Mint Update not accepting password

[Old Git]

This one may have been posted before, but I cannot easily see the answer I need. Sorry if I should have looked a bit hard, but please point me in the right direction.

Mint 17.3 (cos I don't like the xfce desktop, especially the menu, in 18)

I must have done something silly. mintupdate was working OK, then all of a sudden it stopped accepting my password, as did Synaptic at the same time. "sudo apt update" followed by "sudo apt upgrade" still work, as does the other program installer (whose name I do not know because it is hidden by mint policy, as are most program names)

What have I done wrong? What do I need to do to restore normal service?

Many thanks

(any response from me will be slow as I am a moving target and will be away from the affected box for a few days)

[kukamuumuka]

Is PolicytKit on in the Startup Applications?

[Old Git]

Is PolicytKit on in the Startup Applications?

Forgive me please, where will I find out?

[all41]

I got into this same trap when I first started using Mint.
Click Menu and start typing startup--you will see a menu choice for 'Startup Applications'
Scroll down and make sure PolicyKit Authentication Agent is checked. If not correct this and
restart your system.
It seemed a good thing to eliminate every startup I wasn't using and PolicyKit seemed a logical choice to not start.
WRONG--This is a must item.

[Old Git]

In "Session & Startup" I have almost everything in the upper reaches enabled, including PolicyKit. I added a couple of items to get Truecrypt running (shared drives with Windows). Other than "Indicator Sound" all the items in upright script are enabled. All the items with italic script in the lower reaches of the window are NOT enabled.

Elsewhere I had read that this is a symptom of a gksu fault. BUT gksu works perfectly happily with other programs (eg enabling firefox esr to self update as there is no repository support for that version), so I have discounted that.

In the Advanced tab of Session & Startup I have nothing selected, so I don't start gnome services, kde services, manage remote applications or lock screen before sleep. And I don't save sessions.

Has anyone any other ideas, please? All welcome!

[kukamuumuka]

In "Session & Startup" I have almost everything in the upper reaches enabled, including PolicyKit.

Launch mintupdate via Terminal and tell the error message.

[Old Git]

Launch mintupdate via Terminal and tell the error message.

(mintUpdate.py:4644): libglade-WARNING **: unknown attribute `swapped' for <signal>.

repeated four times

[kukamuumuka]

Launch mintupdate via Terminal and tell the error message.

(mintUpdate.py:4644): libglade-WARNING **: unknown attribute `swapped' for <signal>.

repeated four times

That is ok. What tells

Code: Select all

groups

Code: Select all

sudo cat /etc/sudoers | grep admin

Code: Select all

sudo cat /etc/sudoers | grep sudo

[Old Git]

Sorry for the delay, been travelling and only just returned to the box in question.

command "groups" produces:
myusername adm cdrom sudo dip plugdev lpadmin sambashare

command "sudo cat /etc/sudoers | grep admin" produces:
# Members of the admin group may gain root privileges
%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL

command "sudo cat /etc/sudoers | grep sudo" produces:
# This file MUST be edited with the 'visudo' command as root.
# Please consider adding local content in /etc/sudoers.d/ instead of
# See the man page for details on how to write a sudoers file.
# Allow members of group sudo to execute any command
%sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
# See sudoers(5) for more information on "#include" directives:
#includedir /etc/sudoers.d

I hope that you can help. Thanks.