Hi- new to this forum. Have found some older posts on auto login, but nothing very current. As I am the only user of this computer, I like to have auto login set. It worked fine until I did a DVD upgrade to openSUSE 12.3. Now I can’t get it to auto login anymore. I checked /etc/sysconfig/displaymanager and uncommented the lines for autologin in /usr/share/kde4/config/kdm/kdmrc.rpmnew, as there was only a kdmrc.old in that folder. I also tried making a copy of the ksmrc.old and renaming it just kdmrc, but that didn’t work either. When I change the auto login checkbox in Yast, it changes the information in these files, but still won’t work. Using KDE 4.10.3 release 563. Have seen this error in a couple of the log files that looks like it might happen about login time: xdm[830]: gkr-pam: error looking up user information. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.
go to yast ==>sysconfig
Set Desktop/Displaymanager/DISPLAYMANAGER_AUTOLOGIN = <username> in smallcase
On 2013-06-12 07:36, jcl00 wrote:
> /etc/sysconfig/displaymanager and uncommented the lines for autologin in
> /usr/share/kde4/config/kdm/kdmrc.rpmnew,
*.rpmnew are not used, they are copies.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)
vazhavandan wrote
go to yast ==>sysconfig
Set Desktop/Displaymanager/DISPLAYMANAGER_AUTOLOGIN = <username> in smallcase
vazhavandan, thanks for the tip, but have already done that. As I said in the first post, it looks like these files do actually get changed, because after changing the auto login information in Yast, either by your instructions or going to user and group management/expert options, it shows up in the displaymanager and kdmrc files, but still no auto login. Since I’m using KDE, should I be seeing any error messages about Gnome key ring/pam? Don’t really know what files are used when auto login is trying to authenticate the user being logged in automatically. Have looked at log files, and don’t see anything about an login error other than what I posted about gkr-pam.
On 06/13/2013 07:16 AM, jcl00 wrote:
>
> thanks for the tip, but have already done that. As I said
> in the first post . . .
the following (which you also said in your first post) is is the key
to unlocking your problem (you wrote):
“It worked fine until I did a DVD upgrade to openSUSE 12.3.”
i don’t exactly how you did that upgrade, but something got screwed
up–and, it got pretty badly messed up!! (because the relevant config
files are set to do an auto-install, but the system is not)
so, lets start with you telling exactly what you did (then maybe
someone can figure out what got smashed during the ‘upgrade’–which
is the FIRST step in repair)
-what was the operating system and version which you upgraded from?
-which of these three recommended and supported methods of upgrade
did you follow?
-once you selected the method you wanted, did you follow the guide
completely, performing all steps in the order they were given and
without skipping any steps? (explain all variations from the
written directions of the method selected)
-or, did you create your own method? (please explain the steps you took)
On 2013-06-13 08:00, dd wrote:
> On 06/13/2013 07:16 AM, jcl00 wrote:
>>
>> thanks for the tip, but have already done that. As I said
>> in the first post . . .
>
> the following (which you also said in your first post) is is the key to
> unlocking your problem (you wrote):
>
> “It worked fine until I did a DVD upgrade to openSUSE 12.3.”
This procedure (offline upgrade method), if done right, can repair some
disastrous installations. But it has to be done right.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)
DenverD, you could very well be right. I went from openSUSE 12.1 to 12.3 (which from what I read isn’t recommended), but read quite a few posts in forums that it was done without problems. Haven’t had any problems with anything else that I have noticed. For the most part I followed #2 in your post. I disabled all the 12.1 repositories, then added the 12.3 OSS, Non Oss, and Update repositories, but did so with Yast, not zypper. I checked the password and group files as in the install instructions, and it did make corrections to the group file, don’t remember which one, but it couldn’t find a certain folder, so I added it, then it was happy. I also checked the fstab file to make sure the partitions were not by kernel device name. I then chose upgrade from the DVD and followed prompts from there. Everything seemed to go fine. Don’t recall any error messages. Added the other repositories, packman, etc., after the install was done, then installed the newer versions of the programs I originally had, along with the KDE 4.10 updates from that repository. I can log in fine, and have no other user issues that I know of, just can’t get the auto login to work. OpenSUSE 12.1 was working fine, just was reaching the end of life. I realize this auto login thing is not really a big deal as I am probably better off without it, but it is nice to have things working the way they are supposed to.
