Ubuntu
gnome-session package

Session only lasted less than 10 seconds...

Asked by Shoregeek

Greetings. I've looked through the forums and found similar questions, but none that fit this exact scenario. So here I post.

A client brought her Ubuntu Laptop to me (just an old Compaq with Ubuntu 7.0.4) because she apparently locked herself out while attempting to reset some user accounts.

I'm familiar with *nix commands and the environment, as I managed to reset her password (she has the admin account). However, when I try to log into her account via the Gnome GUI screen I get the following:

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

And here is the contents of the ~/.xsession-errors file):
---
/etc/gdm/PreSession/Default: Registering your session with wtmp and utmp
/etc/gdm/PreSession/Default: running: /usr/X11R6/bin/sessreg -a -w /var/log/wtmp -u /var/run/utmp -x "/var/lib/gdm/:0.Xservers" -h " " -l ":0" "bobbi"
/etc/gdm/Xsession: Beginning session setup...

(gnome-session:5145): libgnomevfs-WARNING **: Unable to create ~/.gnome2 directory: Permission denied
Could not create per-user gnome configuration directory '/home/bobbi/': Permission denied
---

Thanks in advance for a possible fix or a step in the right direction! :)

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu gnome-session Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
Arnaud Soyez
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Best Arnaud Soyez (weboide) said : 		#1

Is the root user still there?

When starting the session, are you the user "bobbi" ? if yes, check if /home/bobbi is owned by bobbi.
To change the ownership (you might have to be root or use sudo) :

chown bobbi:bobbi /home/bobbi
chmod 755 /home/bobbi

Revision history for this message
Shoregeek (shoregeek) said : 		#2

When starting a session, yes, I am attempting to sign on as bobbi. I tried your suggestion and it did nothing.

I don't think the system itself is stable after whatever the user did. I thank you for your suggestion, which I am sure under "norml" circumstances would have been perfect -- :).

Revision history for this message
Shoregeek (shoregeek) said : 		#3

Thanks weboide, that solved my question.

Revision history for this message
cmac (cmcconvi) said : 		#4

Thanks weboide. I had a similar error but on ubuntu 8.04 and looked thru lots of other forums, but your suggestion finally worked for me!

Revision history for this message
eamonireland (eamon-mcdonagh) said : 		#5

Hi - this isn't working for me. I've tried using sudo, and I can't see if the commands worked or not, but I'm still getting session lasted only less than 10 seconds message.

I'm completely stuck here, and trying to use the terminal way out of my comfort zone and ability!