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Thread ID: 66170 2006-02-13 19:06:00 Debian log in help jcr1 (893) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
430061 2006-02-13 19:06:00 I successfully got Debian Sarge up & running - with kde.
I did a reboot yesterday and can't get past the login screen (debian default gui); I type in my username then password, it takes a longer than usual time for any action, then just reverts back to login screen. I can get to a command prompt using root. But just unsure where I should go from here.
I know that linux is still there because from windows, using filezilla (yes I got it working in the end) I can see all the linux folders.
Any ideas, anyone?
jcr1 (893)
430062 2006-02-13 19:13:00 Were you running Gnome before installing KDE on it? Did you change the login manager kdm or gdm in anyway?

At the command prompt, you should be able to log in as yourself and then just type startx to get X and the desktop running.
Jen (38)
430063 2006-02-13 19:47:00 If using kdm, you should be able to select console login, logon as root and check/change user password (you may have forgotten to make user account or you may have made some sort of typo when selecting the password).
Anyway, just go to console; type in 'passwd username' (without the quotes) then select a password
Myth (110)
430064 2006-02-13 20:10:00 well from the console:

try adding a new user with this command: adduser

then try and login.

logs are at /var/log/syslog

so this command: tail -n 50 /var/log/syslog | less

should give you an idea of what is going on...
gibler (49)
430065 2006-02-13 21:14:00 Thanks,
Jen, Gibler & Tazz :thumbs: .
Got it working, used the adduser command. I originally used an online tutorial to set this up as a server (with my own addition of a desktop - originally Gnome and I added in KDE; but login was working with this setup) and used their example username of admin. But using adduser I added john & that works and using filezilla from windows can still see all linux folders. I can also switch between the 2 machines using a KVM switch, hence my option of adding in a desktop on what one day could be a server.
The only thing I can think of, is that the night before this happened I was talking to my son in UK, using Skype and he was walking me through Apache and PHP and I wonder whether something "upset the applecart" there.
jcr1 (893)
430066 2006-02-13 22:15:00 Following is some of the output from; tail -n 50 /var/log/syslog | less

"Feb 14 11:00:01 server1 proftpd[4426]: server1.example.com (192.168.1.13[192.168.1.13]) - FTP session opened.
Feb 14 11:00:05 server1 proftpd[4426]: server1.example.com (192.168.1.13[192.168.1.13]) - FTP session closed.
Feb 14 11:00:25 server1 gconfd (john-4381): Received signal 15, shutting down cleanly
Feb 14 11:00:25 server1 gconfd (john-4381): Exiting
Feb 14 11:00:40 server1 gdm[3377]: gdm_slave_session_start: /home/admin is not owned by uid 1000.
Feb 14 11:00:40 server1 gdm[3377]: gdm_auth_user_add: /home/admin is not owned by uid 1000.
Feb 14 11:00:40 server1 gdm[3377]: run_session_child: Could not open ~/.xsession-errors
Feb 14 11:03:51 server1 gconfd (john-4631): starting (version 2.8.1), pid 4631 user 'john'
Feb 14 11:03:51 server1 gconfd (john-4631): Resolved address "xml:readonly:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.mandatory" to a read-only configuration source at position 0
Feb 14 11:03:51 server1 gconfd (john-4631): Resolved address "xml:readwrite:/home/john/.gconf" to a writable configuration source at position 1
Feb 14 11:03:51 server1 gconfd (john-4631): Resolved address "xml:readonly:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.defaults" to a read-only configuration source at position 2"

The ftp session bits are just me playing around from the windows machine. /home/admin is what I'd like to log into and the bit that says it's not owned by uid 1000, interests me.
Any ideas? :confused:
jcr1 (893)
430067 2006-02-13 22:40:00 Have a look at /etc/passwd . That has the list of known users, and it has the numeric UID as well as the name. Also ls -l /home ... that will tell you who owns /home/admin. Unless you've got crack you can't find the password on admin. (The one in /etc/passwd isn't it, anyway. That's a dummy). Yopu can force a new password from root.

It looks as if you didn't make the user correctly. ;)
Graham L (2)
430068 2006-02-14 18:24:00 Thanks Graham L,
The problem was a permissions thing. I did ls -l /home then from that chmod 777 and now I can log in to admin.
However my understanding of chmod is not that great & I just wonder whether what I've done might open me up to some security issues.
Following is the output from ls -l /home. Would you have a comment on it?
server1:/home/admin# ls -l /home
total 20772
drwxrwxrwx 25 root root 4096 2006-02-14 21:16 admin
drwxr-sr-x 3 root staff 4096 2006-02-10 20:35 admispconfig
drwxr-xr-x 2 ftp nogroup 4096 2006-02-10 12:19 ftp
-rw------- 1 admin admin 21223248 2006-02-10 13:28 ISPConfig-2.1.2.tar.gz
drwxr-xr-x 15 john john 4096 2006-02-14 21:14 john
jcr1 (893)
430069 2006-02-15 02:36:00 You should never use 777 permission . :D That means that owner, group, and everybody can read, write, and execute .

A home directory should have 755 (like the "john" directory . That means that only the owner has all rights, group and everybody can read and execute it(you need to be able to execute directories to use them;) . )

I see that /home/admin is owned by root:root . :( That was the main problem . Better use the chown (change owner) command . chown admin:admin /home/admin as root will do that . That will make its owner admin, and group admin(which will have one member, admin) . And change its permissions back to 755 . :cool:

I see you managed to get a file saved in /home . :D
Graham L (2)
430070 2006-02-15 04:21:00 Thanks again Graham L,
Worked a treat :D
I was unhappy with those permissions, but find chmod a tad confusing. I guess practice makes perfect.
jcr1 (893)
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