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Every time I log in it goes back to the log in screen. I can only get in as a guest.How do I correct this log in issue?

Keith
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1 Answers1

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You'll need to verify that you have a home directory and have proper permission to it. You'll also need to have read/write access to the .Xauthority file.

People commonly loose access to some of the areas of their home directory by working in the personal space as root, using the elevated sudo command.

There are also occasions where the /home folder is located on a separate drive or partition that for some reason didn't mount.

You can check this by using Alt+Cntrl+F2 to go to a console screen and logging in.

If you succeed in logging in you can check to see which components you can't access with this command:

You can get a complete list of files you don't own by running these steps:

$ cd
$ cd ..
$ find ./yourID ! -user yourID

You mainly have to own the following:

./ (your home directory)
.Xauthority

If it's the most commonly .Xauthority permission problem you can fix that by either changing owner to your ID or removing it and allowing it to be automatically recreated the next time you log into the desktop.

To change owner to your id:

$ sudo chown yourid:yourid .Xauthority

To remove it and allow it to automatically be recreated:

$ sudo mv .Xauthority .Xauthority.old

The detailed explanation was to not just give the direct resolution, but to point out, as many ask, what causes this to happen.

L. D. James
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