guest-session won't start

[Tuomas Aavikko]

Binary package hint: gdm-guest-session

Trying to launch guest-session either from indicator-session or command-line, nothing happens,
Screen is locked and prompts to enter my own password.

tta@dv5:~$ /usr/share/gdm/guest-session/guest-session-launch
Error org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.ErrorError: Method invoked for StartGuestSession returned FALSE but did not set error
tta@dv5:~$ sudo /usr/share/gdm/guest-session/guest-session-launch
** Message: Screensaver is not running!
/usr/share/gdm/guest-session/guest-session-launch: 7: xscreensaver-command: not found
Error org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.ErrorError: Method invoked for StartGuestSession returned FALSE but did not set error

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Sep 27 12:35:46 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: gdm-guest-session 0.12
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-11.36-generic
SourcePackage: gdm-guest-session
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-11-generic x86_64

[Tuomas Aavikko (taavikko)]

As apport didn't provided enough information, this setup is a clean install around alpha~3
With encrypted $HOME provided by the installer.

[Rick Spencer (rick-rickspencer3)]

Not sure why I set this to invalid. In any case, I can not reproduce the issue. Is it still occurring?

[Tuomas Aavikko (taavikko)]

Latest set of updates as of 6.10.2009 and restart.
results in a locked screen.

[Tuomas Aavikko (taavikko)]

It seems that the $HOME for the guest user is created but it just fails to initiate the guest-session

tta@dv5:~$ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 9.3G 2.9G 6.3G 31% /
udev 2.0G 320K 2.0G 1% /dev
none 2.0G 104K 2.0G 1% /dev/shm
none 2.0G 80K 2.0G 1% /var/run
none 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /var/lock
none 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /lib/init/rw
/dev/sda2 281G 72G 195G 27% /home
/home/tta/.Private 281G 72G 195G 27% /home/tta
tta@dv5:~$ /usr/share/gdm/guest-session/guest-session-launch
Error org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.ErrorError: Method invoked for StartGuestSession returned FALSE but did not set error
tta@dv5:~$ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 9.3G 2.9G 6.3G 31% /
udev 2.0G 320K 2.0G 1% /dev
none 2.0G 104K 2.0G 1% /dev/shm
none 2.0G 80K 2.0G 1% /var/run
none 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /var/lock
none 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /lib/init/rw
/dev/sda2 281G 72G 195G 27% /home
/home/tta/.Private 281G 72G 195G 27% /home/tta
none 2.0G 16K 2.0G 1% /tmp/guest-home.wCNTDd
tta@dv5:~$

Using guest-session-launch, it will just lock the screen.

[Tuomas Aavikko (taavikko)]

bug 432964 is the key to fixing this.

somehow there was a /etc/{passwd,shadow}.lock files left behind that prevented the session startup.

This can be marked as fixed, unless someone else is affected.

[Robert Ancell (robert-ancell)]

I believe this is a duplicate of bug 292533 - if guest is left in /etc/password you cannot launch a new guest session