoughitdependsonthelengthoftheblackscreen)
WindowsEscapistNov29'12at17:20
untilnow,nothingreallyhelps:(iselectedgdmbutnowthere'sonlytheubuntu12.10wallpaper,nothing
else CalvinWahlers Nov29'12at17:22
ProbablyIshouldaddthatthelasttimeIusedUbuntufirefoxtoldmetorestartit...itcrashed.LibreOffice
alsodid.ThenIrebootetandsincethatmomentyesterdayitdoesn'twork. CalvinWahlers Nov29'12
at18:29

IhadthesameproblemafterIupgradedto12.10.ThenIcameherefromGoogle.Icreated
anotheruserandIcouldlogin.
AsIdon'tuseUnity,Iuninstalledlighdm.Afterreboot,Icouldlogin.Youcantrythat.
Goodluck!
answeredJun3'13at15:57
JamesNi
1

IhadthesameproblemafteracleaninstallofUbuntu12.10(butreusingmyexistinghome
partition).Itriedalloftheotheranswers,butnoneworked.ButIfoundthecluetomyspecific
probleminthefile.xsessionerrorsinmyhomedirectory.
ThisishowIsolveditinmycase:
1. Hit

Ctrl

Alt

F1

toopenavirtualterminal.Thenloginwithusernameandpassword.

2. Openthefile ~/.xsessionerrors ifitexists(type cat~/.xsessionerrors ).Inmycase,this

filecontainedonesinglelinewithanerrormessage:
/usr/sbin/lightdmsession:27:.:Can'topen/usr/bin/byobulaunch
3. Now byobu isacommandlinetoolthatIuseandIhavenoideahowthatendedupina
systemfilesincethiswasrightafteracleaninstall.Byobuisnotinstalledbydefault,sothat
mightexplaintheerrorasitlooksforafile( /usr/bin/byobulaunch )thatdoesn'texist.Soin
mycaseIhadtoinstall byobu tofixtheproblem:
sudoaptgetinstallbyobu
4. Hit

Ctrl

Alt

F7

togobacktotheloginscreen,andloginworkedfinenow.

Ofcourseinyourcaseyoumightfindadifferenterrormessagein.xsessionerrors,which
requiresadifferentsolution.
editedJun21'13at6:59
Nickolas
1,585

answeredJan8'13at20:40
SerranoPereira

27

632

12

Yourdesktopenvironmentisfailingtostart(itsoundslike).Iwouldstartbytringtologinasa
differentuser.
Ctrl

Alt

F1

thenlogin

sudoaddusertesting

Oncetheuserhasbeenadded ctrl + alt + f7 andtrytologinastesting.Ifyoucanloginas

testingthenyourunity/gnomeconfigurationisborkedandshouldbereset.ThisQuestioncovers
it.Ipreferto mv~/.config~/.config.old .
editedJun21'13at7:41
Nickolas
1,585

answeredNov29'12at17:14
coteyr

27

6,037

15

41

Ican'tloginastesting... CalvinWahlers Nov29'12at17:30

Youcouldhavebadlibs,tryMiJyn'sanswer.Ifyoucangainaccessvialubuntuthenyouhavealibrary
issue.coteyrNov29'12at17:32

Thisisnotadirectanswertoyourcasebutitsmoreofageneralsolutiontologinloops.
Theproblemcouldbeassimpleasawrongcommandputintothe.profilefileinthehome
directory.(Sincethatfilegetloadedonlogon)

http://askubuntu.com/questions/223501/ubuntugetsstuckinaloginloop

5/7

4/30/2015

lightdmUbuntugetsstuckinaloginloopAskUbuntu

Toseeifthatisreallythecase,press
fileinyourhomedirectory

Ctrl

Alt

F1

,andlogin.Checkingthe.xsessionerrors

~/.xsessionerrors

Thisshouldgivesomecluesaboutsomeproblematiccommand.
answeredAug19'13at10:30
Nerrve
136

