LXDE 2010 Won't retain an autologin. (RESOLVED, with thanks)

[Neal ManBear]

Neal: Synaptic won't let me uninstall Avio-GDM on its own. It is included in the whole gdm-themes package.

Delete the Avio-GDM folder and then mark Avio-GDM for reinstallation and apply.

I left it alone, and went through Avio noting permissions and owner. Then I looked at LXDE-GDM and straight away there are differences. Instead of listing them, might I anticipate your reaction and alter the respective equivalent files named in LXDE to the same permissions and owner as in Avio, and try it? 

Yes. That is what should be done. That is what I intended when I said,

.....They should be the same.

I should have been clearer.

[BJF]

OK, from the top, Neal.
I delete Avio. Sweating a bit there because the only way to get it back was to reinstall the whole themes package that includes it, and what happens if one reinstalls a running theme (PCLXDE). Feel the fear...
So help me, I could not get to the Avio Theme GDM Configuration screen from the login screen no matter what I did, so I logged on as root. Went through Avio and PCLXDE and aligned the permissions. As in I altered LXDE!! Then I set PCLXDE as the theme and made the autolog, and interestingly I have only one instance of LXDE, shut down (it hung and I had to click the little red box to get out of GDM Conf), then booted up from a cold start. The old faithful PCLXDE theme is back, and still no autolog. What about a one-by-one trial of the available themes to see if any of them autolog? Perhaps a religious intervention after all?? 

[Neal ManBear]

OK, from the top, Neal.
I delete Avio. Sweating a bit there because the only way to get it back was to reinstall the whole themes package that includes it, and what happens if one reinstalls a running theme (PCLXDE). Feel the fear...

No need to fear. I would not have suggested this had I not tested it first. A reinstall may often sort out some issues.

So help me, I could not get to the Avio Theme GDM Configuration screen from the login screen no matter what I did, so I logged on as root. Went through Avio and PCLXDE and aligned the permissions. As in I altered LXDE!!

  Good. The permissions settings needed to be reset.

Then I set PCLXDE as the theme and made the autolog, and interestingly I have only one instance of LXDE, shut down (it hung and I had to click the little red box to get out of GDM Conf), then booted up from a cold start. The old faithful PCLXDE theme is back, and still no autolog. What about a one-by-one trial of the available themes to see if any of them autolog? Perhaps a religious intervention after all?? 

Check to be sure that you do not have autologin installed. If you do, uninstall it. Autologin (the package) can interfere with setting automatic login via GDMSettings.

[BJF]

OK, did a search on autologin and got two hits: the autologin app, and part of the content of drakxtools. Autologin was not installed, having had the dealing-to a while ago. And there was too much else good in drakxtools to touch that. Then I found the Forum was down while Tex sorted out the intruders, and I couldn't reply. I spent two days in deep depression checking back and wondering and now I know why. Well done, Big Guy.
So tonight after our dinner guests had left I found the site was up again and got out the Eeep to recheck and reply. And the darn thing logged itself on! I did notice though that the volume control on the Taskbar had a cross through/beside it which it doesn't normally have though the volume is down to zero, but everything else looked the same. I shut down to reboot, not believing it had really happened and it took a little longer to get to the fading bull than normal, and shut down. Rebooted, it stopped again at the login screen. If I still had hair I would be tearing it out!

[Neal ManBear]

If you start removing any of the drak packages, you will loose PCC or at least some of its functionality. It is okay not to have the autologin app installed when you are using GDM, as it provides an autologin function.

Your custom.conf hasn't changed? It still has:

AutomaticLogin=you
AutomaticLoginEnable=true

Hmm...... try this -- rename your /etc/X11/gdm/custom.conf to custom.conf.old (for a back up) and open GDMConf. Set up your login theme and autologin. Reboot. (Do not change any of the other default settings for GDM.)

[BJF]

It WILL make another one for itself, won't it?

[Neal ManBear]

It WILL make another one for itself, won't it?

Yes, it should do so. Remember, by renaming it to custom.conf.old you have a back up that can be restored by renaming to custom.conf.

