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DataHearth
Asked: 2018-04-21 22:07:14 +0800 CST

Can't load Xfce due to login loop, other DEs work

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I'm a newbie on Ubuntu. I wanted to install XFCE to create a very personal DE.

The problem is I've got a login loop. Since I upgraded my distro to 17.10 to support my wifi, I can't load XFCE. But I can load Unity and Ubuntu DE.m

When I try to login, it loops again on the login screen.

I know it's a graphical error but I can't fix it with the usual commands.

login graphics desktop-environments xfce xubuntu

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    How to get a system with only xfce4 in Bionic Beaver, 18.04 LTS

    • Download and check an Ubuntu mini.iso file,

      or to boot in UEFI mode, from an Ubuntu Server 64-bit (amd64) iso file),

      a 32-bit system

      wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/bionic/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/mini.iso
wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/bionic/main/installer-i386/current/images/MD5SUMS
grep mini.iso MD5SUMS | sed s#./netboot/## > mini.md5
md5sum -c mini.md5

      or a 64-bit system,

      wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/bionic/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/mini.iso
wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/bionic/main/installer-amd64/current/images/MD5SUMS
grep mini.iso MD5SUMS | sed s#./netboot/## > mini.md5
md5sum -c mini.md5

    • Create a CD/DVD/USB boot drive by cloning from the mini.iso file

    • Install a minimal system from mini.iso CD/DVD/USB.

      You need a wired connection to the internet (ethernet) for the mini.iso to work.

      It might be possible, but is difficult, to make WiFi work with the mini.iso installer. (I don't know how to do it.)

    • Boot into the installed minimal system. You arrive at a text screen.

      After login: please enter the user ID (that you created a few minutes ago), and after that the password. There is no echo (no dots) when you enter the password.

      Now you can run command lines.

    • Install 'only ' xfce4. You will get no graphical greeter unless you install it separately.

      sudo apt update
sudo apt install xfce4

    • Now you can start the graphical session with the command

      startx

      and it will look like the following picture (I ran some commands before taking the screenshot),

      enter image description here

      If you right-click on the picture and open it in another window (that is big enough), you can see it in full size and read the text.

    How to get a system with xfce4 alongside standard Ubuntu with gnomein Bionic Beaver, 18.04 LTS

    • Warning about mixing desktop environments

      It is easy to install new desktop environments alongside the current one, but it is very difficult to remove that desktop environment without damage to the desktop environment, that you want to keep. So don't do this to your production operating system unless you have a good backup.

    • Install standard Ubuntu Bionic, 18.04 LTS

    • Boot into the installed system

    • Install xfce4 and lxde to help xfce work alongside standard Ubuntu

      sudo apt update
sudo apt install xfce4 lxde

    • Reboot (next time you can also log out and switch session without reboot)

    • Click on the cog wheel symbol to select session (XFCE, LXDE, Ubuntu ...)

      enter image description here

    • Enter password and log in.

    • 4

  2. Try this: Start in text-only mode

    Switch on your computer. Wait until the BIOS has finished loading, and press and hold Shift, which will bring up the Grub menu.
Select the line which starts with Advanced options.
Select the line ending with (recovery mode)
Press Return and your machine will begin the boot process.
After a few moments, your PC should display a menu with a number of options, including Drop to root shell prompt. Press Return with this option highlighted.
The PC will start in a terminal.

    Run these commands:

    Mount partitions in read-write mode

    mount -o remount,rw /
mount --all

    Update repositories

    apt update

    Install aptitude and deborphan

    apt install --reinstall aptitude deborphan

    Eliminate the components of gnome & unity that are not necessary in Xubuntu

    aptitude remove '?and(?reverse-depends(gnome),?not(?reverse-depends(?exact-name(xubuntu-desktop))))'

aptitude remove '?and(?reverse-depends(unity),?not(?reverse-depends(?exact-name(xubuntu-desktop))))'

    Reinstall xubuntu-desktop

    apt install --reinstall xubuntu-desktop

    Eliminate orphan packages

    deborphan
apt --purge remove $(deborphan)
deborphan --libdevel
apt --purge remove $(deborphan --libdevel)
deborphan --find-config
dpkg --purge $(deborphan --find-config)

    Remove unnecessary packages

    apt autoremove

    Remove downloaded packages

    apt clean

    Restart system

    reboot
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