Unable to login to LL

[Kirkx]

My LL has been working flawlessly for the last few weeks and today, out of a blue, I can't login. It seems to be booting ok and the problem is at the login screen. I removed the splash screen long time ago and I boot all my distros from Grub4Dos bypassing Grub2:

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# Grub4Dos file Menu.lst
title Linux Lite
root (hd0,20)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-32-generic root=UUID=4ghka89-5586-3b77-8r6c-49f28g17d4n9 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-32-generic

This way I can see how the bootup scripts are executed line by line, and there is no difference between how they run today and before, so the bootup process looks ok. When the login screen comes up (the screen with the user name and password) I enter the password and hit Enter. At this point LL would normally load startup applications but instead the login screen comes up again. It looks like I was entering the wrong password, but the password is correct, I have never touched the user account menu and never changed the password since original installation.

I wish I had a Clonezilla image backup but I keep putting this off, there are so many other things to learn.

My last commands in LL yesterday were as follows:
   

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sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get autoremove
At this point there were no messages about any outstanding updates or files to be removed and I hit:

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sudo shutdown -h now
PS: I post this message after booting to Xubuntu 14.04 (from Grub4Dos, obviously; I don't understand why they made Grub2 so bloody complicated, but that's the topic for another thread).

[Jerry]

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade would be the culprit here. LL is a heavily modified distribution, very easy to break if folks don't stick to the tried and true, ie. Install Updates. We have mentioned not doing sudo apt-get dist-upgrade in the past, you may be looking at a fresh install Kirk

[Kirkx]

Valtam: We have mentioned not doing sudo apt-get dist-upgrade in the past, you may be looking at a fresh install Kirk

Thanks. I missed that because I'm LL newbie. Such is life, lesson learnt. I will update my custom "Help.txt" file:

apt-get dist-upgrade
- same as "apt-get upgrade" + smart handling of dependencies, so some packages may be removed
- do not use it with Debian w/o studying the topic further
- do not use it with Linux Lite

[Jerry]

All good mate

[Kirkx]

After booting to another distro, what would be the best commands to delete all files and directories in the broken OS before fresh re-install. I don't want to format the root and home partitions when reinstalling so that the device numbers remain intact. Is this enough:

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rm -rf /media/username/my_LL_folder/*
rm -rf /media/username/my_LL_folder/
or:

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rm -rdf /media/username/my_LL_folder/*
rm -rdf /media/username/my_LL_folder/

In my case LL is installed to:

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/dev/sda21
/dev/sda22
PS: This seems to be the only drawback of using Grub4Dos for booting. You need to manually edit the kernel version after each kernel update and edit device numbers and UUIDs in case some partitions have been realigned.

[gold_finger]

Holy Moly!  22 partitions!  I thought I was bad with 11 on one of my drives.

I've never done what you propose before, but would imagine rm -rf /media/username/my_LL_folder/* would be the one to use.


I'm pretty sure the device names won't change on re-installation as long as you don't delete, then recreate the partitions.  If you just install over them and format them, device name should stay as it is but I'm not sure about the UUID (that will probably change).  But, as I'm sure you know, you can easily find the new UUID by just running:

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sudo blkid
Keep in mind, if you have /home on a separate partition right now there is no need to format and install over it.  Just assign the mount point during installation, but don't check format box.  Your data files will be there ready to go with the new install.  The only one you need to re-format is the root partition.

[Kirkx]

gold_finger:I'm pretty sure the device names won't change on re-installation as long as you don't delete, then recreate the partitions.

Thanks, that's correct, I have confused formatting with deleting/recreating. I've just tested this using Gparted Live CD and it works as follows:

a) formatting a partition - device number remains the same, UUID will change
b) resizing a partition - both device number and UUID remain the same
c) deleting and re-creating a partition in the same location on the hard disk - both device number and UUID will change

There is one more scenario that I'm not sure about:

d) restoring a partition from Clonezilla disk image - ?

I have created a thread on Ubuntu forums, so let's see what their experts have to say:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2237147

I've never done what you propose before, but would imagine rm -rf /media/username/my_LL_folder/* would be the one to use.

Yes, that command seems to be working as expected. I ran it on both root and home partitions and then they were both showing "zero" bytes. But, of course, formatting seems to be a better choice in this case. I have decided to reinstall both root and home partitions, just in case.

Holy Moly!  22 partitions!  I thought I was bad with 11 on one of my drives.

Well, actually, I have a bit more than 22:

http://i.imgur.com/qhDuoZY.png

[gold_finger]

42 PARTITIONS!!!  WOW!  What, are you trying to set a world record?  (Just kidding.)

Have never used Clonezilla, but if I had to guess:  UUID probably remains as it was when cloned, and device name is whatever it is on partition you restore to.  (But that's just a guess.)

[Kirkx]

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade would be the culprit here. LL is a heavily modified distribution, very easy to break if folks don't stick to the tried and true, ie. Install Updates. We have mentioned not doing sudo apt-get dist-upgrade in the past, you may be looking at a fresh install Kirk

Thanks, Valtam. After doing the fresh LL install I have looked at the command and script behind Menu - Install Updates. Here is the script:

So for those of us who like to run everything from the terminal, Install Updates is nothing more than:

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sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgradeAnd, as Valtam said, DO NOT run the command below (often mentioned on Ubuntu forums) because to do it in LL is asking for trouble:

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sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade