[Hardy] KDE4 logon failure: 'startkde: Could not start D-Bus. Check your installation.'

Interestingly enough, when I run:

/usr/lib/kde4/bin/startkde from the CLI with sudo, I don't get the error. The splash displays but does nothing further, whereas if I run startkde from CLI w/o root privileges, I get the above-mentioned error. Could it be a permissions problem?

Are you still experiencing this issue? If so can you provide some further information such as:

1) Version of Ubuntu/Kubuntu you are using
2) Using version 4.0.1 of KDE 4
3) Your video card and driver information

I know there are quite a few people using KDE 4 in a similar environment as you by selecting it via GDM and it works fine. Any extra information you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hello, I'm currently having this pb

- Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 amd64 updated
- using current version of kde 4 on hardy (how can i know the version ?)
- video card : nvidia quadro 4500, compiz enabled

On an other computer configured nearly in the same way except it's a 32 bit CPU, everything goes fine, and i can login without error

It's exactly the same problem as mentioned above

Sorry for my poor english,

experiencing the same with:
- kubuntu gutsy 7.10 32 bit
- kde 4.0.3
- nvidia 7900 gs driver nvidia 169.12

I had not this problem with the same system and kde 4.0.2

I remember a similar situation that effected both KDE3 and KDE4. Somehow, the .ICEauthority file's permissions were changed so that root owned it. I wonder if this would fix any of the problems?

Oh wow, total brainfart. To fix the .ICEauthority problem, you had to change the permissions back to you owning the file. I wonder if this solution would work around this problem?

Hi, the .ICEauthorithy file already belongs to me
Any other idea ?

The same started today :(
I'm running Hardy 8.04 i386 / KDE 4.0.3.
I can run KDE3 (or IceWM) + KDE4 applications but not a full-session KDE4.

This happens to me when I switch to LDAP authentication. If I switch back to default setup, I am able to get into kde again.

Hardy 8.04 i386
KDE 4.0.3
Geforce MX4400 (tried both nv and nvidia-glx drivers)

   Exactly like Chris Warren described, with me this problem only happens when I authenticate using LDAP (I installed Ldap client using this tutorial: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=597056&highlight=ldap ). I think it is not a authentication problem since I can logon normally using failsafe mode and have rights to all my files at the Ldap server .
Using ssh with -X option I can access the graphical application normally (acroread, skype, firefox, etc).
I'm not a expert user, but can't it be some D-bus read/write access to some file, display or device?
                             Thank you

My experience is the same as Edsoncv; I also authenticate using LDAP. I tried removing .kde*, .qt*, and .ICEauthority, but none of these things helped. Pretty frustrating.

I've done a bit more troubleshooting, and narrowed the problem down some. I think it has to do with the order system services are started relative to PAM, or some permissions setting within PAM. Here's why:

In startkde, there is a section that begins with:
# D-Bus autolaunch is broken
if test -z "$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS" ; then
  /etc/init.d/dbus start
  eval `dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session`
fi
if qdbus >/dev/null 2>/dev/null; then
  : # ok
else
...

If I run the command inside the eval as a regular user (logged in and authenticated via ldap), it works fine. If I eval it and then run qdbus, that works fine too. If, however, I echo the output of those same commands when run from within startkde (by kdm-kde4), it appears that they're failing. They are run as the same user, too, which strikes me as extremely odd.

Information that might be important:
bind_policy soft
- is set in ldap.conf. Appears to be important for user authentication by the ldap server.
Also in ldap.conf, the following are set:
nss_base_passwd ou=People,dc=cssb,dc=utexas,dc=edu?one
nss_base_shadow ou=People,dc=cssb,dc=utexas,dc=edu?one
nss_base_group ou=Groups,dc=cssb,dc=utexas,dc=edu?one
nss_base_aliases ou=Aliases,dc=cssb,dc=utexas,dc=edu?one
nss_base_netgroup ou=Netgroup,dc=cssb,dc=utexas,dc=edu?one
nss_map_attribute rfc2307attribute mapped_attribute
nss_map_objectclass rfc2307objectclass mapped_objectclass

I haven't tried knocking out individual lines to see which are mission critical, but I suspect the first three at least are.

There's also an automatically-added line at the end of ldap.conf, beginning with nss_initgroups_ignoreusers, which includes messagebus.

/etc/pam.d/kdm-kde4 (note: NOT /etc/pam.d/kdm as the file seems to think it is)
auth required pam_nologin.so
auth required pam_env.so readenv=1
auth required pam_env.so readenv=1 envfile=/etc/default/locale
auth sufficient pam_ldap.so # exactly the same results without this line
@include common-auth
session required pam_limits.so
@include common-account
@include common-password
@include common-session

The included files are unmodified.

Note that my /home directory is mounted by nfs (based on ldap auth), and is on another machine. Gnome, kde3 both work fine (ran from kdm-kde4).

Any other information that I can supply which might help, please let me know. I'm eager to try kde4, and this is all rather frustrating.

(Oh, and typos in the config lines above are *probably* my own since I'm re-typing them from a terminal on another computer.)