On 06/14/2013 04:46 AM, jcl00 wrote:
> it is nice to have
> things working the way they are supposed to.
yep…
suggest you have a really good look at the 3rd way listed
(http://tinyurl.com/7l4m2td) to upgrade, and read again
Carlos’ hint in this thread “(offline upgrade method), if done right,
can repair some disastrous installations. But it has to be done right.”
he is the author of that offline upgrade method and if you look at it
you’ll see several steps to take after the DVD installer has
(apparently) finished its work…see section 7 “After the upgrade”
but, remembering you have NO problems other than the convenience of
an auto login (which some would never use anyway) does not work,
and “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!” i add: read my sig caveat
prior to fixin’ your auto login…
(maybe a good backup and then give it a whirl…and, provide feedback
to the method’s author…it was written prior to some pretty big
changes between 12.1 and 12.3 [like: grub2, UEFI, systemd, plymouth,
and ??] to openSUSE, which may cause needs to make changes to the
methods)
On 2013-06-14 04:46, jcl00 wrote:
>
> DenverD, you could very well be right. I went from openSUSE 12.1 to 12.3
> (which from what I read isn’t recommended), but read quite a few posts
> in forums that it was done without problems. Haven’t had any problems
> with anything else that I have noticed. For the most part I followed #2
> in your post. I disabled all the 12.1 repositories, then added the 12.3
> OSS, Non Oss, and Update repositories, but did so with Yast, not zypper.
> I checked the password and group files as in the install instructions,
> and it did make corrections to the group file, don’t remember which one,
> but it couldn’t find a certain folder, so I added it, then it was happy.
> I also checked the fstab file to make sure the partitions were not by
> kernel device name.
You upgraded with YaST at this stage? I’m not sure if that works, if it
is what I suppose you did.
> I then chose upgrade from the DVD and followed
> prompts from there.
Notice that the DVD upgrade method disables (deletes, actually) all
active repositories before continuing. If you re-activate them inside
the procedure (it is possible), the procedure often fails miserably,
results in corrupted system.
I know that because I did it recently. Had to repair using “clean” DVD
upgrade, ie, no repos.
> Everything seemed to go fine. Don’t recall any error
> messages.
No, you get the errors later, when things do not work. My syslog was not
working, X was off… lots of things. Systemd was half working… And
could not investigate with no logs.
Look for red colored packages in yast.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)
On 2013-06-14 07:08, dd wrote:
> he is the author of that offline upgrade method and if you look at it
> you’ll see several steps to take after the DVD installer has
> (apparently) finished its work…see section 7 “After the upgrade”
Thanks, but, huh, I did not invent the procedure, I merely wrote that
docu 
The procedure has been there roughly a decade or more… (previously it
was yast1). Zypper dup is better known nowdays.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)
On 2013-06-14 07:08, dd wrote:
> it was written prior to some pretty big changes between 12.1 and 12.3
> [like: grub2, UEFI, systemd, plymouth, and ??] to openSUSE, which may
> cause needs to make changes to the methods)
It is still valid, with new quirks. UEFI I can not document: the upgrade
does not change neither that (it does not format partitions) not change
grub. I do not recommend changing to grub2 either: let it use the same
config, then after system works you select change to grub2 in the yast
boot module. The upgrade procedure has no boot module, in any case.
Plymouth is activated automatically, but I remove it. Systemd you need,
no way ducking it out for 12.3, systemv is on the go, like it or not.
Better swallow the pill and contribute bug reports 
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)
Well, feel kind of foolish now. The whole problem was that KDM was not even installed. Guess I just assumed that beings every thing was set to use it, it was there. Lesson learned- never assume anything. Not a total loss though. Checked out the 3rd way to upgrade. Did find some of the config files that needed attention. Made apper not work anymore, but got that back, was the /etc/postfix/main.cf file being changed to the new one. But really wonder why I didn’t see anything in any logs to suggest that KDM wasn’t loading. Might have just missed it I guess. And robin_listas, the only thing I did with Yast while upgrading was to disable the old 12.1 repositories and add the new 12.3 ones, then used the DVD to upgrade. Anyway, thank you all for the help. Hopefully this will help someone else with the same problem.
On 06/17/2013 05:36 AM, jcl00 wrote:
> KDM was not even installed. . . wonder why I didn’t see anything
> in any logs to suggest that KDM wasn’t loading.
i guess if KDM was not installed then there would be no script
initiating its startup/loading…and, so then there would be no
failure to load KDM, and no log entry of that fail, right?
what i wonder is how the system came to be with no KDM installed?
–
dd
On 2013-06-17 07:40, dd wrote:
> On 06/17/2013 05:36 AM, jcl00 wrote:
>> KDM was not even installed. . . wonder why I didn’t see anything
>> in any logs to suggest that KDM wasn’t loading.
>
> i guess if KDM was not installed then there would be no script
> initiating its startup/loading…and, so then there would be no failure
> to load KDM, and no log entry of that fail, right?
Right.
But I wonder how he did login at all. GDM, perhaps.
> what i wonder is how the system came to be with no KDM installed?
Indeed… but individual packages fail to install, now and then.
