Console login fails, but not ssh or VNC seesion

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MCinAZ
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Console login fails, but not ssh or VNC seesion

Post by MCinAZ »

I've installed Mint-20 recently on two Dell laptops which will primarily be used for remote data collection. Installation in both cases was without issue. I'm using tigervnc-standalone-server with cinnamon-session-cinnamon2d specified as the desktop manager for VNC sessions. Only the most basic installation steps were performed using the laptop user interface. Once I was able to use SSH, I performed most package installation and configuration steps from a different machine. making final preparations via VNC.

I've found with both machines that, once powered down, I cannot log in at the system console (laptop user interface) following subsequent reboots. SSH and VNC sessions work as expected. Console login attempts are not rejected as though an invalid password were entered. Rather, the screen simply goes blank for a second or two following password entry, then returns to the login prompt. The output of /var/log/auth.log isn't much help:

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May  4 14:07:06 stith gdm-password]: gkr-pam: unable to locate daemon control file
May  4 14:07:06 stith gdm-password]: gkr-pam: stashed password to try later in open session
May  4 14:07:06 stith gdm-password]: pam_unix(gdm-password:session): session opened for user mrtime by (uid=0)
May  4 14:07:06 stith systemd-logind[684]: New session 21 of user mrtime.
May  4 14:07:06 stith gdm-password]: gkr-pam: unlocked login keyring
May  4 14:07:08 stith gdm-password]: pam_unix(gdm-password:session): session closed for user mrtime
May  4 14:07:08 stith systemd-logind[684]: Session 21 logged out. Waiting for processes to exit.
May  4 14:07:08 stith systemd-logind[684]: Removed session 21.
Perhaps the issue is related to the missing daemon control file. If so, how would I go about restoring that item?

As a test, I created another account which is empty save for a minimal .profile. I can log into that account from the console without problems, which implies that the issue is probably within my primary account configuration.

I've installed and configured three or four similar systems recently using Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and not encountered similar issues. If necessary, I can start over from scratch and do the same with the two Mint machines. Time is short before these systems need to go into service, however, so if I could resolve this one issue it would be much preferred.

Any pointers would be most appreciated.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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SMG
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Re: Console login fails, but not ssh or VNC seesion

Post by SMG »

Welcome to the forum, MCinAZ.
MCinAZ wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 6:23 pmOnly the most basic installation steps were performed using the laptop user interface.
I'm not sure what "the most basic installation steps" means.
MCinAZ wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 6:23 pmOnce I was able to use SSH, I performed most package installation and configuration steps from a different machine. making final preparations via VNC.
What do you mean by "package installation and configuration steps"? That sounds like you added something more than what normally comes with Mint and maybe that is causing issues?

For instance, the auth.log indicates you are using gdm which is not the standard for Linux Mint. Mint uses lightdm. Perhaps that is the issue?
Image
A woman typing on a laptop with LM20.3 Cinnamon.
rene
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Re: Console login fails, but not ssh or VNC seesion

Post by rene »

"console" is a word usually reserved for e.g. the "virtual consoles", the text-mode terminals on Ctrl-Alt-F1 through -F6 but I take it you here refer to a graphical login failing?

First try if you can login graphically after through an SSH-login as mrtime,

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sudo chown -R $(whoami): ~
and if not maybe after additionally

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rm ~/.{X,ICE}authority
What I however expect is that it's your VNC setup: your standalone VNC server hogging X display :0 and keeping the X server for your local login from starting due to it being hardcoded to :0. You should be able to confirm or deny that by seeing if echo $DISPLAY from a VNC-login indeed says :0(.0) or simply by disabling the VNC-server for a bit again and seeing if local logins then work. If indeed I expect you will need/want to arrange for your VNC-server to be display :1 instead since conversely having your "main" local server be not :0 quite likely runs into all sorts of issues indeed.
rene
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Re: Console login fails, but not ssh or VNC seesion

Post by rene »

I'm off to bed, so let me immediately add that it's on a distribution such as Mint perhaps also a better idea to not use a stand-alone but a scraping VNC-server, i.e., one that shares a locally logged in user's display :0 over VNC instead. A stand-alone server tends to muck up home-directory configuration if you login as the same user sometimes locally, sometimes over VNC; is as such frankly best suited for headless boxes or at least, less desktop-geared ones than Linux Mint.

Here's a minimal description of setting up a scraping server: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=320929. It used vnc4server and since I've yesterday upgraded to Mint 20.1 I see that that's gone from the repositories (sigh... I picked it specifically due to its RealVNC pedigree making it seemingly likely that it would be more or less stably present and developed) but you should supposedly have no trouble doing the same with TigerVNC.

How you in that case set things up is with an autologin user on the laptop who runs the x0vncserver from for example his/her desktop startup applications (much like Vino used to be when it was still standard). If, as seems likely, that display issue is the problem here, this will fully sidestep it --- and as said, is likely a better idea anyway wrt. otherwise graphical user-configuration needing to stay in sync between a local and ~/.vncstartup/ session.

[EDIT] Confirmed to be equally straightforward with sudo apt-get install tigervnc-scraping-server tigervnc-viewer as with on Mint 19 the vnc4 ones.
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