Thanks for the tip! Lightdm was searching for another greeter than the one installed. On /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf I had to add explicitly the greeter by adding this line on the [Seat:*] section:. Now the service starts correctly."
@tjdoyle - when I run that command it launches lightdm and presents me with a login screen, I do not get any textual output.
@vits95 - i have already set my greeter-session to use lightdm-webkit2-greeter which is installed and working, as I can run the login screen when I use ‘sudo lightdm’.
When at the login screen if I put my password and sign in nothing happens but if I use my fingerprint to sign in then my gnome desktop environment gets loaded but asks me to sudo for PC/SC daemon.
If I use gdm I get auto-logged and do not get asked to elevate for the daemon.
I know a different display manager is not necessary but it would be nice to be able to customize my login screen and get it working.
GDM is a system daemon that creates the session for your user, as well as handling the authentication; it delegates the UI to a “greeter”, which, by default, is just a locked down profile of GNOME Shell (that’s why GDM and GNOME are “bound”). When the Shell locks, it transfers control to GDM, which handles the session unlocking. This is done through the GDM remote API. Since LightDM does not provide that API, some features will not be available because the Shell won’t be able to know how to talk to LightDM."
@vit95 - Ahh I see, thanks for the reply, maybe I should try a different window manager or desktop environment, any recommendations?
Here is my lightdm.conf:
#
# General configuration
#
# start-default-seat = True to always start one seat if none are defined in the configuration
# greeter-user = User to run greeter as
# minimum-display-number = Minimum display number to use for X servers
# minimum-vt = First VT to run displays on
# lock-memory = True to prevent memory from being paged to disk
# user-authority-in-system-dir = True if session authority should be in the system location
# guest-account-script = Script to be run to setup guest account
# logind-check-graphical = True to on start seats that are marked as graphical by logind
# log-directory = Directory to log information to
# run-directory = Directory to put running state in
# cache-directory = Directory to cache to
# sessions-directory = Directory to find sessions
# remote-sessions-directory = Directory to find remote sessions
# greeters-directory = Directory to find greeters
# backup-logs = True to move add a .old suffix to old log files when opening new ones
# dbus-service = True if LightDM provides a D-Bus service to control it
#
[LightDM]
#start-default-seat=true
#greeter-user=lightdm
#minimum-display-number=0
#minimum-vt=7
#lock-memory=true
#user-authority-in-system-dir=false
#guest-account-script=guest-account
#logind-check-graphical=false
#log-directory=/var/log/lightdm
#run-directory=/var/run/lightdm
#cache-directory=/var/cache/lightdm
#sessions-directory=/usr/share/lightdm/sessions:/usr/share/xsessions:/usr/share/wayland-sessions
#remote-sessions-directory=/usr/share/lightdm/remote-sessions
#greeters-directory=$XDG_DATA_DIRS/lightdm/greeters:$XDG_DATA_DIRS/xgreeters
#backup-logs=true
#dbus-service=true
#
# Seat configuration
#
# Seat configuration is matched against the seat name glob in the section, for example:
# [Seat:*] matches all seats and is applied first.
# [Seat:seat0] matches the seat named "seat0".
# [Seat:seat-thin-client*] matches all seats that have names that start with "seat-thin-client".
#
# type = Seat type (local, xremote)
# pam-service = PAM service to use for login
# pam-autologin-service = PAM service to use for autologin
# pam-greeter-service = PAM service to use for greeters
# xserver-command = X server command to run (can also contain arguments e.g. X -special-option)
# xmir-command = Xmir server command to run (can also contain arguments e.g. Xmir -special-option)
# xserver-config = Config file to pass to X server
# xserver-layout = Layout to pass to X server
# xserver-allow-tcp = True if TCP/IP connections are allowed to this X server
# xserver-share = True if the X server is shared for both greeter and session
# xserver-hostname = Hostname of X server (only for type=xremote)
# xserver-display-number = Display number of X server (only for type=xremote)
# xdmcp-manager = XDMCP manager to connect to (implies xserver-allow-tcp=true)
# xdmcp-port = XDMCP UDP/IP port to communicate on
# xdmcp-key = Authentication key to use for XDM-AUTHENTICATION-1 (stored in keys.conf)
# greeter-session = Session to load for greeter
# greeter-hide-users = True to hide the user list
# greeter-allow-guest = True if the greeter should show a guest login option
# greeter-show-manual-login = True if the greeter should offer a manual login option
# greeter-show-remote-login = True if the greeter should offer a remote login option
# user-session = Session to load for users
# allow-user-switching = True if allowed to switch users
# allow-guest = True if guest login is allowed
# guest-session = Session to load for guests (overrides user-session)
# session-wrapper = Wrapper script to run session with
# greeter-wrapper = Wrapper script to run greeter with
# guest-wrapper = Wrapper script to run guest sessions with
# display-setup-script = Script to run when starting a greeter session (runs as root)
# display-stopped-script = Script to run after stopping the display server (runs as root)
# greeter-setup-script = Script to run when starting a greeter (runs as root)
# session-setup-script = Script to run when starting a user session (runs as root)
# session-cleanup-script = Script to run when quitting a user session (runs as root)
# autologin-guest = True to log in as guest by default
# autologin-user = User to log in with by default (overrides autologin-guest)
# autologin-user-timeout = Number of seconds to wait before loading default user
# autologin-session = Session to load for automatic login (overrides user-session)
# autologin-in-background = True if autologin session should not be immediately activated
# exit-on-failure = True if the daemon should exit if this seat fails
#
[Seat:*]
