Ubuntu
lightdm package

'Unable to create session' when logging in to a newly created user

Bug #1506771 reported by Raphael Mankin on 2015-10-16

6

This bug affects 1 person

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	lightdm (Ubuntu)	New	Medium	Unassigned

Bug Description

Similar but not the same as 1056833.

After creating a new user I was unable to login to her id from lightdm. I could login on a text console and then run startx.

I think the problem is that /var/lib/AccountService/user/$user had Xsession=ubuntu instead of xfce. I do not have any Unity code on my machine.

There is no option in the create-user dialogue to select a session type, not in the lightdm login screen.

I will do some more testing and report back when I have finished this bug report.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: lightdm 1.10.5-0ubuntu1.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-65.106-generic 3.13.11-ckt26
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-65-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.15
Architecture: i386
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Fri Oct 16 09:08:34 2015
LightdmConfig:
[SeatDefaults]
greeter-session = unity-greeter
allow-guest = false
SourcePackage: lightdm
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-08-23 (418 days ago)

Tags:

Revision history for this message

Raphael Mankin (raph-p) wrote on 2015-10-16:

#1

Dependencies.txt Edit (12.9 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
LightdmDisplayLog.txt Edit (2.3 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
LightdmGreeterLog.txt Edit (9.1 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
LightdmGreeterLogOld.txt Edit (9.6 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
LightdmLog.txt Edit (9.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
LightdmUsersConfig.txt Edit (451 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcEnviron.txt Edit (106 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")

Revision history for this message

Raphael Mankin (raph-p) wrote on 2015-10-16:

#2

Confirmed my suspicions. Editing /var/lib/AccountService/user/$user and setting Xsession manually to xfce resolve the issue.

Revision history for this message

Robert Ancell (robert-ancell) wrote on 2015-10-16:

#3

Can you get a /var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log after this occurs? The log attached here seems to show a successful login (i.e. your existing user). It does sound like the configuration has chosen an invalid session and so LightDM returns you to the greeter.

Revision history for this message

Robert Ancell (robert-ancell) wrote on 2015-10-16:

#4

When I create a user here there is no XSession set in /var/lib/AccountService/user/$user

Revision history for this message

Robert Ancell (robert-ancell) wrote on 2015-10-16:

#5

What tool are you using to create the user account? xfce4-settings?

Changed in lightdm (Ubuntu):
status:	New → Incomplete
importance:	Undecided → Medium

Revision history for this message

Raphael Mankin (raph-p) wrote on 2015-10-16:

#6

/var/lib/AccountsService/users/$User Edit (301 bytes, text/plain)

The user creation tool calls itself 'User Administration Tool' It has no 'About' menu. It is in the system>users & groups menu.

I attach a copy of /var/lib/AccountsService/users/$User and light_dm log.

Revision history for this message

Robert Ancell (robert-ancell) wrote on 2015-10-16:

#7

The LightDM log seems to be missing.

Is the user file for an existing user or one that has just been created? I want to check if XSession is set at user creation time or by something else later.

My best guess is either two things are happening:
- Something at user creation time is setting XSession to an invalid value.
- The greeter you are using (lightdm-gtk-greeter?) is choosing an invalid session when you try and log in - it should not do this.

Revision history for this message

Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj) wrote on 2015-10-16:

#8

Can it possibly be users-admin in gnome-system-tools? Raphael, can you please open a terminal window and run the command

users-admin

to see if it's a known command and (if so) if the resulting window looks the same.

Revision history for this message

Raphael Mankin (raph-p) wrote on 2015-10-16:

#9

Yes it is the users-admin tool.
I tried to add the lightdm.log, but the browser did nothing when I clicked the 'post comment' button. Killing and restarting firefox has not helped.

Revision history for this message

Raphael Mankin (raph-p) wrote on 2015-10-16:

#10

lightdm.log Edit (8.9 KiB, text/plain)

Try again to add the attachment, having logged out/in

Revision history for this message

Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote on 2015-12-16:

#11

[Expired for lightdm (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

Changed in lightdm (Ubuntu):
status:	Incomplete → Expired

Robert Ancell (robert-ancell) on 2015-12-16

Changed in lightdm (Ubuntu):
status:	Expired → New

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