Linux Mint Forums

I've been getting strange user permission errors...

E.g., my MintUpdate icon is shown unlocked and when I try to open MintUpdate, I get this error:

Failed to run /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintUpdate/mintUpdate.py 'show' '6813' as user root.

Unable to copy the user's Xauthorization file.

Does anyone know what that means???

Also, yesterday I opened the "User and Groups" config GUI and I was unable to select "Unlock"... it was grayed out as if I didn't have permissions to sudo... I'm losing permissions- what's happening?

No, sudo from a terminal works fine.

Well, I booted up the pc today and I received some sort of a GUI error in a pop-up window when after logging in... unfortunately I didn't write it down. I'm assuming it's from the GUI error, but the MintUpdate icon didn't even show up and then I noticed that none of my favorite programs were listed in the "Start Menu" (what do you call that in Mint?). Also in Firefox I couldn't use the built-in search box or back/forward buttons.

I have a feeling something's terminally screwed up. Since installing about a month ago, some of the things I've done:
-Rearranged/renumbered some of my partitions w/ gparted
-Used VirtualBox a lot (had to make changes to enable usbfs)
-I'm down to about 4GB left on my partition (using 1 partition for root & home)

I also get a lot of text messages when I shut down the OS... something about bus connection failures (the text disappears so quick).


Honestly, I'm attempting to switch from Windows because I hate having to reinstall the system for best performance, but I'm getting the feeling I'm gonna have to reinstall Mint. That's what happens when a noob tries to be a power user... but, only one way to really learn I guess.

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, what I first thought was a singular issue has mushroomed... time for a reinstall.