xscreensaver doesn't accept correct password

Thanks for your report. Do you think the keyboard layout can be wrong? Does it work if you type in your password as if you had a US English keyboard for instance?

How can I do that? If you give me hans on, I am more than willing to help debug!

Close your eyes, and imagine you have a US keyboard :) Under keyboard layout preferences there should be a preview option, where you can see how different layouts look like.

OK, just checked:
No, the US Keyboard Layout doesn't help, either.

I did two tests:
One: Leave German Keyboard Layout and type the password according to US Keyboard Layout.
Two: Switch to US Layout and type according US Layout.

Neither worked. I would have expected at least the US Layout to work. But even this combination doesn't unlock my screen. Still have to kill my xscreensaver to re-gain access.

Do you know if this worked fine in 11.10?

Yes, it did.

Tormod Volden <email address hidden> schrieb:

Do you know if this worked fine in 11.10?

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/992623

Title:
xscreensaver doesn't accept correct password

Status in “xscreensaver” package in Ubuntu:
New

Bug description:
When being prompted by xscreensaver, I can enter my password - however, it will not be accepted.
I have to kill xscreensaver via console to re-gain access.

Yes, my password contains special characters - but they are the
"standard" ones like ",.@-/"

Description: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
Release: 12.04

xscreensaver:
Installiert: 5.15-2ubuntu1
Kandidat: 5.15-2ubuntu1
Versionstabelle:
*** 5.15-2ubuntu1 0
500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: xscreensaver 5.15-2ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.37-generic 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue May 1 15:55:53 2012
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
ProcEnviron:
LANGUAGE=de_DE:en
TERM=xterm
PATH=(custom, no user)
LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: xscreensaver
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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Excerpt from /var/log/auth.log

[Code]
May 7 11:11:35 hss-laptop unix_chkpwd[6780]: check pass; user unknown
May 7 11:11:35 hss-laptop unix_chkpwd[6780]: password check failed for user (hss)
May 7 11:11:35 hss-laptop xscreensaver[6755]: pam_unix(xscreensaver:auth): authentication failure; logname= uid=1000 euid=1000 tty=:0.0 ruser= rhost= user=hss
May 7 11:11:37 hss-laptop xscreensaver[6755]: FAILED LOGIN 2 ON DISPLAY ":0.0", FOR "hss"
[/Code]

Solved:

My /etc/shadow belonged to root:root
After changing ownershop to root:shadow, login works again.

Did you manipulate this file yourself at some point (like copying it from an old installation) or is this a bug in Xubuntu?

I copied it at one time.

I'm glad I found this bug report. My xscreensaver has been doing the same thing. I changed the group on /etc/shadow from 'root' to 'shadow' and it resolved the issue.

I don't recall ever having touched the shadow file, as I never have a need to fool with it. Dunno if some other process may have touched it. I do recall xscreensaver working a long time ago; I just hadn't used it often.