Cannot Unlock "System > Administration > Login Screen"

Assigning to gdm

$ sudo gdmsetup
[sudo] password for arky:
** (gdmsetup:4267): DEBUG: init delay=10
** (gdmsetup:4267): DEBUG: Failed to identify the current session: Unable to lookup session information for process '4267'

** (gdmsetup:4267): WARNING **: Unable to find users: no seat-id found
** (gdmsetup:4267): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: explicitly skipping user: nobody
** (gdmsetup:4267): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: user icon changed
** (gdmsetup:4267): DEBUG: adding monitor for '/home/iise/.face'
** (gdmsetup:4267): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: user icon changed
** (gdmsetup:4267): DEBUG: adding monitor for '/var/run/sabayon-admin/.face'
** (gdmsetup:4267): DEBUG: Getting list of sessions for user 999
** (gdmsetup:4267): DEBUG: Found 0 sessions for user sabayon-admin
** (gdmsetup:4267): DEBUG: Getting list of sessions for user 1001
** (gdmsetup:4267): DEBUG: Found 1 sessions for user iise
** (gdmsetup:4267): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: not adding session on other seat: /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session1

the new gdmsetup dialog is not means to be run using sudo since it's using policykit for authentification

Thank you for your bug report. Could you use apport to report bugs or at least specify the gdm package version you are using? Could you run gdmsetup on a command line and copy the log there when trying to unlock?

@seb128 - Are you able to reproduce this bug in Karmic or are you able to unlock gdm-setup? the package gdm is currently at version 2.27.90-0ubuntu7

I would have liked to use apport to report this bug, but it doesn't seem to work for me in this case. Firefox doesn't open and all I get in the terminal is the following:

komputes@karmic:~$ apport-collect -p gdm 431147
Logging into Launchpad... You have to allow "Change anything" privileges.
Downloading bug information...
Bug title: Cannot Unlock "System > Administration > Login Screen"
Collecting apport information for source package gdm...
No additional information collected.

"ubuntu-bug gdm" reported the apport info correctly. See Bug #432698

This bug still exists in the released version of Karmic. Is there anything that I can do to help move this bug fixing along?

not really, you seem to be the only one to get this issue and we get thousand of bugs every week with a small team to work on those, the issue is in this stack of corner cases affecting a specific config we don't have ressources to work on quickly

Well, after one day of doing nothing, this problem disappeared for me. I was able to authenticate and change the settings.

I have the same issue:

** (gdmsetup:8327): WARNING **: Error calling GetValue('daemon/TimedLoginEnable'): Key not found

** (gdmsetup:8327): WARNING **: Error calling GetValue('daemon/TimedLoginDelay'): Key not found
** (gdmsetup:8327): DEBUG: init delay=30
** (gdmsetup:8327): DEBUG: Failed to identify the current session: Unable to lookup session information for process '8327'

** (gdmsetup:8327): WARNING **: Unable to find users: no seat-id found
** (gdmsetup:8327): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: explicitly skipping user: nobody
** (gdmsetup:8327): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: user icon changed
** (gdmsetup:8327): DEBUG: adding monitor for '/home/fit/.face'
** (gdmsetup:8327): DEBUG: Getting list of sessions for user 1000
** (gdmsetup:8327): DEBUG: Found 2 sessions for user fit
** (gdmsetup:8327): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: not adding session on other seat: /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session24
** (gdmsetup:8327): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: not adding session on other seat: /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session27

I just installed Karmic on a virtual machine (VMware Payer) and I have the same problem, I can't unlock the GDM setup window. I want auto-login on this VM. Any suggestions?

This bug is affecting me as well on Karmic....

[503]$> gdmsetup
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: init delay=30
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: skipping shell /bin/false
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: Found current seat: /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Seat1
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: running 'ck-history --frequent --seat='Seat1' --session-type='''
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: explicitly skipping user: nobody
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: user icon changed
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: adding monitor for '/home/nealio/.face'
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: user icon changed
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: adding monitor for '/home/sarah/.face'
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: Getting list of sessions for user 1001
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: Found 0 sessions for user sarah
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: Getting list of sessions for user 1000
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: Found 1 sessions for user nealio
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: GdmUser: adding session /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session3
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: sessions changed user=nealio num=1
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: added session for user: nealio

** (ck-history:3567): WARNING **: Unable to parse session removed event: seat-id='S1260773304.157 type=SEAT_ADDED : seat-id='Seat1' seat-kind=0

** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: history output: mythtv 866

** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: excluding user 'mythtv'
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: history output: nealio 167

** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: history output: sarah 24

** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: history output: nobody 7

** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: excluding user 'nobody'
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: Login freq 1=24 2=167
** (gdmsetup:3564): DEBUG: init user='nealio' auto=False

As of this writing my system is up-to-date in terms of package updates via the Update Manager. Happy to provide any further information as it is important for me to be able to setup auto-login. I also disagree with Sebastien's comment on 2009-11-01 at this being only a corner case affecting one person. I wouldn't imagine the Login Screen dialog to be an often-accessed feature by most average users and therefore the bug would not get as much exposure as, say, a bug in Firefox.

