[KDM] Login as root fine, normal user cannot login through KDM but can through tty

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21

Just did that, problem still persists.

OK, but both of those missed the hidden files…
Try “chown -R yourusername .*” as well.

I have just tried this and the problem still persists.

Is your standard user member of the “video” group?
I’m not sure if this has got anything to do with your issue, but I have read that advice a lot recently - just not in this thread, I think.
Since only graphic login is concerned limited to one specific user it may be worth checking that it is.

I’ve already added my regular user into the video' group. I don't know how that could help because my test user isn't even directly part of that group (the only group it is in is users’), yet the test user can login without problems.

EDIT: The test user also cannot login anymore. I get the following message when I try to do so:


Call to lnusertemp failed (temporary directories full?). Check your installation.

It’s worth noting that I used df -h to check the status of my root partition and it’s not even close to full. After this error message, I just get redirected back to KDM.

22

I’m having the same issue on a completely fresh installation of 12.3 on a Dell Inspiron E1505. Root can do whatever. User set up during installation cannot loging via KDM but can login at console. The only thing I did differently during installation was to uncheck “administrative” for my user and actually set a different root password. Normally, I just follow the installation defaults except that I uncheck “login automatically.” This system does not have anything weird or Nvidia.

23

This is going somewhere. Please use Yast - System - Sysconfigeditor, search for “CLEAR_TMP_DIRS_AT_BOOT” and set it to “yes”. Reboot and let us know if things change.

24

A rule: Never ever login on a desktop as root. Not even to try if it works. Not only are you exposing the system to the outside world, it can also bork your system.

25

But this isn’t used anymore with systemd.

You could try to clean out your tmp dirs manually:

sudo rm -r /tmp/*
sudo rm -r /var/tmp/*
26

On 06/02/2013 04:26 PM, Knurpht pecked at the keyboard and wrote:
> cjkeller1;2562074 Wrote:
>> I’m having the same issue on a completely fresh installation of 12.3 on
>> a Dell Inspiron E1505. Root can do whatever. User set up during
>> installation cannot loging via KDM but can login at console. The only
>> thing I did differently during installation was to uncheck
>> “administrative” for my user and actually set a different root password.
>> Normally, I just follow the installation defaults except that I uncheck
>> “login automatically.” This system does not have anything weird or
>> Nvidia.
> A rule: Never ever login on a desktop as root. Not even to try if it
> works. Not only are you exposing the system to the outside world, it can
> also bork your system.

Should read:

It is /highly/ recommended that you NOT login as the root user to an
installed system. If you do not have experience administering a
unix/linux based system you can potentially break the system, even to
the point of not being able to boot. And without the experience to
trouble shoot a non booting system it will force you to reinstall
possibly losing valuable installation settings as well as other valuable
data. Please use the tools available such as “sudo” or “su -” to
temporarily gain root privileges to perform system maintenance.
Remember that this is not MS windows and long established rules exist
for a reason.
If you need help this forum is an excellent place to ask.

Ken

27

On 2013-06-03 00:16, wolfi323 wrote:
>
> Knurpht;2562105 Wrote:
>> This is going somewhere. Please use Yast - System - Sysconfigeditor,
>> search for “CLEAR_TMP_DIRS_AT_BOOT” and set it to “yes”. Reboot and let
>> us know if things change.

> But this isn’t used anymore with systemd.

Right, it is setup in “/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/tmp.conf”, and perhaps more.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from oS 12.3 “Dartmouth” GM (rescate 1))

28

On 06/03/2013 02:35 AM, Ken Schneider wrote:
> On 06/02/2013 04:26 PM, Knurpht pecked at the keyboard and wrote:
>> cjkeller1;2562074 Wrote:
>>> I’m having the same issue on a completely fresh installation of
>>> 12.3 on
>>> a Dell Inspiron E1505. Root can do whatever. User set up during
>>> installation cannot loging via KDM but can login at console. The
>>> only
>>> thing I did differently during installation was to uncheck
>>> “administrative” for my user and actually set a different root
>>> password.
>>> Normally, I just follow the installation defaults except that I
>>> uncheck
>>> “login automatically.” This system does not have anything weird or
>>> Nvidia.
>> A rule: Never ever login on a desktop as root. Not even to try if it
>> works. Not only are you exposing the system to the outside world,
>> it can
>> also bork your system.
>
> Should read:
>
> It is /highly/ recommended that you NOT login as the root user to
> an installed system. If you do not have experience administering a
> unix/linux based system you can potentially break the system, even to
> the point of not being able to boot. And without the experience to
> trouble shoot a non booting system it will force you to reinstall
> possibly losing valuable installation settings as well as other
> valuable data. Please use the tools available such as “sudo” or “su
> -” to temporarily gain root privileges to perform system maintenance.
> Remember that this is not MS windows and long established rules exist
> for a reason.
> If you need help this forum is an excellent place to ask.
>
> Ken

