Ubuntu gets stuck in a login loop unless a different user logs in

Michael Boterf

4/2/23, 8:11 PM

I'm trying not to make a duplicate of a previous question, but I do have the same problem. I'm using gdm3 and have purged, and reinstalled multiple times. A different user 'test' and sudo startx work. So it seems to be a config issue, but I'm unsure. I've exhausted everything save reinstalling Ubuntu.

After following this question, I am stumped as to what to do because I'm not seeing the same files. I'm looking at the following section:

"move some of the common configuration files out of the way:"

mv ~/.config ~/.config.old --moved
mv ~/.local ~/.local.old --moved
mv ~/.cache ~/.cache.old --moved
mv ~/.nvidia-settings-rc ~/.nvidia-settings-rc.old --not found
mv ~/.nv ~/.nv.old -- not found
sudo systemctl reboot

This didn't resolve my problem, and I want to believe that this can solve it, but I haven't figured it out. I'm going to purge gdm3 once more and reboot before reinstalling.

I have fresh installs of nvidia drivers, and again. I can get a desktop to show up, but not for my user account.

0 + 0

gdm

lightdm

20.04

mchid

4/2/23, 8:45 PM

Have you tried using lightdm instead? If you don't like the theme, you could go with the unity-greeter: `sudo apt update` and `sudo apt install lightdm unity-greeter` and be sure to switch to lightdm when prompted.

guiverc

4/2/23, 9:17 PM

Did you machine meet the minimum specifications for a desktop install? Inability to login with a user (but not others) means the issue is in $HOME usually; most obvious is lack of space there; which means the login fails & user is logged out (no message). That's what I'd check first; secondly is what is set to autostart for that signin; as a bad command can also kill session unintentionally (causing logout). You make no mention of either checks of these.

Michael Boterf

4/3/23, 4:33 PM

@jmchid I wish I had put this in the post earlier. Neither gdm3 nor lightdm were logging in. It seems that it was an issue with the .profile I essentially just mv'd everything to *.old until I could log back in. I've moved everything back but .profile. Not sure what would cause such an issue.

Michael Boterf

4/3/23, 4:35 PM

@guiverc Thanks for pointing out where I could be checking, and I'd just like to remind you that not everyone knows to check things like what you had mentioned which is why we come here in the first place. In my comment to mchid, I ended up moving the .profile to .profile.old and that has allowed me to log in. I'm on a dell xps with an i9 and a GTX3050TI. I wasn't thinking about space or hardware requirements when I wrote this, but I'll think about this post in the future.

Score:0

Ubuntu

Michael Boterf

4/3/23, 4:57 PM

From the comments to mchid

My solution followed the instructions here. The simple answer is that I just kept moving things under $HOME until it worked. Once I was able to log back in, I moved everything back except .profile. I was able to login with .profile renamed as .profile.old. I don't know if that will fix your specific issue, but you may try executing a mv <filename> <filename.old> for everything under $HOME until you can log back in. For me, this was painful as there are tons of answers saying hundreds of things to try.

I'm saying mv which is for moving files, but if you're new, it's a way to just quickly start renaming things.

Steps that I took

ctrl + alt + F2
ls -al
start mv commands to rename anything that starts with a .
try a couple at the top or bottom
ctrl + alt + F1 (it could also be F7)
try to login

Keep doing that until you win. I hope this helps someone fix the login loop issue in hours rather than all day. Please do start with this post as that might fix it quickly.

0 + 0

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Ubuntu gets stuck in a login loop unless a different user logs in

TH: Ubuntu ติดอยู่ในลูปการเข้าสู่ระบบเว้นแต่ผู้ใช้รายอื่นจะเข้าสู่ระบบ

RO: Ubuntu rămâne blocat într-o buclă de conectare, dacă nu se conectează un alt utilizator

RU: Ubuntu застревает в цикле входа в систему, если другой пользователь не войдет в систему

VI: Ubuntu bị kẹt trong vòng đăng nhập trừ khi người dùng khác đăng nhập

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