Is this only broken for gdmsetup? Are you able to unlock other tools (eg, users-admin)?

It only affects gdmsetup from my experience. Although I am not sure what causes it, something blocks it from opening the org.freedesktop.systemtoolsbackends.set authentication window.

To everyone out there who is not able to unlock users-admin (Tyson, Guido, Pedro, Neal) please try to answer the following:
-Are/Were you on an upgraded system (9.04 -> 9.10) or a clean install on Ubuntu 9.10?
-Have/Had you fully updated your system using Update Manager (If so, you should be running linux 2.6.31-16, run 'uname -r' to check)

As I mentioned in comment 10, I (for no apparent reason) no have this problem. Sorry that I cannot be of some help.

users-admin is locked out for me as well as gdmsetup. The "Click to make changes" button does nothing.
Answers for komputes...
- This is a clean install of 9.10 not an upgrade
- My system is up-to-date. I only update via Update Manager
- Kernel is 2.6.31-16

Thanks, so this is not a GDM issue then. This will happen if you're trying to use the tool from elsewhere other than the active local console. This is usually due to some broken config somewhere rather than a bug.

From the session that exhibits this issue, please post the output of "ck-list-sessions".

Thanks

Chris, I had this issue with direct access to the computer, but as you said, this may be a config issue making it think you are accessing it from somewhere else. If I reproduce the issue I will provide "ck-list-sessions" output.

Here's the output of ck-list-sessions...

[501]$> ck-list-sessions
Session2:
 unix-user = '115'
 realname = '(null)'
 seat = 'Seat1'
 session-type = ''
 active = FALSE
 x11-display = ''
 x11-display-device = ''
 display-device = '/dev/???'
 remote-host-name = ''
 is-local = TRUE
 on-since = '2009-12-21T08:13:22.468550Z'
 login-session-id = ''
Session3:
 unix-user = '1000'
 realname = 'Neal Landry'
 seat = 'Seat1'
 session-type = ''
 active = TRUE
 x11-display = ':0'
 x11-display-device = '/dev/tty7'
 display-device = ''
 remote-host-name = ''
 is-local = TRUE
 on-since = '2009-12-21T08:13:41.007528Z'
 login-session-id = ''

Chris, if this is some sort of "broken config" issue could you be more specific in terms of what I can check?

Interesting note:

As a test, I created another non-admin account on the machine with this problem. I rebooted and logged in as that user. As that user, both gdmsetup and admin-users work correctly. When I click the "Unlock" button I am prompted to authenticate. This problem seems to be only related to my other "admin" account. This appears to confirm that it's an account-specific problem... but I have no idea what to check on that account to make it work correctly.

The Consolekit output there looks normal. Is polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 running in your session? What is the output of "ps aux | grep polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1"?

I am experiencing this bug as well in both gdmsetup, and users-admin after upgrading from 9.04 to 9.10. The users-admin unlock button is greyed and says:

Not authorized to make changes

If I run gksu users-admin it works fine...

I think it also might be related to why the Shutdown/Restart is greyed from the System > Shutdown menu

My system is up to date:

md@md:~$ uname -r
2.6.31-17-generic

md@md:~$ ck-list-sessions
Session3:
 unix-user = '1000'
 realname = 'Michael Dance'
 seat = 'Seat5'
 session-type = ''
 active = FALSE
 x11-display = ':0'
 x11-display-device = '/dev/tty7'
 display-device = ''
 remote-host-name = ''
 is-local = TRUE
 on-since = '2009-12-27T00:55:16.343876Z'
 login-session-id = '4294967295'
Session6:
 unix-user = '1000'
 realname = 'Michael Dance'
 seat = 'Seat8'
 session-type = ''
 active = FALSE
 x11-display = ''
 x11-display-device = ''
 display-device = '/dev/smb/7139/100'
 remote-host-name = '::ffff:127.0.0.1'
 is-local = FALSE
 on-since = '2009-12-27T20:13:22.764843Z'
 login-session-id = '4294967295'

md@md:~$ ps aux | grep polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1
md 7643 0.0 0.1 147336 6268 ? S Dec27 0:00 /usr/lib/policykit-1-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1
md 8826 0.0 0.0 7336 896 pts/0 R+ 09:34 0:00 grep --color=auto polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1