Should read (imNsho):

you should never log into KDE/GNOME/LXDE/Xfce or any other *nix-like
system’s graphical user interface desktop environment as root…

doing so 1) opens you up to several different security problems if
you (for example) browse the net, 2) too many, far too easy ways to
damage your system no matter how careful your actions (for
example: cases of unintended change of ownership of some files from
user to root sometimes occurs which can preclude logging in as the
user), 3) anyway logging into KDE/etc as root is never required
to do any or all administrative duties, 4) and, not even logging in
as root just to see if it works as root is useful, because the “yes”
or “no” learned is almost always totally useless in finding the
problem giving the symptoms…while, logging into the GUI as root to
learn the yes/no could cause the next adverse symptom encountered.

so, always log in as yourself, and “become root” by using a root
powered application (like YaST, File Manager Superuser Mode) or using
“su -”, sudo, kdesu, gnomesu or xdg-su in a terminal to launch
whatever tool is needed (like KWrite or gedit to edit a config
file)…read more on all that here:

http://tinyurl.com/593e4c
http://tinyurl.com/ydbwssh
http://tinyurl.com/665h5ek
http://www.linfo.org/root.html
http://tinyurl.com/6ry6yd

additionally: after logging into KDE/Gnome/etc as root, if you
experience problems (for example, with uncommanded file ownership and
permissions changes) and if you can provide us with details of what
you were doing while you were logged in as root, that would help us
identify if there’s a bug that needs to be fixed…thanks for your help…

–
dd
http://tinyurl.com/DD-Caveat

29

I understand the implications of logging into a DE with the root account, but rest assured that I do know what I’m doing anyway once I’m there. Additionally, I know that it’s a mistake on my part, but when I first tried to login as root I was unable to login to my regular user account, so I ended up logging in as root so I can access the YaST KDE GUI (I wasn’t aware of the YaST ncurses interface at that time, sorry, complete openSUSE noob here). I actually thought of adding a new user using `useradd’ but with YaST around I thought that it might do the job better.

Anyway I ``fixed’’ my problem now, so to speak, by creating a new user with a new home dir, with a new name, but the same UID. I did not delete the old user dir however as I transferred some important stuff from there to the new dir.

This problem that I had is worth investigating however, it’s weird that a user from a previous distro has the chance of not being able to boot into their new system because they have a separate /home partition. Maybe this is a problem inherent with KDE? Or is this simply a side effect of distro hopping?

30

On 2013-06-03 17:06, johnmcderp wrote:

> This problem that I had is worth investigating however, it’s weird that
> a user from a previous distro has the chance of not being able to boot
> into their new system because they have a separate /home partition.
> Maybe this is a problem inherent with KDE? Or is this simply a side
> effect of distro hopping?

I think the later.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from oS 12.3 “Dartmouth” GM (rescate 1))

31

> Or is this simply a side effect of distro hopping?

exactly!

the reason there are several (many!) distros is because the FREEDOM
of open source allows so much variation and diversity…

while diversity is a very good thing it also means that one should
not/can not expect the configuration files of one distro to produce
smiles on all distros! (or even: any other distro!)

