mint19 lightdm fails
 

This was an "OEM" installation. How does one troubleshoot this? No manual entry for [/etc/lightdm/]lightdm.conf. I see no clues in dmesg. Searching 'lightdm FAQ' proved useless. I thought it might be https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=104993 fixed upstream last April not included in June Mint release or subsequent updates, but reenabling compositing doesn't fix it. Startx does work as expected (without compositing disabled). Restoring the original lightdm.conf works, but I don't want any autologin, and nothing happens when I select "configure the login window".

look for auto login on this page then open your config file then reverse the process for auto login by commenting it out using a terminal and your favorite terminal editor.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...ling_autologin

Reversing the process would technically involve reversing the installation process. Userdel didn't work because autologin in a normal boot has the user involved in a current process that respawns when killed. Userdel worked in multi-user boot, but lightdm apparently cannot cope with not having any autologin user configured. Commenting the autologin lines in lightdm.conf has the same effect as deleting those lines, as I tried before OP, which causes lightdm to fail to start. Aptitude does not find any such package accountservice. Looks like arch's lightdm docs are not appropriate for mint usage.

how so? it is called a config file for a reason. you say you have startx, keep it in that mode, login then
find the line where it states.
then comment it out.
is they are not uncommented then auto login will not work. as this is the effects that commenting out an instruction, or command has on it. remove yourself from the auto login group, delete it. it is not like that is going to make you any worse off then you already are. I'd stip it al lout of there.



if it is not working then install an different login manager, or remove that one, make sure its cofig is gone then reinstall it. if that still is an issue then go talk to the MINT linux people and give them a piece of your mind.

my Linux MINT does not have auto login so I do not know how this happened to you. as a matter of fact let me go jump in to that an seee what is going on with mine.

ha I mine is not using lxdm, mine is using
you can save yourself a head ache and install a different login manager.

How what so? It's not written to be directly reversible that I can grok.

It has a header line and 3 content autologin lines. Without the autologin lines, it crashes. With them commented, it crashes. With them as provided, it's stuck in autologin mode.

That's fine most of the time, but not for always.

crash/black screen (no login screen)

Expected, yes, but what happens is lightdm doesn't work at all.

stripping it causes crash.

I'd rather be sure what I should expect first. Maybe they already know it crashes. Maybe they expect everyone to use autologin. After all, Mint is supposed to be "easy" for Windows dweebs, right? All the more reason to figure out where the lightdm docs are squirreled away.

I'm waiting....

lxdm? lightdm here. Is yours an upgrade from 18.x or older rather than fresh 19 as mine is?

What file is that?

"Users & groups" settings never exits busy cursor, or reacts to its close button. "Settings" has no "Details" heading. "Session and Startup" has nothing that appears related to autologin. "Login Window" fails to open.

Purging lightdm and reinstalling it didn't help, even though the configuration settings in /etc/lightdm are entirely different: no lightdm.conf file, no lightdm.d directory, no lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf.d directory, plus a users.conf file with nothing about autologin in it:I've never used lightdm before that I can remember. One reason I installed Mint was to have something different. No derivative (Mint) of a derivative (*buntu) stands much chance of becoming a primary OS here. It's just a (broken) tool that puzzles me about why it seems so highly recommended and popular.

yeah, wait, I had my head screwed on backwards ,, I was thinking lxdm, sorry. that changes everything.



Mine is a fresh install, you might not have lxdm if you cannot find its conf file.

'cat /etc/linuxmint/info' for version info

'cat /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service' to find out what display manager you're really using.

https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/LightDM/

looking at and grep'ing my config files I am not coming up with anything in the files themselves. too many different confi files for my taste. btw, still how did yours get set up for auto login in the first place?

from what I can find on it, it is everyone wanting to know how to have auto login and not turn it off, and they are using a gui to do it with. found one, this here might help,

https://unix.stackexchange.com/quest...snt-possible-t
and
https://askubuntu.com/questions/2668...do-i-stop-this


https://gist.github.com/mdeguzis/9b2...e7cccd2120a562


http://www.freekb.net/Article?id=949

# cat /etc/os-release
NAME="Linux Mint"
VERSION="19 (Tara)"
ID=linuxmint
ID_LIKE=ubuntu
PRETTY_NAME="Linux Mint 19"
VERSION_ID="19"
HOME_URL="https://www.linuxmint.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://forums.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://linuxmint-troubleshooting-gui....io/en/latest/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.linuxmint.com/"
VERSION_CODENAME=tara
UBUNTU_CODENAME=bionic

# cat /etc/linuxmint/info
RELEASE=19
CODENAME=tara
EDITION="Xfce"
DESCRIPTION="Linux Mint 19 Tara"
DESKTOP=Gnome
TOOLKIT=GTK
NEW_FEATURES_URL=http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_tara_xfce_whatsnew.php
RELEASE_NOTES_URL=http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_tara_xfce.php
USER_GUIDE_URL=help:linuxmint
GRUB_TITLE=Linux Mint 19 Xfce

# ls -Gg /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service
lrwxrwxrwx 1 35 Nov 30 01:24 /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service -> /lib/systemd/system/lightdm.service

# cat /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service
[Unit]
Description=Light Display Manager
Documentation=man:lightdm(1)
Conflicts=getty@tty7.service plymouth-quit.service
After=systemd-user-sessions.service getty@tty7.service plymouth-quit.service

[Service]
# temporary safety check until all DMs are converted to correct
# display-manager.service symlink handling
ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c '[ "$(basename $(cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager 2>/dev/null))" = "lightdm" ]'
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/lightdm
Restart=always
BusName=org.freedesktop.DisplayManager

I just modded my post above, post #6, found some links that you might find helpful.

well I just lost my mint install, I plugged in some externals they were not getting recognized, so I rebooted, to see if they would on booting up, then inframs something something came up saying it can't find /root/dev and some other things, and well it crashed. so i got a go see if I can do an easy fix on it, or burn it.

this is in e16 not sinnamon.

As a result of purging lightdm, then reinstalling it and slick-greeter, I was able with the help of https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/LightDM to stop the crashing. I still haven't found a clue to how to make the greeter produce a list of specified users to choose from, like KDM has made easy since somewhere around the end of last century.

mine just adds the users as they are added to my system..

You mean all users over 500? That's not acceptable to me. I want to specify exactly which user(s).

hum.. that does pose a dilemma. You might want to look into other login managers, Mint is capable of using other than what you already have installed. Like KDM why not just install that one, seeings how you mentioned that you already knew how to use that one to do what it is you're looking for. You do not have to install KDE, they are separate.