Ihavebeenexperiencingtheverysameproblemacoupleoftimeseveryweekandhavetried
mostofsolutionsgivenherebuttheonlywayIcanlogbackinisbyrestartinglightdm.
sudoservicelightdmrestart.
ThefunnythingisthatevenafterIrestratlightdm,itdoesnotloginonthefirstattemptbutonlyon
mysecondattempteventhoughIamenteringtherightpassword.Irealisedthisafewweeksago
andIhaveverifiedthisafewtimes,makingsurethatIamnotaccidentallykeyinginmy
passwordwrong.Iamnowcertainthatitdoesnotlogmeinthefirsttimeafterrestartinglightdm
butonlyonthesecondattempt!
answeredJul8'14at10:06
eshwar
144

13

TodayIgotaclueaboutmyproblem.Ihaveanexternalmonitorconnectedtomylaptop.WhenIgotinto
theloginloopIdecidedtosomehowgetitworkingwithrestartinglightdm.FromabugreportinlaunchpadI
gotanideathatitcouldbeduetosomeissueinrecognisingmyexternalmonitor.So,Idisconnectedthe
monitor,droppedtotty1andbackandtheloginworkedthefirsttime!NotthesecondtimelikewhenI
restartedlightdm.Thisisbetterbuttherehastobeasolutionwhichdoesnotrequirethis.eshwarJul18
'14at10:17

Iftheotherquestionsdonotleadtoasolution,mysuggestionistotrytofollowthesesteps:
1. LoginincharactermodewithaVC(VirtualConsole).Thatis,
username/passwordlogin.Let'scallthisuser original .

Ctrl

Alt

F1

andyour

2. Createanewuser.Youcanuseforexample:
addusernewusergroupsudo

toaddanewadministrativeuser(thatis,auserthatcando sudo ).
3. Trytologinas newuser .Ifitworks,younowthattheproblemisinthespecificsetupof
original user.Otherwise,stopreadingheretheproblemisatsystemlevelandyou'll
probablyneedtoreinstallsomethingofthegraphicstack.
4. Nowyoucantrytosearchwhathappened.Comparehiddenfilesin ~original and
~newuser andtrytofindmismatches.Especiallyyoushouldsearchforfilesnotownedby
you:
find.\!useroriginal

andfilesthatarenotwritabletoyou(therewillbemoreofthem,especiallyincaches):
find.\!permu=w

5. Youcanmovesuspiciousfilestoabackup( sudomvwhateverwhateverbackup )andtryto

loginagain.
6. Filesin /tmp and /var thatcanbesensibletothisproblemshouldbedeletedbyareboot
butsometimethereissomeremnantoverthere,too.
Asalastresort,youcanbackuptheimportantinfoof original (notallthehomedir!oryou'll
propagatetheproblem),anddeleteandrecreateit,althoughitisbettertobeabletofindwherethe
problemis.
answeredNov26'14at11:58
Rmano
13.3k

37

70

IhadaverysimilarissuewhereIcouldloginontheterminalbutnotonthedesktop,my
wallpaperfromtheprofilewasloadedduringlogin,butafterafewsecondsitjumpedbacktothe

http://askubuntu.com/questions/223501/ubuntugetsstuckinaloginloop

6/7

4/30/2015

lightdmUbuntugetsstuckinaloginloopAskUbuntu

loginscreen.Icheckedallfilepermissionsassuggested,theywerefine.Itriedwithouta
separatehomepartitionandwasabletologintothedesktop.AfterthatIcheckedthesettingsfor
theLUKSencryptedhomepartition,whichwerealsofine(thoughthereweresomeerror
messagesontheterminal,tellingmethattheencryptedvolumecouldnotbemounted,becauseit
wasalreadymounted).
ThenIlookedintodmesg,foundBTRFSerrorsrelatedtothefilesystemontheLUKSencrypted
homepartition(yep,I'mmixingLUKSandBTRFS),triedtoactuallywritetothefilesystemand
foundthatitgavemeI/Oerrors.SoIhadtorepairthefilesystemorcreateanewoneandrestore
frombackup.
Longstoryshort:Lookatdmesgandactuallytrytowritetothefilesystemthatseemstobe
writable.
answeredyesterday
LiveWireBT
9,757

29

62

protectedbyCommunity Jun26'13at13:55
Thankyouforyourinterestinthisquestion.Becauseithasattractedlowqualityanswers,postingananswernowrequires10reputationonthissite.
Wouldyouliketoansweroneoftheseunansweredquestions instead?

http://askubuntu.com/questions/223501/ubuntugetsstuckinaloginloop

7/7