What to do if you can't login to Linux Mint 18.x

[xenopeek]

If you're on Linux Mint 18.x and after trying to login you get the error "your session lasted only 10 seconds" that may be due to a very recent update to VirtualBox packages that you would have installed previously. If on the error you can view details and you do that and see "Initctl: Unable to connect to Upstart" this is almost certainly the problem you have.

Edit: Some users are reporting being able to login but having problems with their panel instead (the taskbar if you will). Below workaround is suggested for them as well. This was confirmed to work by several users.

For users of Linux Mint 18.x not yet affected by either of above issues they should see an update for Update Manager (mintupdate). Installing that will do the same thing as below and remove the virtualbox-guest* packages from their system that appear to be the root cause of the issues.

If you are affected by either of above issue we suggest you do either of these to recover:

1. You can manually do the same thing that Update Manager would have done for you with these steps:
   1. From the login screen press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to go to a virtual console (full screen terminal);
   2. Login as yourself (you get no visual feedback as you type passwords, just type it and press Enter);
   3. Then run this command:
      apt remove virtualbox-guest*
   4. After the command completes you can return to the login screen by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F7 or F8 and then reboot your system.
2. If you have Timeshift installed and configured, and are comfortable with it, you can alternatively use that to roll back your operating system to an earlier snapshot. Then install available updates from Update Manager will also fix this issue.

Issue came to light today: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=266431

[rene]

sudo apt remove supposedly.

[EDIT] Nope. Usually use apt-get; first time that I notice that apt arranges for permission itself.

[Benedetto]

I am grateful for this thread. Dank u wel, mijnheer Xenopeek.
Having been a victim of todays Virtualbox saga I tried many ways, as recorded in another thread here, of getting Linux Mint up and running again. Many of the tips, for some reason or another failed to work. However the info here (not the Timeshift bit) did eventually get me back into Linux. At the present there is no internet connection but that can be sorted easily.
Sent using laptop with W10.

[Cosmo.]

The command apt remove virtualbox* removes too much. From own experience there is no issue with using VB 5.1.34 and I do not see anything about such a problem, inclusive a look into the VB forum. In the contrary, there seem to arise confusion for VB users, if they cannot use VB anymore. Actually all VB users (regardless of their version) will not be pleased, that their VB is gone.

[max32]

Hi the same thing has happened to me. Except after i got to control F1 to access my password in the command line my keyboard became jittery and the capitals have decided not to function properly.
This happened after i installed virtualbox which i have no use for. I'm using Mint 18.3
Does anyone know of another way to access the terminal?

[Cosmo.]

Read the starting post, especially #2a.

[clem]

Thanks Xenopeek. Cosmo is right, you only need to remove the guest packages. I hope you don't mind, I'm editing your post to reflect that.

More info at viewtopic.php?f=47&t=266431&p=1449378#p1449369.

[max32]

[babyblues409]

Clem,
Thanks for your post and instructions. Those original updates bricked two of my Dell Laptops and I was not a happy camper. Your instructions brought both of them back to life again!

Thanks!!

[zealbert]

It worked! Thank you so much; I am NOT computer savvy, so it's really nice to know there is someone who knows what they are doing.

[max32]

Hi the same thing has happened to me. Except after i got to control F1 to access my password in the command line my keyboard became jittery and the capitals have decided not to function properly.
This happened after i installed virtualbox which i have no use for. I'm using Mint 18.3
Does anyone know of another way to access the terminal?

Still having terrible trouble with my keyboard the capitals stay locked on sometimes and the keyboard itself has become erratic. The capitals occasionally are not releasing. I use very long mixed keys!

Capt. Max ppl

Still having problems with the keyboard keys In the fail safe mode. Its left me high and dry i'm not playing around. Was an original mac user in the 80's with the green space invaders!!
Theres two people relying on the mint PC. I just simply updated everything up to level 2 as a security update.

