My login takes ages, like 20 seconds from entering the password in SDDM to the “splash screen” (chameleon and lightbulb). The splash screen itself only shows up for a second and the Plasma desktop itself also loads instantly. I wonder what’s causing the 20 second wait.
I have removed all programs from the autostart (KDE Settings → Startup and Shutdown > Autostart) and I have set KDE to always start with an empty session.
If you’re wondering about the stuff relating to Microsoft Office: The Office starters should be mostly deleted stuff. I tried to install MS Office via Winapps, PlayonLinux, Bottles and they all created their own starters but didn’t really work. I’m now running it via Crossover which works fine, and I manually deleted the other starters or at least I thought I did as they’re still somehow referenced.
user@localhost:~> systemd-analyze critical-chain
The time when unit became active or started is printed after the "@" character.
The time the unit took to start is printed after the "+" character.
graphical.target @3.805s
└─display-manager.service @3.208s +596ms
└─systemd-user-sessions.service @3.116s +41ms
└─remote-fs.target @3.114s
└─iscsi.service @3.072s +38ms
└─network-online.target @3.071s
└─NetworkManager-wait-online.service @2.943s +68ms
└─NetworkManager.service @2.911s +30ms
└─network-pre.target @2.872s
└─firewalld.service @2.702s +169ms
└─polkit.service @2.437s +262ms
└─basic.target @2.428s
└─sockets.target @2.428s
└─pcscd.socket @2.428s
└─sysinit.target @2.425s
└─systemd-update-done.service @2.368s +56ms
└─systemd-journal-catalog-update.service @2.249s +58ms
└─systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service @2.136s +82ms
└─local-fs.target @2.135s
└─boot-efi.mount @2.061s +72ms
└─systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-43E8\x2dC4B1.service @1.781s +186ms
└─dev-disk-by\x2duuid-43E8\x2dC4B1.device @584542y 2w 2d 20h 1min 46.283s +4.981s
If I understand this correctly this includes the time from boot (“dev-disk-by”) to SDDM (“graphical target”) right? But the only thing that takes >1s is the initial step, which is guess is when my disk gets decrypted (I use full disk encryption and have to enter a password before the Grub boot menu).
But the main problem for me is the time it takes from entering the user password to KDE loading. Is that included in the above command?
A disk does not get decrypted the OS just uses algorithms to read the encrypted data, so not much extra time is needed. Just a little slower read speeds.
@Product1856 that doesn’t look bad… something in the background delaying the desktop session… you can see the summary of boot stages via systemd-analyze or systemd-analyze blame or systemd-analyze plot > myboot.svg for a graphical representation.
So do you have remote filesystems attached, using iscsi or a access card (pcsd service)?
The default is that KDE saves your session on shutdown, and restarts it on login. So part of this may be the time for restoring your session.
On my previous desktop, which also uses encryption, I would estimate it is around 10 seconds. But I am setup to restore a relatively simple saved session instead of saving everything on shutdown.
My current desktop does start a lot faster – mostly because I now have an SSD.
Hmm the first one says -- No entries -- and the second one doesn’t return anything strange:
user@localhost:~> journalctl --user -b -g 'reached|started' -o short-monotonic
[ 52.102623] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Daily Cleanup of User's Temporary Directories.
[ 52.102690] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target Paths.
[ 52.102738] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target Timers.
[ 52.102842] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target Sockets.
[ 52.102856] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target Basic System.
[ 52.102869] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target Main User Target.
[ 52.790995] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started D-Bus User Message Bus.
[ 52.993744] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target Session services which should run early before the graphical session is brought up.
[ 53.006801] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Baloo File Indexer Daemon.
[ 53.008271] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started KDE Window Manager.
[ 53.041499] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started sandboxed app permission store.
[ 53.042079] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started flatpak document portal service.
[ 53.585328] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started KDE Config Module Initialization.
[ 53.661908] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Unlock kwallet from pam credentials.
[ 53.742896] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started KDE Daemon.
[ 53.784098] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started KDE Session Management Server.
[ 53.884588] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started User preferences database.
[ 53.905262] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started KDE Plasma Workspace.
[ 53.905380] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target KDE Plasma Workspace Core.
[ 53.906657] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Proxies GTK DBus menus to a Plasma readable format.
[ 53.909917] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Handle legacy xembed system tray icons.
[ 53.924097] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started KActivityManager Activity manager Service.
