Cannot login after choosing different desktop

English Install/Boot/Login
1

I am using 12.1 (though writing this from Windows) , and am set for autologin, and due to a hardware issue i began experimenting with different desktops than the KDE default (there were many to choose from that i did not add myself), and which was helpful, but in further experimentation i tried a desktop that i had not tried before, and i forget its name (it was in the bottom part of the list), but it never loaded, and now i cannot even get to the login screen. I will go thru booting to a certain point and then hang.

I tried fail safe at the boot screen but it doe the same. Is there something i can change that will reset this (so i can get to the login screen) by using a live CD? Thanks

2

On 2012-05-14 15:26, Acts1036 wrote:
> I tried fail safe at the boot screen but it doe the same. Is there
> something i can change that will reset this (so i can get to the login
> screen) by using a live CD? Thanks

IF the problem is disabling autologin, then edit
“/etc/sysconfig/displaymanager”, key DISPLAYMANAGER_AUTOLOGIN="".

Boot to runlevel 3, login as root, use joe as editor.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)

3

Thanks. Will try, which would enable me to revert back to a usable desktop, but as the real problem is that the desktop i choose will not load, thus i would think that it should be possible to edit whatever file determines what desktop loads, rather than simply disabling autologin as a new user to do that.

4

No, because when you disabled that stupid autologin, then you get a login screen where you can choose which desktop you want. And I assume you then will choose one of the others :wink:

5

[QUOTE=Acts1036;2462549 “snip”… thus i would think that it should be possible to edit whatever file determines what desktop loads, rather than simply disabling autologin as a new user to do that.[/QUOTE]

There is: ~/.dmrc, here’s mine:


knurpht@laptop:~> more .dmrc
[Desktop]
Session=kde-plasma

Now to find out what the valid options are.

6

If you initially installed KDE, then your are probably using “kdm” to manage the login.

That will use the file “.dmrc” in your home directory. If you delete that file, you should get back to the system default which is probably KDE.

You will need to be able to access the file system, which might require booting to rescue mode and then mounting the needed partition.

7

Using a special boot should nnot be needed. Use Ctrl-Alt-F1 when you are the situation whwre you can not login. That hould work.

If not, type a 3 in the GRUB field and boot into runlevel 3.

8

Thanks to all of you for the solutions. I went right to work on this after Post #3 and did not see the rest, and found that due to a previous attempt it booted to a command prompt where it asked for my pword, and then just offered me another line. I had read somewhere else to type yast and change the user pref. to make it login, which i also did for another user i had made, but the next reboot just ended up at the previous command prompt. I did not know what to type to get it to boot to the desktop (help did not offer any). So reinstalled OS, and then i was able to boot to the login screen and chose the KDE plasma, but as it did not format my home folder then i still had my preferences etc. which is very good. Looks like i just need to reinstall my printer and get R/W privileges to my NTFS drives (which were not plugged in when i install OS). Which will be another thread for this junior novice.

I believe the desktop i had tried which caused the issue was called metacity, and after this install a message said that would no longer be available.

The different options are good to know. The .dmrc folder must have been changed during the reinstall.

9

Good you got it fixed but you did do it the hard way, also known as the Microsoft method LOL

If you plan to play with additional desktops and other users do NOT use autologin.

10

Indeed. That was due to a usb headset issue in which they would work under one Dt but not the other. And i sure have done the “Microsoft method” thru the years, though overall i have had few problems under XP and forward.