[max32]

Hi the same thing has happened to me. Except after i got to control F1 to access my password in the command line my keyboard became jittery and the capitals have decided not to function properly.
This happened after i installed virtualbox which i have no use for. I'm using Mint 18.3
Does anyone know of another way to access the terminal?

Still having terrible trouble with my keyboard the capitals stay locked on sometimes and the keyboard itself has become erratic. The capitals occasionally are not releasing. I use very long mixed keys!

Capt. Max ppl

Still having problems with the keyboard keys In the fail safe mode. Its left me high and dry i'm not playing around. Was an original mac user in the 80's with the green space invaders!!
Theres two people relying on the mint PC. I just simply updated everything up to level 2 as a security update.

Thought Mint had got past a full PC lock out!

[nakednorman]

I encountered this problem late last night (Monday 26th) - I recovered using Timeshift from the 18.3 ISO - guessed it was one of the 3 updates I'd applied and left them out. With everything back to normal I went to bed happy.
I just logged in this morning to say how impressed I was with Timeshift (I have it set for Daily backups). It worked like a charm. Thanks to Clem and the team for including it in 18.3

[moujik]

System: Host: moujik-SATELLITE-L755 Kernel: 4.4.0-21-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.3.1)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.0.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3) dm: mdm
Distro: Linux Mint 18 Sarah
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GF108M [GeForce GT 525M]
bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:0dec
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.3 drivers: nouveau (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1366x768@60.00hz
GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on NVC1
GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 12.0.6 Direct Rendering: Yes

Code: Select all

apt-get remove virtualbox-guest-x11

did the trick for me.

[limaN]

Thank you ! Solved my problem.

[rainerk]

Hi,

thank you for your help - not the timeshift one, the other one brought me back to my PC.

Your might be interested to know, that I had nothing done with virtualbox. I don't use it. The last actions before shutdown yesterday evening were related to valgrind.

I had installed valgrind with "apt install valgrind". Everything worked as expected. But this morning, I could not log in.

To be precise: I had fiddled around with valgrind a while. First I had downloaded the latest version of the sources, had expanded the tarball and compiled valgrind. Then I had decided to be on the safe side and to stick to the version you deliver in the package sources, and had installed that slightly older version. And just before shutting down, I had deleted the folder containing the abandoned new version. I mention this, even if I don't believe that compiling the valgrind source could have changed anything in the system configuration.

Here my inxi-stuff:

System: Host: Vierzehn Kernel: 4.13.0-37-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 3.18.9) dm: mdm Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Graphics: Card: Intel 4 Series Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:2e12
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Q45/Q43 GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 17.2.8 Direct Rendering: Yes

Thanks again!

rklueting

[JoeFootball]

Your might be interested to know, that I had nothing done with virtualbox. I don't use it.

You may not use it, but it's most likely installed on your system, and you most likely applied the latest update to it.

Joe

[jsb]

Thanks Xenopeek. Cosmo is right, you only need to remove the guest packages. I hope you don't mind, I'm editing your post to reflect that.

More info at viewtopic.php?f=47&t=266431&p=1449378#p1449369.

Hi, for clarity perhaps the post should be further edited in 2. where it says: "...remove VirtualBox entirely from your system..."?

Thanks for the fix, it worked. When I logged in my system gave a different message than that listed in the OP, it was something about indicator plug-in not starting.

I will post the inxi stuff on the other topic as requested.

[Flemur]

Otherwise for now remove VirtualBox entirely from your system with these steps:

Would disabling the virtualbox services also allow a normal login? When I used vbox I did that and started them only when they were needed, which wasn't often.

vboxautostart-service.service
vboxballoonctrl-service.service
vboxweb-service.service
vboxdrv.service
vboxballoonctrl-service.service

[Cosmo.]

You may not use it, but it's most likely installed on your system

Not likely, but nearly with guarantee. The poster uses mdm, so this is near to 100% an upgraded 18.3 (from 18 or 18.1).