[ 54.003884] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started KDE PolicyKit Authentication Agent.
[ 54.080737] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Xdg Desktop Portal For KDE.
[ 54.090414] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Virtual filesystem service.
[ 54.134336] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Accessibility services bus.
[ 54.155226] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Powerdevil.
[ 54.155318] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target KDE Plasma Workspace.
[ 54.155352] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target Current graphical user session.
[ 54.155395] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target plasma-workspace-wayland.target.
I have set it to start with an empty session.
I also use encryption but I thought that’s all decrypted in Grub before you even get to the login screen. Or is there a second wait time to do with that when you log in? That could explain it because in Grub it also needs like 10 seconds to decrypt of the drive.
Grub decrypts just the data that it needs to read the grub menu and the kernel and initrd. It also passes on the encryption key – I think it does that by adding it to the copy of the “initrd”.
The kernel then uses that key to decrypt what it needs. All disk read operations have to decrypt the data on the fly. And all write operations have to encrypt on the fly.
Most of the time you don’t notice, because the most frequently accessed information is being held in buffers. And it is already decrypted in those buffers.
I have a few VMs (virtual machines) that I use for testing. The VMs with encryption are noticeably slower in startup (including after login) than are the VMs without encryption. But once they are up and running, the speed difference is not noticeable.
Thank you for the explanation! So I guess that’s why then. The whole /home folder and whatever else was not needed before login didn’t get decrypted, hence the relatively long wait time both after entering the LUKS password in Grub and entering the user password in SDDM. Makes sense, thank you.
You could try if a login after a logout (thus not direct after a boot) is faster. It could be that cached (unencrypted) information is used then. And it would confirm that the encryption is the bottleneck.
Surprised haven’t seen this suggested. (or I missed it).
Create a brand new user account (for a KDE Plasma session) that has never existed before. Next, log out and then select this brand new user and log in.
Does the problem still exist?
I have another question … “what” is the delay?? Some time, ago, I had a problem where all Desktop icons (KDE Plasma session) were not displayed for 20 seconds after the login … 20 seconds on every login.
Here’s a link to my solution … but of course, you’re welcome to read thru every post in that thread if you’re bored This might not be representative of your problem, but it’s worth a check.
Using a VM with disk encryption. I booted up, and logged in. I did this twice – once with KDE and once with Gnome.
Measuring from the time that I hit the enter key after entering password, until the time that the panel appears at the bottom of the screen:
KDE: 30 seconds
Gnome: 8 seconds.
I later repeated this with another VM that does not use encryption. This time it took 8 seconds for KDE.
Note that they are not entirely comparable, because the first test was using GDM for login and second was using SDDM. Also there is less software installed on the second VM.
For both of those VMs, the image file (image of the virtual disk drive) is on a rotating disk, not on the SSD.
The first one needs to be run as root. User karl is member of group systemd-journal. Thus it worked for user karl. User services are fine. You may show system services:
Interesting idea. I created a new user and the log in was much faster. Like 2 seconds between pressing enter after the password and the splash screen appearing. Once the splash screen (the one with the chameleon on the light bulb) appears, the desktop loads instantly on both accounts. It’s just that with my main account I have this 10 second wait after pressing enter where nothing happens and it still shows the frozen SDDM login screen.
user@localhost:~> journalctl -b -g 'reached|started' -o short-monotonic
Hint: You are currently not seeing messages from other users and the system.
Users in the 'systemd-journal' group can see all messages. Pass -q to
turn off this notice.
[ 52.102623] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Daily Cleanup of User's Temporary Directories.
[ 52.102690] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target Paths.
[ 52.102738] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target Timers.
[ 52.102842] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target Sockets.
[ 52.102856] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target Basic System.
[ 52.102869] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target Main User Target.
[ 52.790995] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started D-Bus User Message Bus.
[ 52.993744] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target Session services which should run early before the graphical session is brought up.
[ 53.006801] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Baloo File Indexer Daemon.
[ 53.008271] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started KDE Window Manager.
[ 53.041499] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started sandboxed app permission store.
[ 53.042079] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started flatpak document portal service.
[ 53.585328] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started KDE Config Module Initialization.
[ 53.661908] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Unlock kwallet from pam credentials.
[ 53.742896] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started KDE Daemon.
[ 53.784098] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started KDE Session Management Server.
[ 53.884588] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started User preferences database.
[ 53.905262] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started KDE Plasma Workspace.
[ 53.905380] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target KDE Plasma Workspace Core.
