Ubuntu will not boot, Admin changed User's $HOME/.dmrc file is being ignored.

hmm, strange

ok

from what I have read its a simple permissions issue. I can recommend 2 ways to tackle this:

Reboot the system and press esc repeatedly as soon as the system even thinks about powering back up. You can then choose recovery mode for your kernel. The system will boot a little and then you can select root console.

Ok, now we can work

I recommend this as a failsafe:

adduser <some name> admin

This will make a NEW user and them be added immmediately to the admin group which will give them access to sudo / gksudo / kdesudo

the other thing I recommend is this

(I will assume the user is called 'foo'

cd /home
chmod -R 750 ./foo
chown -R foo ./foo

This will make foo the owner of ALL of its home directory aswell as giving it FULL read write and execute actions on ALL data.

Once this has finished, type

shutdown -r now

and the system will reboot, try logging on as foo. If you fail, log on as the NEW USER you created earlier and you can then snoop around the system from there and make modifications as you see fit to attempt to get the situation rectified.

Hi, I'm at root@cynthia:~# and I'm trying the adduser <do I put a name in this> admin, I'm getting no such file or directory.

you need to name a user

i use <some name> as a container for you to name the new user yourself

e.g. adduser andy admin

will create a new user named 'andy' and add it to the admin group

you got the error 'no such file or directory' due to the first '<' character implying you were directing a file as input to the command

Have another swing

Hi
At the "root@cynthia:~#" prompt I typed in "adduser thename admin", I get adduser: The user "thename" does not exist. Am I at the correct prompt?

Thank you actionparsnip.

You are in the correct prompt :D

useradd -d /home/thename -m thename
passwd thename
usermod -G admin -a thename

less graceful but does the job

:)

ok, I got no errors doing it that way and am back at the "root@cynthia:~#" prompt do I exit at this point?

Thanks!

shutdown -r now

let it boot as normal and try login as the old user with issues, failing that you can login as thename and troubleshoot from there

I did as you said, and I'm still getting the same user's $HOME/.dmrc file is being ignored. This prevents he default session and language from being saved. File should be owned b user and have 644 permissions. User's $HOME directory must be owned by user and not writable by other users.

Your session only lasted less than 10 seconds. If you hve not logged out yourself, this could mean that there is some installation problem or tha tyou may be out of diskspace. Try logging in with one of the failsafe sessions to see if you can fix this problem

view details (~/.xsession-errors file)

can't create dir /home/cliff/download
can't create dir /home/cliff/desktop
can't create dir /home/cliff/templates
can't create dir /home/cliff/public
can't create dir /home/cliff/documents
can't create dir /home/cliff/music
can't create dir /home/cliff/pictures
can't create dir /home/cliff/videos
setting IM through /etc/X11/xinit/xinput.d/all_ALL linked to /etc/X11/xinit/xinput.d/default.

"Cliff" is the person that started this mess, the admin was originally cynthia.

OK reboot and try log on as thename

ok, I logged in with my new user and password and the son of a gun booted the rest of the way up. Omg what a shocker, but what now, it doesn't have sound, network and does not connect to the internet :)

I went into users settings and found

Name Login name Home directory
jill cynthia /home/cliff <---- this is something he definately changed, it not highlighted
cliff root /root <-----also not right LOL
icon newname /home/newname <--- the one I just created. is highlighted

I just don't know where to go from here.

So do you have a full logon now?

if you want to change a users home directory check:

http://www.spiration.co.uk/post/1294/Unix%20/%20Linux%20change%20a%20user%27s%20home%20directory%20-%20usermod

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.

yes, I have full log in now thanks so much!! Just don't understand where to go from there, I'll go to your link next :

Thank you thank you!!

I don't understand it LOL, sorry.

When I reboot, I come up with the same errors, but using the new user and password I boot up and it works ok. I just want it back the way it was LOL. Now, the new one that works, can I leave it? I'm not understanding the commands. Also, the new one that is working, what will happen with it?

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.