I have an Ubuntu 18.04 machine with 2 users. Both are admins. The 1st user works fine. The 2nd user has some system settings greyed out, such as the unlock button for modifying users. When I hover over it it says, "System policy prevents changes. Contact your system administrator":
...and the unlock button for modifying printer settings, as well as the printer settings themselves--both are greyed out!
Same with the Date & Time settings...the Unlock button is greyed out and has the same message.
What's wrong? How can I give user 2 the ability to change printer settings or modify users? They are a member of the sudo group, and an admin, and all of these settings work just fine for user 1.
Maybe has something to do with polkit? <-- no idea what this is and I don't understand it at all.
Update: in case any of these files are related to the issue somehow, I have these:
/usr/share/polkit-1$ tree
.
├── actions
│ ├── com.hp.hplip.policy
│ ├── com.ubuntu.apport.policy
│ ├── com.ubuntu.languageselector.policy
│ ├── com.ubuntu.release-upgrader.policy
│ ├── com.ubuntu.softwareproperties.policy
│ ├── com.ubuntu.systemservice.policy
│ ├── com.ubuntu.update-notifier.policy
│ ├── com.ubuntu.usbcreator.policy
│ ├── com.ubuntu.welcome.policy
│ ├── com.ubuntu.whoopsiepreferences.policy
│ ├── io.snapcraft.snapd.policy
│ ├── org.a11y.brlapi.policy
│ ├── org.debian.apt.policy
│ ├── org.dpkg.pkexec.update-alternatives.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.accounts.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.bolt.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.color.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.fwupd.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.hostname1.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.locale1.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.login1.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.ModemManager1.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.packagekit.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.packagekit.system-network-proxy-configure.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.pkexec.nomachine.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.policykit.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.RealtimeKit1.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.resolve1.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.systemd1.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.timedate1.policy
│ ├── org.freedesktop.UDisks2.policy
│ ├── org.gnome.controlcenter.datetime.policy
│ ├── org.gnome.controlcenter.remote-login-helper.policy
│ ├── org.gnome.controlcenter.user-accounts.policy
│ ├── org.gnome.DejaDup.policy
│ ├── org.gnome.gparted.policy
│ ├── org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power.policy
│ ├── org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.wacom.policy
│ ├── org.gtk.vfs.file-operations.policy
│ ├── org.kde.kio.file.policy
│ ├── org.nemo.root.policy
│ ├── org.opensuse.cupspkhelper.mechanism.policy
│ ├── org.xfce.thunar.policy
│ └── org.x.xf86-video-intel.backlight-helper.policy
└── rules.d
├── 20-gnome-initial-setup.rules
├── 60-network-manager.rules
├── geoclue-2.0.rules
├── gnome-control-center.rules
├── org.freedesktop.bolt.rules
├── org.freedesktop.fwupd.rules
├── org.freedesktop.packagekit.rules
├── org.gtk.vfs.file-operations.rules
└── systemd-networkd.rules
2 directories, 54 files
Also perhaps related:
Source: https://www.admin-magazine.com/Articles/Assigning-Privileges-with-sudo-and-PolicyKit
Related, but don't seem to help:
- https://superuser.com/questions/980921/cant-unlock-system-settings-such-as-network-settings-to-edit-in-xubuntu
- How can I give permission to a user be able to UNLOCK Users GUI to Create New Users when connected thru xRDP Sessions?
- https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/system-policy-prevents-modification-of-network-settings-for-all-users-4175420519/
- *****https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Polkit
- https://www.freedesktop.org/software/polkit/docs/latest/polkit.8.html
- https://help.ubuntu.com/stable/ubuntu-help/user-admin-change.html.en - doesn't work for me--button is greyed out
- How can I create an administrator user from the command line? - doesn't seem to be what I need, and I already ran
sudo usermod -aG sudo user2, then logged out and logged back in and user2 now showssudoas one of the groups when I rungroups, but it still won't work
$ sudo apt-get remove chrome-remote-desktop$ sudo apt-get autoremoveand relogin.
– Naofumi Feb 23 '21 at 18:51sudo apt autoremove chrome-remote-desktop– Gabriel Staples Feb 02 '22 at 14:55sudo systemctl stop chrome-remote-desktop@<my user>.service, login out and back in, make the settings change, and then start the service. I didn't need to actually uninstall it. – gsgx Mar 13 '22 at 10:59