md@md:~$ gdmsetup

** (gdmsetup:8951): WARNING **: Error calling GetValue('daemon/TimedLoginEnable'): Key not found

** (gdmsetup:8951): WARNING **: Error calling GetValue('daemon/TimedLoginDelay'): Key not found
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: init delay=30
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: skipping shell /bin/false
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: Found current seat: /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Seat5
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: running 'ck-history --frequent --seat='Seat5' --session-type='''
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: explicitly skipping user: nobody
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: user icon changed
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: adding monitor for '/home/md/.face'
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: user icon changed
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: adding monitor for '/home/svn/.face'
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: user icon changed
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: adding monitor for '/home/garydance/.face'
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: user icon changed
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: adding monitor for '/var/aegir/.face'
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: Getting list of sessions for user 1003
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: Found 0 sessions for user aegir
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: Getting list of sessions for user 1002
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: Found 0 sessions for user garydance
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: Getting list of sessions for user 1001
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: Found 0 sessions for user svn
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: Getting list of sessions for user 1000
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: Found 2 sessions for user md
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: GdmUser: adding session /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session3
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: sessions changed user=md num=1
** (gdmsetup:8951): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: added session for user: md
** ...

michael-dance - your issue is different to the issue described by neal-landry. Your issue seems to be because you're trying to authenticate from a session which is not on the active console, and the behaviour there is expected.

The output of ck-list-sessions looks wrong, as your session seems to have been added to a dynamic seat, which would break things in the way you describe. Could you please edit the "Exec=" line in /usr/share/dbus-1/system-services/org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit.service to read "/usr/sbin/console-kit-daemon --debug", then restart, log in and attach your /var/log/syslog?

Here's the output... Looks like it is running for my session.

$> ps aux | grep polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1
nealio 6040 0.0 0.0 3040 804 pts/0 R+ 11:34 0:00 grep --color=always polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1

Thanks Chris, I honestly don't know where to begin with any of this...

Since my reboot:

md@md:~$ ck-list-sessions
Session3:
 unix-user = '1000'
 realname = 'Michael Dance'
 seat = 'Seat5'
 session-type = ''
 active = FALSE
 x11-display = ':0'
 x11-display-device = '/dev/tty7'
 display-device = ''
 remote-host-name = ''
 is-local = TRUE
 on-since = '2009-12-28T00:44:20.636556Z'
 login-session-id = '4294967295'

Attached is the results of cat /var/log/syslog | grep console-kit-daemon

I upgraded my install of 9.04 CrashBang to 9.10, and was unable to unlock the gdmsetup ui. After reading this thread, I ran gdmsetup W/O sudo, got an authentication gui, after which I was able to unlock "Login Screen Settings". Thanks -Stuart

Me too. Nothing happens when klicking the Unlock button.

Behaviour:

When gdmsetup is started from the System>Administration menu, locally, the button becomes gray when pressed and resumes normal appearance when released.
When "gdmsetup" is started from a terminal with ssh X11 forwarding, the button becomes gray when pressed and resumes normal appearance when released.
When started with "sudo gdmsetup" and "gksu gdmsetup" from a terminal with ssh X11 forwarding, the button becomes gray when pressed and stays gray/inactive when released.

User-admin behaviour, for reference:

When "users-admin" is started from a terminal with ssh X11 forwarding, the unlock button is already gray and a text (in swedish that translates to) "Not authorized to make changes".
When users-admin is started with "sudo users-admin" there is no unlock button, and operations are allowed.

Ubuntu 9.10 was installed from scratch but /home was copied from a 9.04 system.

No process "polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1" is running.

Kernel: 2.6.31-17-generic

Output from the "gdmsetup" command:

** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: init delay=20
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: skipping shell /bin/false
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: Found current seat: /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Seat3
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: running 'ck-history --frequent --seat='Seat3' --session-type='''
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: explicitly skipping user: nobody
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: user icon changed
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: adding monitor for '/home/lha/.face'
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: user icon changed
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: adding monitor for '/home/david/.face'
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: user icon changed
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: adding monitor for '/home/guest/.face'
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: Getting list of sessions for user 1002
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: Found 0 sessions for user guest
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: Getting list of sessions for user 1001
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: Found 2 sessions for user david
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: not adding session on other seat: /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session3
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: not adding session without a x11 display: /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session4
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: Getting list of sessions for user 1000
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: Found 1 sessions for user lha
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: not adding session on other seat: /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session2
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: history output: david 1

** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: Login freq 1=0 2=1
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: Login freq 1=0 2=1
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: Login freq 1=0 2=0
** (gdmsetup:11752): DEBUG: init user='lha' auto=False

Output from ck-list-sessions:

Session2:
 unix-user = '1000'
 realname = 'XXXXXXXXXX'
 seat = 'Seat1'
 session-type = ''
 active = TRUE
 x11-display = ':0'
 x11-display-device = '/dev/tty7'
 display-device = ''
 remote-host-name = ''
 is-local = TRUE
 on-since = '2010-01-24T14:30:22.040833Z'
 login-session-id = ''
Session3:
 unix-user =...

