10.1 Login failures [solved]

[Guest markbaber]

I recently tried to update Evolution on my Mandrake 10.1 Community.

It locked up my machine, and after a reboot, my login process has changed - it appears to have upgraded to KDE 3.2 somehow. No problems with that, but ...

 

As well as root, I have two accounts on the machine : "A", "B".

Previously I had auto logon to "A", but now I get a login panel, which lists A and B.

Logging in as "A", with or without passwords, blacks out the screen and returns me to the login panel. Why does it do that ? And where do I go to fix it ?

Logging in as "root", the first time showed me a red screen (normal), but when I try now, I get thrown back to the login panel, same as with "A" account.

 

Fortunately, logging in as "B" works, but attempting to get to drakconf results in:

command /usr/sbin/drakconf.real not found

or a symbol lookup error from /usr/bin/perl

 

I'm worried about upgrading/updating vast chunks of software, as I have my business email on the linux box, and I don't want to lose anything. I'm not confident enough in Linux to continue without advice.

 

I tried changing the passwd on "A" with su through the "B" logon, but still can't connect with "A".

 

If someone could please point me to the login scripts and settings that I can edit/update with either a regular editor or with a GUI, I would be very happy to get back on to the Linux box.

 

Cheers !

 

 

[moved from Installing Mandriva by spinynorman - welcome aboard :)]

[ianw1974]

Firstly, any particular reason for 10.1 Community? Community releases were effectively beta releases and had lots of problems. Are you sure it's community and not Official?

 

What you might be worthwhile doing is something like:

 

userdel a
useradd a
passwd a

 

and then see if you can login as this user. Note, it's not good to login as root for normal everyday stuff. So just use "su" to get root privileges. Eg: login as "b", and then open terminal window, type "su" and enter root password when prompted. Then use the userdel/add/passwd commands as listed above.

 

If using Community, I suggest you use Official instead since it's more stable and less likely to come across problems such as this. Also, these versions aren't supported anymore for updates, etc. So maybe use LE2005 or higher, although LE2005 is due to be unsupported sometime this year I think.

[Guest markbaber]

Well, the splash screen says Community 10.1, and other than the recent upgrade that changed the appearance of the beast, I don't think I've upgraded.

This was the version on the discs in the magazine that I found - it was my first step into Linux, so far it's worked out alright, except for the issue I write about.

If there's a failsafe upgrade to a new supported version, I have no problem doing that -- enlighten me !

 

Now, the code sample you sent me raised my hackles.

If I execute "userdel a", isn't that likely to delete the user a home account entirely, not to mention everything that goes with it ? If not, what does "useradd a" accomplish given that the home directory has not yet been deleted ?

 

I never log in as root, never, I only use su for sysadm functions. I only attempted because I could not log in as "a", and I wanted to get at the drakconf material. Incidentally, any idea why user B can't run drakconf either ?

 

Thanks for your help so far.

[ianw1974]

On my system I can't run drakconf. If I do, it asks me for root password, so that I can run it.

 

The home directory is basically where all your files get stored. If you can't login with "a", then chances are it's a problem with the user, and not their associated files. I've just tested on mine, here are the results:

 

[root@europa ian]# cd ..
[root@europa home]# ls
ian/
[root@europa home]# useradd a
[root@europa home]# ls
a/  ian/
[root@europa home]# userdel a
[root@europa home]# ls
a/  ian/

 

this shows it's safe to delete the user, the home directory will be left behind. User information is stored in /etc/passwd and also /etc/group. Normally the system is using shadow passwords, and therefore when you add a user these are updated as well to encrypt the passwords. If the user is screwed and you can't login, deleting the user information and recreating it could cause you to be able to login. If this doesn't then normally a log file should show a permissioning problem in attempting to gain access to the home directory. In this case, you can reset the permissions on that directory if that is the case. Eg:

 

chown -R a:a /home/a

 

would reset the home directory so that it belongs to user "a".

 

EDIT:

 

sorry forgot about the upgrade. You could upgrade using urpmi sources or from CD/DVD media. Whist this can be successful, I've normally experienced a lot of problems. It's usually best to do a clean installation, so first back up any data, and then clean install.

[Guest markbaber]

Ok, feeling more confident now.

 

I duplicated and extended the useradd/userdel tests, and nothing disappears.

No need for the chown either, but thanks for the tip, just in case.

 

So I powered up my b account, did su, and tried to delete my "a" user account, and I get this message :

userdel: error removing shadow group entry

 

Any idea what went wrong there ?

How to proceed ?

 

 

Second note:

Even if run try to run drankconf from a new account, I enter the root password, and I get this back:

Sorry - KED su

Command '/usr/sbin/drakconf.real' not found

 

This does not inspire me with joy :-O

 

 

 

Third: the upgrade

Yup, it's already looking like I need to do a full reinstall anyway :-(

Never mind, eh ?

[ianw1974]

When the shadow passwords go wrong, this isn't going to be easy. Whilst it's possible, it can take an age to recover from.

 

With the amount of issues you have, I think a clean install would be best, and with an official release rather than a beta version such as Community/RC releases.

 

It's not a cop-out response honest. I've recovered my system when I screwed shadow password entries, but it can be a real nightmare, considering all the other probs you've got. It would mean trying to get this back to a stable state. And even then, you might update again, and end up in the same situation.

 

10.1 Official is the stable release that followed Community, or maybe try LE2005 or 2006 is the latest version of Mandriva. I would recommend this one :D

[Guest markbaber]

OK, I don't like it much, but it seems the fastest resolution path.

And to think, all I wanted was to update Evolution.

There's got to be joke in there somewhere :-)

Thanks so much for the education and recommendation - I'm off to hunt for an

LE2006 ISO image.

Cheers,

Mark