I realize this is an older post but I just experienced a similar problem with not being able to logon and the message "
could not update .ICEauthority file".
Of course, my immediate response was panic ...
Background:Using LMDE latest updates (UP5).
/ and /home are on separate partitions.
Problem arose when I installed a version of Puppy Linux on a different partition.
I'm not sure why or how it happened but immediately following the Puppy install I got the dreaded "could not update .ICEauthority file" message.
I wasn't able to fix the problem from the LiveDVD but was able to fix it from the LMDE logon by going to the console there (as another user here suggests).
In this case the problem was not with the .ICEauthority permissions (even though it appeared that way from the message) but (as noted below) with the "/home" folder permissions.
I got to the console (from logon screen) via Ctrl + Alt +F1 ... (Ctrl +Alt = F7 to return to logon after the fix)
I noticed that I could not change to the /home/username folder or even to the /home folder so assumed that permissions were some how corrupted there.
The Fix:- Code: Select all
sudo chown username:groupname /home
(In my case the username and groupname are the same).
Worked like a charm ... hope this offers others with another possible solution for this problem, should it ever arise.