@ Neal and David - Neither of you have polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 running in your session, which is required for authentication to work. This is most likely because you've unintentionally disabled it in System -> Preferences -> Startup Applications.

In any case, this is a local config issue rather than a bug, so I'm closing it.

FYI - we're hiding polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 from the session dialog in Lucid, to stop users from accidentally disabling it and having issues like this (see bug 509798)

Additional info:

In 2010-01-01 I was able to unlock and use gdmsetup, then started from the System>Administration menu. 2010-01-24 I was not.
The same system (Ubuntu 9.10) possibly updated inbetween.

All programs listed in Startup Applications are enabled, including a "PolicyKit Authentication Agent".

(On a side note. The volume control in the panel has disappeared and the systray (that used to have at least a network icon) is now empty. Maybe the gdmsetup problem is a consequence of something else gone wrong.)

(I have manually edited /etc/gdm/custom.conf to my liking (TimedLoginEnable=true) so for me this issue is less of a problem.)

Thanks, polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 was in fact disabled for some reason in startup applications. This has resolved the issue for me.

I have this problem as well. I am using 9.10 with full updates applied as of the time of this writing.

I seem to have no problem authenticating any other actions. I have even tried creating a test account, but that didn't change anything either. In addition, I tried the old "xhost +" and "sudo su -" to root and, with DISPLAY set to ":0.0" got the same exact results (incomplete setting list).

This is a fresh 9.10 install with full patches. About the only thing that even comes to mind with regards to using the "startup programs" feature was that when I first tried Ubuntu, I fired up gkrellm and used the option to remember the current running applications. Perhaps related? And yes, I am using the local console to login only for this report/testing.

I will attach the information that you were asking for from some of the threads here in the report.txt file I have attached. Thanks.

I have the same problem in both users-admin and gdmsetup, though my problem may not be related to this bug. I accidentally deleted my primary user's admin privildges and had to add them back using gpasswd in a recovery session. This is when the problem started. I also lost all notification area applet functionality, despite regaining admin/root priviliedges. Perhaps there is a missing group membership that I haven't yet added back.

Ubuntu 9.10, Gnome 2.28.1, all updates/patches, Dell Inspiron 1440 laptop

hobs@hobs-laptop:~$ sudo gdmsetup
[sudo] password for hobs:

** (gdmsetup:2977): WARNING **: Error calling GetValue('daemon/TimedLoginEnable'): Key not found

** (gdmsetup:2977): WARNING **: Error calling GetValue('daemon/TimedLoginDelay'): Key not found
** (gdmsetup:2977): DEBUG: init delay=30
** (gdmsetup:2977): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: skipping shell /bin/false
** (gdmsetup:2977): DEBUG: Failed to identify the current session: Unable to lookup session information for process '2977'

** (gdmsetup:2977): WARNING **: Unable to find users: no seat-id found
** (gdmsetup:2977): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: explicitly skipping user: nobody
** (gdmsetup:2977): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: user icon changed
** (gdmsetup:2977): DEBUG: adding monitor for '/home/hobs/.face'
** (gdmsetup:2977): DEBUG: Getting list of sessions for user 1000
** (gdmsetup:2977): DEBUG: Found 1 sessions for user hobs
** (gdmsetup:2977): DEBUG: GdmUserManager: not adding session on other seat: /org/freedesktop/ConsoleKit/Session2

Ignore my previous message (#34). My problem was that I was accidentally logging onto a "Gnome Failsafe" session rather than a normal Gnome session. User error.

#35 might be on to something. When the problem occurred, the default session was "Failsafe Gnome". After changing session to "Gnome" the problem ended. (But, if I recall correctly, not immediately after). Anyway, I do not experience this behavior/problem anymore.

(Re #49: I'll comment in bug 509798 that the problem might not be accidentally disabling that service, but accidentally logging in in failsafe session.)

I have since upgraded to 10.4 and the problem still persists here as well. There is no indication, that I am aware of and is obvious, that I am in any kind of fail safe mode.

From an email with #36 and I:

> Danny, at the bottom of the login screen, when you login, is the
> selected session type "Gnome" or "Gnome failsafe"?

It definitely says just "Gnome". I see the failsafe option there, but
it isn't selected, 100% sure.

It seems that after a dist-upgrade to 10.10, the gdmsetup dialog, while can be unlocked via admin password, still has only a reduced number of options displayed.