[ 53.906657] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Proxies GTK DBus menus to a Plasma readable format.
[ 53.909917] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Handle legacy xembed system tray icons.
[ 53.924097] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started KActivityManager Activity manager Service.
[ 54.003884] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started KDE PolicyKit Authentication Agent.
[ 54.080737] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Xdg Desktop Portal For KDE.
[ 54.090414] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Virtual filesystem service.
[ 54.134336] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Accessibility services bus.
[ 54.155226] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Started Powerdevil.
[ 54.155318] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target KDE Plasma Workspace.
[ 54.155352] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target Current graphical user session.
[ 54.155395] localhost.localdomain systemd[1847]: Reached target plasma-workspace-wayland.target.
and for the root user:
user@localhost:~> su
Password:
localhost:/home/user # journalctl -b -u systemd-logind.service -o short-monotonic
[ 7.370064] localhost systemd[1]: Starting User Login Management...
[ 7.397768] localhost systemd-logind[1222]: New seat seat0.
[ 7.400167] localhost systemd-logind[1222]: Watching system buttons on /dev/input/event11 (Lid Switch)
[ 7.400201] localhost systemd-logind[1222]: Watching system buttons on /dev/input/event12 (Power Button)
[ 7.401407] localhost systemd-logind[1222]: Watching system buttons on /dev/input/event6 (Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v8.0)
[ 7.457733] localhost systemd-logind[1222]: Watching system buttons on /dev/input/event9 (Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v8.0 Consumer Control)
[ 7.457779] localhost systemd-logind[1222]: Watching system buttons on /dev/input/event10 (Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v8.0 System Control)
[ 7.458394] localhost systemd-logind[1222]: Watching system buttons on /dev/input/event2 (FRMW0004:00 32AC:0006 Consumer Control)
[ 7.458431] localhost systemd-logind[1222]: Watching system buttons on /dev/input/event0 (AT Translated Set 2 keyboard)
[ 7.477526] localhost systemd[1]: Started User Login Management.
[ 15.438268] localhost.localdomain systemd-logind[1222]: New session 1 of user sddm.
[ 51.872479] localhost.localdomain systemd-logind[1222]: New session 3 of user user.
[ 51.959807] localhost.localdomain systemd-logind[1222]: Session 1 logged out. Waiting for processes to exit.
[ 52.019070] localhost.localdomain systemd-logind[1222]: Removed session 1.
(and then a bunch of other stuff about me closing the lid a few hours later and logging in as the newly created user and so on)
Yep. Session 1 for user sddm readily starts. But it’s slow when being replaced by session 3: 52.01 - 15.43 = 36.58 seconds. Corresponding time on infamous host erlangen are: 19.64 - 9.37 - 10.27 seconds.
You may show display-manager:
erlangen:~ # journalctl -b -u display-manager.service -o short-monotonic
[ 8.615269] erlangen systemd[1]: Starting X Display Manager...
[ 8.624323] erlangen display-manager[1253]: /etc/vconsole.conf available
[ 8.624480] erlangen display-manager[1253]: XKBLAYOUT: de
[ 8.624480] erlangen display-manager[1253]: XKBLAYOUT is already set. Better don't touch X11 keyboard configuration.
[ 8.786412] erlangen sddm[1260]: Initializing...
[ 8.786573] erlangen sddm[1260]: Starting...
[ 8.786600] erlangen sddm[1260]: Logind interface found
[ 8.786613] erlangen sddm[1260]: Adding new display...
[ 8.786625] erlangen sddm[1260]: Loaded empty theme configuration
[ 8.786637] erlangen sddm[1260]: Xauthority path: "/run/sddm/xauth_kTPITc"
[ 8.786652] erlangen sddm[1260]: Using VT 2
[ 8.786665] erlangen sddm[1260]: Display server starting...
[ 8.786683] erlangen sddm[1260]: Writing cookie to "/run/sddm/xauth_kTPITc"
[ 8.786694] erlangen sddm[1260]: Running: /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp -dpi 192 -background none -seat seat0 vt2 -auth /run/sddm/xauth_kTPITc -noreset -displayfd 16
[ 9.144248] erlangen systemd[1]: Started X Display Manager.
[ 9.258758] erlangen sddm[1260]: Setting default cursor
[ 9.293809] erlangen sddm[1260]: Running display setup script "/usr/etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup"
[ 9.320285] erlangen sddm[1260]: Display server started.