Tip: When you work with files like this, it is always best to create a back up, in case it is needed. This provides the option to restore an old file, if something goes wrong or just doesn't work.

[BJF]

Did the rename after checking the content of the file. The settings were still there.
Did GDM Configure. Didn't touch anything but the theme, which I found can't be toggled on and off. One needs to make a different choice. Toggled Mandriva on, then went back to PCLXDE. Autologon was set to me and I left that alone. Shut down, booted back. It paused at the Avio log page instead of the PCLXDE one on the way out and has booted back to the Avio log-on. Logged on as me, and did GDM Configure again. The theme was Avio, which I changed, and there was no autologin set. Established that as me too, and shut down. Restarted, it went to...to... (real time here, it's doing it)... the Avio login screen. GDM has reset itself to Avio and wiped the autolog. Reset that but left Avio and I'm rebooting now. It's up and stopped at the login. And GDM has removed my autolog again. What do you make of this, Watson?

(EDIT) Please bear in mind that I am an expert at making plausible arguments around things I know nothing about, but could we (as in you) craft a unique native Custom.conf file for this thing that would "tick all the boxes" and make it go? That said, I must admit that it is an insecure portable device and as such is probably better off with a passworded log-on, but that's a cop-out, and I'd really like to know what the blasted thing's problem is!

[Neal ManBear]

  I'd like to know, too. Hmm...... check the PCLXDE permissions to see if they got messed up somehow.

Give me a day or two, and I will create a new theme for you to try.

[BJF]

Gosh. For me? I am unworthy. 

[wedgetail]

BJF
I would say you are a dream tester, patient, interested and knowledable    We might get a whole new addition to LXDE which is now one of my main fallbacks when all else crashes. Like today I had get into the backdoor in KDE, still have to look at that later. I appreciate your effort (of course you too Neal) 

[BJF]

Hey guess what. It didn't make a custom.conf file. There are two custom files, one I labeled custom.confold which contains minimal information, the autolog verification and not much else. Perhaps it, as in the box, picked this up as the nearest thing to a custom.conf file and overlayed the Avio theme on it. And won't autolog either. And there is the custom.conf.old file which we were working with before, and has the permissions Owner: RW Group: RW Others: R That looks a bit odd to me....   

(EDIT)

BJF
I would say you are a dream tester, patient, interested and knowledable  Grin

When I grow up, I want to be just like Old-Polack!

[Neal ManBear]

In /etc/X11/gdm right click > create a new text file > name it custom.conf > leave it empty. Run GDMConf. Reboot. Check the new custom.conf file. Was it filled in?

If it was still empty, put these lines into it:

>>>**starting empty line**<<<
[daemon]
AlwaysRestartServer=true
Browser=true
AutomaticLogin=<your-user-name>
AutomaticLoginEnable=true
>>>**ending empty line**<<<

The empty line at the start and end is important.
Reboot.  Are you auto-logged in?

[BJF]

Sit down please Neal. This is gonna rock you. I made the custom.conf blank file, and the box didn't fill it in. So I added the magic words and Voila! Autologin. Shut down, reboot, no login. So as an experiment I removed the words, rebooted, logged in, and put the words back, logged out and back. Result: one Autologin then next boot a stop.
So, somewhere in the depths there is a write-back taking place that cancels custom.conf or there is invisible ink in the keyboard, but one autologin per customer is the sum total outcome!

Thanks.

[Neal ManBear]

Sit down please Neal. This is gonna rock you. I made the custom.conf blank file, and the box didn't fill it in. So I added the magic words and Voila! Autologin. Shut down, reboot, no login. So as an experiment I removed the words, rebooted, logged in, and put the words back, logged out and back. Result: one Autologin then next boot a stop.
So, somewhere in the depths there is a write-back taking place that cancels custom.conf or there is invisible ink in the keyboard, but one autologin per customer is the sum total outcome!

Thanks.

  That is just odd.   Hmm......
Do you have anything in your /home/<you>/.config or /root/.config about GDM?
Do you have anything other than parcellite and dropbox in /home/<you>/.config/autostart?

Check in PCC > Boot > Set up autologin to be certain that autologin is not enabled from there.