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Scott Severance
Asked: 2011-10-27 15:55:47 +0800 CST

How do I remove the dots from the login screen?

  • 772

I can change the background image that Unity Greeter displays, but regardless of the image I choose, it's overlaid with a grid of dots. The dots look OK on the default background, but they look horrible on the background I want to use. How can I get rid of them?

lightdm

4 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    For 12.04 and 14.04

    Try the following commands in a terminal. It should work. 

    sudo xhost +SI:localuser:lightdm
sudo su lightdm -s /bin/bash
gsettings set com.canonical.unity-greeter draw-grid false
exit

    References:

    • 21

  2. This answer applies only to Ubuntu 11.04

    Thanks to @Blitz and @Zoke for their answers. However, I've created a more complete solution. I've modified the package unity-greeter to remove the dots and I've packaged it in a PPA.

    Anyone who wants to be rid of the dots can use my PPA. Here are instructions:

    1. Add the PPA:

      sudo add-apt-repository ppa:scott.severance/lightdm

    2. Run sudo apt-get update

    3. Run sudo apt-get upgrade
    4. The dots are now gone.
    • 13

  3. It is hard coded in the sources. I have disabled it on my install by making a small change in the source of user-list.vala.

    A quick step by step guide.

    sudo apt-get install build-essential
apt-get source unity-greeter
sudo apt-get build-dep unity-greeter
cd unity-greeter-0.1.1/src/
vim user-list.vala +252

    Remove the line or just add // at the beginning of the line. Save and exit.

    cd ..
dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -uc -b
cd ..
sudo dpkg -i unity-greeter_0.1.1-0ubuntu1_*.deb

    Ubuntu will try to replace the custom built package when performing a system upgrade. Just uncheck unity-greeter to keep the custom one or reinstall the custom one using 'dpkg' after the upgrade.

    [Edit]

    To prevent the package manager from replacing your custom unity-greeter just run

    sudo apt-mark hold unity-greeter
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  4. At the moment at least this is not currently possible. I have done some reading around before and it seems to be hard coded in. Hopefully the devs will include a way to get rid of them eventually.

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