[ 9.320363] erlangen sddm[1260]: Socket server starting...
[ 9.320417] erlangen sddm[1260]: Socket server started.
[ 9.320883] erlangen sddm[1260]: Loading theme configuration from "/usr/share/sddm/themes/breeze-openSUSE/theme.conf"
[ 9.321084] erlangen sddm[1260]: Greeter starting...
[ 9.330501] erlangen sddm-helper[1404]: [PAM] Starting...
[ 9.330683] erlangen sddm-helper[1404]: [PAM] Authenticating...
[ 9.330698] erlangen sddm-helper[1404]: [PAM] returning.
[ 9.547199] erlangen sddm-helper[1404]: pam_unix(sddm-greeter:session): session opened for user sddm(uid=477) by sddm(uid=0)
[ 9.547741] erlangen sddm-helper[1404]: Writing cookie to "/tmp/xauth_etRPUF"
[ 9.547764] erlangen sddm-helper[1404]: Starting X11 session: "" "/usr/bin/sddm-greeter --socket /tmp/sddm-:0-TsJtDD --theme /usr/share/sddm/themes/breeze-openSUSE"
[ 9.549383] erlangen sddm[1260]: Greeter session started successfully
[ 9.607561] erlangen sddm[1260]: Message received from greeter: Connect
[ 19.542793] erlangen sddm[1260]: Message received from greeter: Login
[ 19.542913] erlangen sddm[1260]: Reading from "/usr/share/xsessions/plasma5.desktop"
[ 19.543524] erlangen sddm[1260]: Session "/usr/share/xsessions/plasma5.desktop" selected, command: "/usr/bin/startplasma-x11" for VT 2
[ 19.556382] erlangen sddm-helper[1491]: [PAM] Starting...
[ 19.556512] erlangen sddm-helper[1491]: [PAM] Authenticating...
[ 19.556537] erlangen sddm-helper[1491]: [PAM] Preparing to converse...
[ 19.556549] erlangen sddm-helper[1491]: [PAM] Conversation with 1 messages
[ 19.559132] erlangen sddm-helper[1491]: [PAM] returning.
[ 19.559314] erlangen sddm[1260]: Authentication for user "karl" successful
[ 19.617001] erlangen sddm[1260]: Auth: sddm-helper exited successfully
[ 19.617030] erlangen sddm[1260]: Greeter stopped. SDDM::Auth::HELPER_SUCCESS
[ 19.649017] erlangen sddm-helper[1491]: pam_unix(sddm:session): session opened for user karl(uid=1000) by karl(uid=0)
[ 19.649712] erlangen sddm-helper[1491]: Writing cookie to "/tmp/xauth_vhtHKA"
[ 19.649741] erlangen sddm-helper[1491]: Starting X11 session: "" "/usr/etc/X11/xdm/Xsession \"/usr/bin/startplasma-x11\""
[ 19.651535] erlangen sddm[1260]: Session started true
[ 19.651613] erlangen sddm-helper[1491]: Failed to write utmpx: No such file or directory
erlangen:~ #
user@localhost:~> su
Password:
localhost:/home/user # journalctl -b -u display-manager.service -o short-monotonic
[ 14.166012] localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Starting X Display Manager...
[ 14.174328] localhost.localdomain display-manager[1646]: /etc/vconsole.conf available
[ 14.174513] localhost.localdomain display-manager[1646]: XKBLAYOUT: gb
[ 14.174513] localhost.localdomain display-manager[1646]: XKBLAYOUT is already set. Better don't touch X11 keyboard configuration.
[ 14.276074] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Initializing...
[ 14.278818] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Starting...
[ 14.278908] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Logind interface found
[ 14.279211] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Adding new display...
[ 14.279370] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Loaded empty theme configuration
[ 14.279523] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Xauthority path: "/run/sddm/xauth_UXRilP"
[ 14.279575] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Using VT 2
[ 14.279600] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Display server starting...
[ 14.279621] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Writing cookie to "/run/sddm/xauth_UXRilP"
[ 14.279641] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Running: /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp -background none -seat seat0 vt2 -auth /run/sddm/xauth_UXRilP -noreset -displayfd 16
[ 14.760944] localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Started X Display Manager.
[ 15.277449] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Setting default cursor
[ 15.347264] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Running display setup script "/usr/etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup"
[ 15.378855] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Display server started.
[ 15.378972] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Socket server starting...
[ 15.378999] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Socket server started.