By the way, if you change the repos in the old system to the new repos
before doing the upgrade, with at least the DVD upgrade method they are
ignored. ALL repos get disabled in the procedure. You can toggle them
active, manually, inside the procedure. I did, and it was a total
failure, failed upgrade, horrible result. All kinds of failures,
starting with syslog not working, so no diagnosis possible.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)
Did the upgrade the same on the computer I use at work. Checked it today, no KDM. Didn’t try to enable auto login on that one. The xconsole started after login on both computers, so maybe was using xdm? Maybe the xconsole should of been a clue to me that something wasn’t right, but never had a problem like this before, and each new version of openSUSE has new features so… To be perfectly honest, (and being an old fart that can’t remember anything), I can’t remember for sure, but I think the DVD install did disable all repositories and installed everything from the DVD. But seems like it added the OSS, NON-OSS, and Update ones. Believe after it was done I checked for updates and installed them. But was a while ago, and like I said don’t remember for sure.
On 06/18/2013 07:06 AM, jcl00 wrote:
> Checked it today, no KDM.
then because “Garbage in garbage out” remains true, one (or more) of
these things must be true:
- both machines contain a faulty install, because (one or more):
a. not using iso from http://software.opensuse.org/123/en
(maybe used a custom iso from SUSE Studio, OBS, DVD from magazine, or
other?)
b. iso from http://software.opensuse.org/123/en used but corrupted
and not verified as ok by checksum
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Download_help#Checksums prior
to creating install media
c. created install media not booted from and self-checked by
selecting “Check Installation Media” as seen here
http://tinyurl.com/makp4pm
- during install:
a. did not select to install KDE during the Desktop Selection of the
install process–instead some other option was selected and a
non-standard install without KDE was the installer’s election. see
the slide above and verbiage of step six of this installation review:
http://doc.opensuse.org/documentation/html/openSUSE/opensuse-startup/art.osuse.installquick.html#sec.osuse.installquick.install
b. errors were reported during the install
otherwise: if like all the other thousands and thousands who had KDM
installed automatically, then you would have had KDM on both installs
also.
so “what went wrong that affected only your two machines?” must be
asked…
On 2013-06-18 07:06, jcl00 wrote:
>
> Did the upgrade the same on the computer I use at work. Checked it
> today, no KDM. Didn’t try to enable auto login on that one. The xconsole
> started after login on both computers, so maybe was using xdm? Maybe the
> xconsole should of been a clue to me that something wasn’t right, but
> never had a problem like this before, and each new version of openSUSE
> has new features so… To be perfectly honest, (and being an old fart
> that can’t remember anything), I can’t remember for sure, but I think
> the DVD install did disable all repositories and installed everything
> from the DVD. But seems like it added the OSS, NON-OSS, and Update ones.
> Believe after it was done I checked for updates and installed them. But
> was a while ago, and like I said don’t remember for sure.
The DVD upgrade disables all existing repositories. Actually they are
deleted; and when it finishes, leaves the system with a default set of
official repositories, unused.
Why you were left with no KDM, I can not guess. Maybe because you were
left with the failsafe for some reason.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)
[QUOTE=DenverD;2565628]On 06/18/2013 07:06 AM, jcl00 wrote:
> Checked it today, no KDM.
then because “Garbage in garbage out” remains true, one (or more) of
these things must be true:
- both machines contain a faulty install, because (one or more):
a. not using iso from http://software.opensuse.org/123/en
(maybe used a custom iso from SUSE Studio, OBS, DVD from magazine, or
other?)
Yes, I did download from that site.
b. iso from http://software.opensuse.org/123/en used but corrupted
and not verified as ok by checksum
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Download_help#Checksums prior
to creating install media
Yes, always do the checksum test.
c. created install media not booted from and self-checked by
selecting “Check Installation Media” as seen here
http://tinyurl.com/makp4pm
No, did not do the installation media check.
- during install:
a. did not select to install KDE during the Desktop Selection of the
install process–instead some other option was selected and a
non-standard install without KDE was the installer’s election. see
the slide above and verbiage of step six of this installation review:
http://doc.opensuse.org/documentation/html/openSUSE/opensuse-startup/art.osuse.installquick.html#sec.osuse.installquick.install
Yes, did select KDE.
b. errors were reported during the install
Non that I remember.
otherwise: if like all the other thousands and thousands who had KDM
installed automatically, then you would have had KDM on both installs
also.
so “what went wrong that affected only your two machines?” must be
asked…
Good question. Most likely somewhere during the installation I did something wrong. Also, both of the computers had openSUSE 12.1 installed from the same DVD. Would be next to impossible to try to duplicate to see where I went wrong. Would think you would have to have the same updates and everything to duplicate.
Follow these steps.
- Click that green Suse “start” button, and type in user management into the search box, and select it or you can launch YaST, click Security and Users, and then click User Management.
- Click the Expert Options drop-down button, and select Login Settings.
- Now you can check or uncheck the Auto Login checkbox, and choose the user that you want to automatically login.
For security reasons you might want to disable this option when users become many.
There is this post about auto login software here What is the best freeware auto login software? | Techyv.com