–
dd
http://tinyurl.com/DD-Caveat

32

On 06/03/2013 01:02 AM, dd pecked at the keyboard and wrote:
> On 06/03/2013 02:35 AM, Ken Schneider wrote:
>> On 06/02/2013 04:26 PM, Knurpht pecked at the keyboard and wrote:
>>> cjkeller1;2562074 Wrote:
>>>> I’m having the same issue on a completely fresh installation of
>>>> 12.3 on
>>>> a Dell Inspiron E1505. Root can do whatever. User set up during
>>>> installation cannot loging via KDM but can login at console. The
>>>> only
>>>> thing I did differently during installation was to uncheck
>>>> “administrative” for my user and actually set a different root
>>>> password.
>>>> Normally, I just follow the installation defaults except that I
>>>> uncheck
>>>> “login automatically.” This system does not have anything weird or
>>>> Nvidia.
>>> A rule: Never ever login on a desktop as root. Not even to try if it
>>> works. Not only are you exposing the system to the outside world,
>>> it can
>>> also bork your system.
>>
>> Should read:
>>
>> It is /highly/ recommended that you NOT login as the root user to
>> an installed system. If you do not have experience administering a
>> unix/linux based system you can potentially break the system, even to
>> the point of not being able to boot. And without the experience to
>> trouble shoot a non booting system it will force you to reinstall
>> possibly losing valuable installation settings as well as other
>> valuable data. Please use the tools available such as “sudo” or “su
>> -” to temporarily gain root privileges to perform system maintenance.
>> Remember that this is not MS windows and long established rules exist
>> for a reason.
>> If you need help this forum is an excellent place to ask.
>>
>> Ken
>
>
> Should read (imNsho):
>
> you should never log into KDE/GNOME/LXDE/Xfce or any other *nix-like
> system’s graphical user interface desktop environment as root…
>
> doing so 1) opens you up to several different security problems if you
> (for example) browse the net, 2) too many, far too easy ways to damage
> your system no matter how careful your actions (for
> example: cases of unintended change of ownership of some files from
> user to root sometimes occurs which can preclude logging in as the
> user), 3) anyway logging into KDE/etc as root is never required
> to do any or all administrative duties, 4) and, not even logging in as
> root just to see if it works as root is useful, because the “yes” or
> “no” learned is almost always totally useless in finding the
> problem giving the symptoms…while, logging into the GUI as root to
> learn the yes/no could cause the next adverse symptom encountered.

As you said, your opinion. It is not mine. There will be times when
logging in as root directly will be necessary (there will always be an
exception to the rule). Remember I only recommend root login for
administrative tasks (some of which are easier to perform in a GUI
screen), NEVER for general use.

So once again I will state:

Do not login directly as root unless you know what you are doing or wish
to see what it is like to have to re-install. :slight_smile:

Ken
(who has nearly 30 years experience as a *nix sys-admin.)

33

> As you said, your opinion. It is not mine.
> Ken
> (who has nearly 30 years experience as a *nix sys-admin.) mine.

i do not mind disagreeing on a matter of opinion.

let the buyer beware, one of the opinions given may lead to serious
system touble and one will not…

choose wisely grasshopper.

dd
(who has over 50 years of experience in far flung fields, including
teaching students how to fly jets while others shoot at you–so, will
almost always default to advice which keeps the bullets away and the
hardware out of the dirt, rocks and trees–choosing wisely the path
might let one live long enough to regret the whiskey not sipped and
the neck not nibbled…such is life.)

34

On 2013-06-03 21:20, Ken Schneider wrote:

> As you said, your opinion. It is not mine. There will be times when logging in as root directly will
> be necessary (there will always be an exception to the rule). Remember I only recommend root login
> for administrative tasks (some of which are easier to perform in a GUI screen), NEVER for general use.

I agree.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from oS 12.3 “Dartmouth” GM (rescate 1))

35

On 06/03/2013 04:30 PM, dd pecked at the keyboard and wrote:
>> As you said, your opinion. It is not mine.
>> Ken
>> (who has nearly 30 years experience as a *nix sys-admin.) mine.
>
> i do not mind disagreeing on a matter of opinion.
>
> let the buyer beware, one of the opinions given may lead to serious
> system touble and one will not…

One will lead to fixing a broken system, one will not… :slight_smile:

>
> choose wisely grasshopper.
>
> dd
> (who has over 50 years of experience in far flung fields, including
> teaching students how to fly jets while others shoot at you–so, will
> almost always default to advice which keeps the bullets away and the
> hardware out of the dirt, rocks and trees–choosing wisely the path
> might let one live long enough to regret the whiskey not sipped and
> the neck not nibbled…such is life.)