[ 15.379920] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Loading theme configuration from "/usr/share/sddm/themes/breeze-openSUSE/theme.conf"
[ 15.380316] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Greeter starting...
[ 15.393521] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1698]: [PAM] Starting...
[ 15.393714] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1698]: [PAM] Authenticating...
[ 15.393727] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1698]: [PAM] returning.
[ 15.605188] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1698]: pam_unix(sddm-greeter:session): session opened for user sddm(uid=466) by sddm(uid=0)
[ 15.605265] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1698]: pam_kwallet5(sddm-greeter:session): pam_kwallet5: pam_sm_open_session
[ 15.605292] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1698]: pam_kwallet5(sddm-greeter:session): pam_kwallet5: open_session called without kwallet5_key
[ 15.605554] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1698]: Writing cookie to "/tmp/xauth_FkDJkR"
[ 15.605605] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1698]: Starting X11 session: "" "/usr/bin/sddm-greeter --socket /tmp/sddm-:0-KHZmyh --theme /usr/share/sddm/themes/breeze-openSUSE"
[ 15.609241] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Greeter session started successfully
[ 15.742864] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Message received from greeter: Connect
[ 21.058640] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Message received from greeter: Login
[ 21.058944] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Reading from "/usr/share/wayland-sessions/plasmawayland.desktop"
[ 21.059905] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Session "/usr/share/wayland-sessions/plasmawayland.desktop" selected, command: "/usr/libexec/plasma-dbus-run-session-if-needed /usr/bin/startplasma-wayland" for>
[ 21.075124] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: [PAM] Starting...
[ 21.075498] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: [PAM] Authenticating...
[ 21.837068] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: [PAM] Preparing to converse...
[ 21.837207] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: [PAM] Conversation with 1 messages
[ 21.837247] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Authentication information: SDDM::Auth::INFO_UNKNOWN "Place your right index finger on the fingerprint reader"
[ 51.836427] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: [PAM] Preparing to converse...
[ 51.837108] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: [PAM] Conversation with 1 messages
[ 51.837128] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Authentication information: SDDM::Auth::INFO_UNKNOWN "Verification timed out"
[ 51.839292] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: pam_kwallet5(sddm:auth): pam_kwallet5: pam_sm_authenticate
[ 51.839350] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: pam_kwallet5(sddm:auth): pam_kwallet5: Couldn't get password (it is empty)
[ 51.839377] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: [PAM] Preparing to converse...
[ 51.839391] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: [PAM] Conversation with 1 messages
[ 51.842726] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: [PAM] returning.
[ 51.842903] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Authentication for user "user" successful
[ 51.843190] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: pam_kwallet5(sddm:setcred): pam_kwallet5: pam_sm_setcred
[ 51.902336] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Auth: sddm-helper exited successfully
[ 51.902372] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Greeter stopped. SDDM::Auth::HELPER_SUCCESS
[ 52.102520] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: pam_unix(sddm:session): session opened for user user(uid=1000) by user(uid=0)
[ 52.102607] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: pam_kwallet5(sddm:session): pam_kwallet5: pam_sm_open_session
[ 52.129785] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: Starting Wayland user session: "/usr/share/sddm/scripts/wayland-session" "/usr/libexec/plasma-dbus-run-session-if-needed /usr/bin/startplasma-wayland"
[ 52.612298] localhost.localdomain sddm[1660]: Session started true
[ 52.612539] localhost.localdomain sddm-helper[1807]: Failed to write utmpx: No such file or directory
It mentions something about a fingerprint, but I only use that feature to unlock after standby or screen-locking, it doesn’t work for the initial user login so I always enter my password.
To make sure the issue is caused by sddm switch another display manager:
erlangen:~ # update-alternatives --config default-displaymanager
There are 4 choices for the alternative default-displaymanager (providing /usr/lib/X11/displaymanagers/default-displaymanager).
Selection Path Priority Status
------------------------------------------------------------
0 /usr/lib/X11/displaymanagers/sddm 25 auto mode
1 /usr/lib/X11/displaymanagers/console 5 manual mode
2 /usr/lib/X11/displaymanagers/lightdm 15 manual mode
* 3 /usr/lib/X11/displaymanagers/sddm 25 manual mode
4 /usr/lib/X11/displaymanagers/xdm 10 manual mode
Press <enter> to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number:
erlangen:~ #
This might not be representative of your problem, but it’s worth a check. 