Window manager doesn't launch correctly

[Robert Dodier]

Hi, I'm running Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya. The window manager worked as expected yesterday when I had the laptop at my place of work. I am trying it now at home and running into trouble. I wonder if the difference is that the window manager requires a network connection for some reason. If so I wonder if there is a way to connect to my home wifi via a console session.

Anyway here is what I am seeing. When I turn on my laptop (Dell x86_64, not sure about model), I get a login screen. After entering my password, I get:

: unable to launch "cinnamon-session-cinnamon" X session
"cinnamon-session-cinnamon" not found; falling back to default session.

in a pop-up window which has one button `[okay]`.

After clicking `[okay]`, I get an empty black screen, with a mouse cursor. The mouse cursor does move when I use the mouse pad. I tried various Alt and Ctrl combinations with other keys in an effort to bring up a menu to launch any application, without success.

I can get a console session via Alt-Shift-F2. I tried `lightdm --test-mode` and got "Failed to get D-Bus connection".

Also tried `sudo lightdm --test-mode` and got "Failed to use bus name org.freedesktop.DisplayManager, do you have appropriate permissions?".

Also `sudo lightdm` gives same result as `sudo lightdm --test-mode`.

In the console session, `ps x` shows that `x-window-manager` is running. Following the link to /etc/alternatives shows that's actually Metacity. I wonder if I can make use of this information somehow.

I wonder if I can launch some applications from the console. I tried `export DISPLAY=:0` and then `xclock` (just to verify that I can launch an X application). `xclock` is running but I don't see its display when I go back to the X session via Alt-Shift-F7.

Not sure where to go from here. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Robert Dodier

[catweazel]

In a console, issue this command:

Code: Select all

sudo apt install --reinstall cinnamon

[Robert Dodier]

In a console, issue this command:

Code: Select all

sudo apt install --reinstall cinnamon

Thanks for your reply. When I try that, I get errors because there is no network connection (to be expected). I tried to set up the wireless connection via wpa_supplicant but I wasn't able to get that to work, so, for now at least I don't have a network connection.

What is the expected effect of reinstalling cinnamon? Is there some configuration file that needs to be regenerated or some file that needs to be replaced or something like that? Maybe I can accomplish that same effect without reinstalling cinnamon. I did have the window manager working yesterday at the office.

Thanks again for your help, I appreciate it.

[catweazel]

My apologies. I gave you the 15lb sledgehammer rather than the pin hammer. It wouldn't have done any harm though.

Code: Select all

sudo apt install --reinstall cinnamon-session

Try that first. Try the other one last, if the above doesn't work.

The reason is that something you've installed or done appears to have b0rked cinnamon.