[SOLVED] Mint Refuses to Login (GUI)

[Burkhardt]

Hi all.

Apologies for starting a new topic here but I do not see one with this problem for Cinnamon...
The closest I can come to something similar is solved and locked and was for Xfce.
(viewtopic.php?t=261704)

I basically cannot login with GUI on my mother's laptop with the correct Username and Pass
(I'm certain as I set it up as such)

inxi:
CPU: Dual Core Intel Core i3-2330M (-MT MCP-)
Kernel: 5.4.0-77-generic x86_64
Mem: 774.2/11895.0 MiB (6.5%)
Storage: 465.76 GiB (192.6% used)

[ Machine = Lenovo Ideapad Z570 - Distro Ver. = Mint 20.1]


Something might be full or broken (I see that Storage shows 192.6% USED???)
- there is a short black screen showing before it kicks me out to login again...

I CAN HOWEVER get access with [cntr + alt F1] and using the terminal.


Can someone please suggest a way to restore GUI Access or alternatively how to copy ALL OF THE DATA (500 Gb old laptop HDD) to external USB SSD?

Regards,

[Hawaiihemd]

I would do a full backup of the HDD to an image file on an external drive via dd as described here: https://www.linux.com/topic/desktop/ful ... -command/#.
Then I would try to free some space by deleting no longer needed files on the HDD.

[Burkhardt]

Thanks for the link! I will definitely find it useful to clone drives in future.
I will have to familiarize myself with dd first and read the post properly...

Might you be able to help me just copy the home folder to an external instead?

I am pressed for time and would rather try to just get all of the personal data off of it ASAP.
I only have terminal access unfortunately...I do however have an external 500GiB SSD attached via USB...

[Burkhardt]

I now even received a "systemd" Error: "Failed to create new system journal: No space left on device...
I have no idea how this happened... Might be Timeshift related as well...
This re-affirms that it might be a storage space issue...

I would rather just grab all of the personal user data in the "home" folder to be copied to external drive...
I do not care about any other system files.
Can anyone help with this VIA TERMINAL?

[Pjotr]

You could do some preliminary cleaning within the Recovery mode (into which you can boot from the Grub menu). Then try to log in normally. When successful, follow it up with these safe cleaning methods:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... -mint.html

.... en hopelijk "alles sal reg kom".

[Burkhardt]

Baie dankie Pjotr!

- I'll give it a last quick try before attempting to copy only the necessary data to external.

I'll keep you posted.
B

[Moem]

Apologies for starting a new topic here but I do not see one with this problem for Cinnamon...

Never apologise for starting a new topic in this forum, it's the preferred course of action!
Our rule is that a new question deserves a new topic.

[Burkhardt]

Hi all.

I have tried cleaning using GRUB to no avail. Nothing is creating more space or working to restore normal booting...
I can see that there are 3 extra kernels but cannot even remove them properly via the terminal. There is all sorts of space error messages popping up (in the terminal...!) as well all the time when system tries to write logs...

Very frustrating situation to say the least!

[Burkhardt]

Apologies for starting a new topic here but I do not see one with this problem for Cinnamon...

Never apologise for starting a new topic in this forum, it's the preferred course of action!
Our rule is that a new question deserves a new topic.

Thank you Moem. Will remember...

[Burkhardt]

Okay sooooooo...this is where I am stuck at the moment...
Only terminal access to the encrypted home folder
I need to copy the contents of the "Home" folder to a new machine ASAP.

How can I achieve this anyone?

[Moem]

Can you boot to a live Mint environment from a USB stick?

[Burkhardt]

Probably! - I have LMDE on a thumb drive to boot...

But...would I be able to access the home folder from there? It is encrypted...
So I am not sure that I would be able to access the contents this way?
The drive is also encrypted but I have the correct key, username and password...

UPDATE: I followed Moem's recommendation and booted LMDE from thumb drive... I can see the drive and mount it after entering encryption key but the home folder is encrypted and I do not know how to mount it to access the contents...

[Hawaiihemd]

OK so you are logged in as the "manda" user.
Run lsblk before connecting your ext storage.
Plug in an external storage device. Check if it get's automatically mounted via the lsblk command. The additional device is the one you just plugged in.
If it is not mounted automatically you need to mount it manually.

[AndyMH]

I would do a full backup of the HDD to an image file on an external drive via dd

Better choices than that, foxclone or rescuezilla. They compress the image files and only copy used blocks.

[Pjotr]

Can you run:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get clean

Also, if the Timeshift snapshots are stored in /timeshift, you might safely run

Code: Select all

sudo rm -v -R /timeshift/*

[Burkhardt]

OK so you are logged in as the "manda" user.
Run lsblk before connecting your ext storage.
Plug in an external storage device. Check if it get's automatically mounted via the lsblk command. The additional device is the one you just plugged in.
If it is not mounted automatically you need to mount it manually.

Hi Hawaiihemd

OK...drive mounted automatically! Yaaaay...
See Pic. How to copy the whole home directory to this 500Gib Storage?
Thanks for your help thus far!!! Much appreciated!

Photo of terminal2.jpg (72.15 KiB) Viewed 1083 times

[Hawaiihemd]

No, sdb1 is not mounted, as there is no entry in the MOUNTPOINT column.

Create a directory under /media for example "extdisk":
sudo mkdir /media/extdisk
Then mount sdb1 to that directory:
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/extdisk
Then copy the contents of manda's home there:
cp /home/manda /media/extdisk/

[Burkhardt]

Can you run:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get clean

Also, if the Timeshift snapshots are stored in /timeshift, you might safely run

Code: Select all

sudo rm -v -R /timeshift/*

Hi Pjotr.
I have run the first one - thereafter I was automatically taken back to the GUI Login Screen. Tried to log in but to no avail...
I then ran the second command...which started some SERIOUS TERMINAL ACTION. That was 10 minutes ago...it is still at it!

I will keep you posted!

PS: It legitimately looks like the matrix running in the terminal! Haha...

[Hawaiihemd]

I would do a full backup of the HDD to an image file on an external drive via dd

Better choices than that, foxclone or rescuezilla. They compress the image files and only copy used blocks.

Well a matter of personal preference I'd say. dd is available everywhere ootb and piping the output to gzip get's size down pretty well. Also - if not compressed - using losetup to get access to the contents of the image is nice.
But I'm planning to look into both options you suggested sometime.

[Burkhardt]

No, sdb1 is not mounted, as there is no entry in the MOUNTPOINT column.

Create a directory under /media for example "extdisk":
sudo mkdir /media/extdisk
Then mount sdb1 to that directory:
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/extdisk
Then copy the contents of manda's home there:
cp /home/manda /media/extdisk/

Hi Hawaiihemd.

I will try this as soon as the terminal stops deleting Timeshift data...