Unable to load Cinnamon session after uninstalling Screen Saver [Solved]

[CW3]

Hello -

I'm new to the forum and Linux. I was running Mint 20.2 Cinnamon, when I mistakenly uninstalled Cinnamon Screen Saver. I got no warning, I just thought it was a screen saver and I wanted a different one. On the next boot all I get is a small error box saying unable to load cinnamon session and when I click ok I get a total black screen and lonely little white pointer.

I've been doing searches, reading and looking for a way not to do a total new install. That is how I came here to this thread . . . sign

I tried to follow the instructions by WharfRat here, and ran into 2 problems 1. I do not know how to read the data from sudo blkid (see below), and 2. when I attempted to enter the line mount /dev/mapper/mint--vg-root /mnt in my live boot terminal it told me -

mount: /mnt: special device /dev/mapper/mint--vg-root does not exist.

This is what I get when I do sudo blkid - but it looks like it's referring to my USB live, and not my HD install, maybe that's the point -

Code: Select all

/dev/sda1: UUID="2DE9-A408" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABLE="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="7a75e8ba-76cf-4cd18465-1c754834f673"
/dev/sda2: UUID="63dadc72-1018-4acc-a57a-713cb5854897" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="a6ded71c-5df4-4ac6-b60a-60d151042a6a"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="2021-07-03-13-12-55-00" LABLE="LINUX MINT CINNAMON 64-bit" TYPE="iso9660" PTUUID="252d5927" PTTYPE="dos" PARTUUID="252d5927-01"
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sdb2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" UUID="C26E-47E" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="252d5927-02"
/dev/sda3: LABEL="writable"  UUID="50debfce-8bee-474e-abe7-8b57f2eaa9a4" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="252d5927-03"

I really hope someone can jump in here and guide me through fixing my Cinnamon.

Thank you ~

[CW3]

I was able to fix my problem of 'Unable to load Cinnamon-Session' because of removing a vital piece of Cinnamon DE - the Cinnamon Screen Saver. Thanks to Sleepwalker's post found here:viewtopic.php?t=168804

His/Her issues were a little different, and I did make changes to help me to better follow the main idea of what was being posted. So here are my notes and what I did that fixed my problem ~Newbie to Linux Level~ step by step.

1 - have an USB live ios or CD of your Linux, ready for booting up your machine. Do a search if you do not know how to achieve this. This is Linux 101

2 - Press and hold F12 while booting, or whatever key your hardware manufacture recommends to get into your bios settings. For me, from bios settings, I had to Disable Secure Boot (apply), then in the Advanced category check Legacy boot (apply), Then select Legacy from the boot order (apply), and Exit. When your system is back to normal, you will go back into your bios and undo or revert back to your original settings, so pay attention if this is your first time.

3 - After you have set your machine to boot from your USB or CD drive depending on the media you have put your live iso on, restart your machine with the media in the proper drive to boot from it.

4 - You will see a desktop, and the option to install Linux Mint, but we are not going to reinstall the entire OS. Launch the Terminal Window, and follow the steps below in the Terminal.

* Ignore my Terminal-prompt examples, I don’t really remember what they were, these here are just a gist.

Code: Select all

sudo -i     #this makes you the root user

root@mint~$ sudo blkid

            #sudo blkid identifies all the partitions on your machine, one of which is your Linux install.
            #Finding which one was the hardest part of the whole process for a newbie like me. 
            # But you want to look for the parts-  UUID=  TYPE="ext4"  &   PARTUUID=   Like this ----
            
            #/dev/sda2: UUID="4961-a47f-9600ca07361a" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="498a7541-fc6a"
            
            #in my case the partition I seek is [b] sda2[/b] - 


root@mint~$ mkdir /mnt/boot

root@mint~$ mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot   #Partition ID found by running [i]sudo blkid[/i] 

root@mint~$ mount --rbind /dev /mnt/boot/dev

root@mint~$ mount --rbind /sys /mnt/boot/sys

root@mint~$ mount -t proc none /mnt/boot/proc

root@mint~$ /usr/sbin/chroot /mnt/boot /bin/bash

root@mint~$ echo "nameserver 8.8.8.8" >> /etc/resolv.conf

root@mint~$ source /etc/profile

root@mint~$ export PS1="\[\033[1;33m\]chroot to ->\[\033[1;31m\](system) #\[\e[0m\] "
            
                    #if done right you should see your Terminal Prompt change at this point.
                    
 @chroot~$ apt-get install -f
 @chroot~$ apt-get update
 @chroot~$ apt-get upgrade
 @chroot~$ apt-get autoremove
 
                   #if you have any conflicting software causing part of your issues now is the 
                   #time to remove it.
                   
 @chroot~$ apt-get purge package_name        #I used: purge xscreensaver
 
 @chroot~$ apt-get install --reinstall cinnamon

 @chroot~$ apt-get install --reinstall cinnamon-screensaver

 @chroot~$ apt-get install --reinstall mint-meta-cinnamon

 @chroot~$ exit             #to get back to root@mint~$

root@mint~$ sudo reboot 

I hope this helps someone else.

It's a very good skill to learn how to repair one's system from a Live USB boot.

[mikeflan]

Good job of fixing that. I suggest you run Timeshift also for recovery from things like this.
I see you put Solved in your 2nd post, but please also do it on your first post:
Go to your original 1st post (top of topic), click the edit pencil, add [Solved] at the beginning of the title and click Submit.