#type=local
#pam-service=lightdm
#pam-autologin-service=lightdm-autologin
#pam-greeter-service=lightdm-greeter
#xserver-command=X
#xmir-command=Xmir
#xserver-config=
#xserver-layout=
#xserver-allow-tcp=false
#xserver-share=true
#xserver-hostname=
#xserver-display-number=
#xdmcp-manager=
#xdmcp-port=177
#xdmcp-key=
greeter-session=lightdm-webkit2-greeter
#greeter-hide-users=false
#greeter-allow-guest=true
#greeter-show-manual-login=false
#greeter-show-remote-login=true
#user-session=default
#allow-user-switching=true
#allow-guest=true
#guest-session=
#session-wrapper=lightdm-session
#greeter-wrapper=
#guest-wrapper=
#display-setup-script=
#display-stopped-script=
#greeter-setup-script=
#session-setup-script=
#session-cleanup-script=
#autologin-guest=false
#autologin-user=
#autologin-user-timeout=0
#autologin-in-background=false
#autologin-session=
#exit-on-failure=false
#
# XDMCP Server configuration
#
# enabled = True if XDMCP connections should be allowed
# port = UDP/IP port to listen for connections on
# listen-address = Host/address to listen for XDMCP connections (use all addresses if not present)
# key = Authentication key to use for XDM-AUTHENTICATION-1 or blank to not use authentication (stored in keys.conf)
# hostname = Hostname to report to XDMCP clients (defaults to system hostname if unset)
#
# The authentication key is a 56 bit DES key specified in hex as 0xnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. Alternatively
# it can be a word and the first 7 characters are used as the key.
#
[XDMCPServer]
#enabled=false
#port=177
#listen-address=
#key=
#hostname=
#
# VNC Server configuration
#
# enabled = True if VNC connections should be allowed
# command = Command to run Xvnc server with
# port = TCP/IP port to listen for connections on
# listen-address = Host/address to listen for VNC connections (use all addresses if not present)
# width = Width of display to use
# height = Height of display to use
# depth = Color depth of display to use
#
[VNCServer]
#enabled=false
#command=Xvnc
#port=5900
#listen-address=
#width=1024
#height=768
#depth=8
I can't reproduce any issues with my "workflow".
PS: If i simply choose the Gnome from lightdm, it'll not be saved as default.
PSPS: I've graphics after logout. Anyway, time to return my gdm back!
I have just tried to install KDE and set my desktop environment to it, also tried setting my display manager to sddm but got exactly the same issue as I do with lightDM.
Also when I press log out on my user account in gnome using the GUI I get a boot screen that I have to alt F2 - I do not get a graphical interface with a login box?
also I give you a warm Welcome to the community! Please do take a few minutes to go over the introductory posts in #start-here when you have the time. They contain lots of useful information.
@hhlp Apologies, I will take the time to use the markdown tools, thanks for the warm welcome
@vits95 My login greeter GUI does not work anymore, under gdm/sddm or lightdm. I have to set autologin to true so that it boots to my desktop environment, If I try to logout of the desktop environment it just goes to a blank screen where I have to alt+f2.
If I turn autologin off and boot the machine it does not show the greeter, I have to go to tty and startx.
Where can I look to see where these issues lie? as I suspect it is all related. I am currently using GNOME and gdm.
Sorry to come in late, but there’s one more thing you need to do to make sure that gdm doesn’t start:
systemctl mask gdm.service
That’s because disabling it only stops it from starting automatically; it can still be started by some other program. Masking it makes that impossible until you unmask it.
Also, your nVidia drivers aren’t a factor here; either they work or they don’t. I know, because I ran Xfce with lightdm and the nVidia drivers from rpmfusion for almost a decade with no driver issues.
One thing you might try to find out why you’re not getting a greeter is to run this command from a terminal:
ps aux | grep dm | grep -v grep
You don’t need sudo for this. (There are several ways to get the same output from ps, but that’s the one I like.) You should either see gdm or lightdm in the output, but not both. I don’t know what would happen if both were active, but it’s certainly not right.
Before editing any config, do always make a backup of it.
Make sure that only one from the all DMs your have is active at a time. Try to delete all DMs, but one. Try to reinstall this last one (dnf reinstall gdm).
I’ve just installed lightdm, yesterday, and it is (with some above mentioned quirks, not issues) works. Then i’m switched to gdm back. Logout/login with greeter GUI works too. I did not touched any of the default configs, though.
I think this is a configuration issue. I’ve one DE installed yet, though.
Hi everyone, thanks for your help and replies but think I’m going to just reinstall the OS again this evening after work.
@sideburns - gdm auto logs in but does not show gui if I turn off auto login.
I haven’t installed any other display managers as far as I’m aware except for LightDM - although the KDE environment did used to be installed on the machine prior to me going with GNOME.
Cheers @vits95 - I do use Timeshift but do not have a backup where the display manager works hence my reinstall. I also take a block level backup of my entire disk once everything is configured using CloneZilla
The reason for this error seemed to be some kind of conflict with X11 and the Nvidia drivers. While on boot time I got the error that the Nvidia Kernel module could not be loaded, I still was able to start lightdm once I was in TTY1 PayGOnline