I took a look the process table from a computer that runs Kde 3 and authenticate with ldap int the right manner (running ps -aux from console) and see that d-bus-daemon has the UID 104:
104 3960 0.0 0.2 6088 1148 ? Ss 09:14 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --system

but in the new kde4 it has the uid of 106
106 5076 0.0 0.3 7308 3496 ? Ss 15:37 0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --system

Can it be the source of the problem? I mean, in KDE4 the groups and users id are different for d-bus, so the rights for some files (such as .ICEauthority and others) are not appropriate and than the dbus could not be started. I'm not very expert in d-bus and ldap, so its just a suggestion.
        regards

Oh, and using Hardy Heron (kubuntu-8.04-kde4.04-x86). It happens on every machine I install on. Here are the video cards for two of them:
VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV18GL [Quadro NVS 280 SD] (rev a2)
VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV370 5B60 [Radeon X300 (PCIE)]

I'll go try it with gdm and let you know.

Okay, I've installed GDM and tried starting KDE that way. It fails as well, same error message. GDM also gives me the option of viewing .xsession-errors, and when I choose that option, THAT fails as well--says it's unable to open the file (which is 644). For your viewing pleasure, I've included a copy of that file.

$ cat .xsession-errors
/etc/gdm/Xsession: Beginning session setup...
Setting IM through im-switch for locale=en_US.
Start IM through /etc/X11/xinit/xinput.d/all_ALL linked to /etc/X11/xinit/xinput.d/default.
Link points to "/tmp/kde-jwoods"
Link points to "/var/tmp/kdecache-jwoods"
Link points to "/tmp/ksocket-jwoods"
startkde: Starting up...
EOF in dbus-launch reading address from bus daemon
startkde: Could not start D-Bus. Check your installation.
$

It would be awesome if you'd mark this bug up to critical. I can't use KDE!

My xorg.conf file:
Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver "kbd"
        Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
        Option "XkbModel" "abnt2"
        Option "XkbLayout" "br"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier "Configured Mouse"
        Driver "mouse"
        Option "CorePointer"
EndSection
Section "Device"
        Identifier "Configured Video Device"
        Driver "nvidia"
        Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
        Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Default Screen"
        Monitor "Configured Monitor"
        Device "Configured Video Device"
        Defaultdepth 24
EndSection
Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier "Default Layout"
  screen "Default Screen"
EndSection
Section "Module"
        Load "glx"
EndSection

kernel info (uname -r)
2.6.24-16-generic
Kubuntu-KDE4 8.04 "Hardy Heron" - Release i386

info abou glx module (from last logfile)
(II) LoadModule: "glx"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions//libglx.so
(II) Module glx: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
        compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
        Module class: X.Org Server Extension
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.1
(II) NVIDIA GLX Module 169.12 Thu Feb 14 18:45:56 PST 2008
(II) Loading extension GLX
(II) LoadModule: "extmod"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions//libextmod.so
(II) Module extmod: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.4.0.90, module version = 1.0.0
        Module class: X.Org Server Extension
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.3

and some output of my video controler( lspci -vv)
00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Memory Controller (rev a1)
        Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Unknown device 2602
        Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 0
        Capabilities: <access denied>

00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 LPC Bridge (rev a2)
        Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Unknown device 2602
        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle+ MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap- 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 0

00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP61 SMBus (rev a2)
        Subsystem: Elitegroup Computer Systems Unknown device 2602
        Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
        Region 0: I/O ports at fc00 [size=64]
        Region 4: I/O ports at 1c00 [size=64]
        Region 5: I/O ports at f400 [size=64]
        Capabilities: <access denied>

Seems like a new update was release for PAM and D-BUS, but for me the problem was not solved, and for you Mr. Woods?

Not solved for me either. I believe, though, that it relates to a permissions problem. If you sudo, can you access things in your ldap-mounted /home dir?

Also, it's still possible to start KDE on my system, just not through gdm or kdm. I have to get to an xterm, then do qdbus && startkde. Sometimes, then, may also have to do kwin --replace.

        If I logon from other terminal (ssh -X user@kde4host) I can run any graphical program, but from the machine where kde4 is installed not. My filesystem (my /home that is installed from a ldap server) is mounted normally (when I logon from other terminal or in the kde4 machine in failsafe mode). If I run from failsafe mode the command line that you mentioned:
qdbus && startkde kde starts normally, the only difference in my case is that the kde4 binaries are installed at /usr/lib/kde4/bin, so I need to run:
qdbus && /usr/lib/kde4/bin/startkde

I didn't try to run programs with sudo since all my home is properly mounted.
                                                          Regards

Anyone knows the status of this bug? Should we stop using KDE4?
                                   Regards

For my surprise, today 24-jun, after the latest upgrade (which includes a ldap update) my Kubuntu 4.0 IS working OK with Ldap authentication.
                               Thanks for the developers

I don't use ldap but I have a very similar problem ...
When I choose a KDE4 session, the splash appears , the HD icon for 45s, then the Settings icon for 4 or 5 minutes and eventually I get the the kdm blue background with the cursor but that's all...
This behavior appeared just the day before the upgrade from 4.1b1 to b2 ...

Additionaly I cannot run an KDE4 app inside KDE3 it crashes

Exemple trying to run Kopete :
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
philippe@kubuntu:~$ /usr/lib/kde4/bin/kopete
kopete(6626) KToolInvocation::klauncher: klauncher not running... launching kdeinit
kdeinit4: preparing to launch /usr/lib/kde4/lib/kde4/libexec/klauncher
kdeinit4: Launched KLauncher, pid = 6632 result = 0
kdeinit4: opened connection to :0.0
kdeinit4: preparing to launch /usr/lib/kde4/bin/kded4
kdeinit4: Launched KDED, pid = 6635 result = 0
kdeinit4: Got EXT_EXEC '/usr/lib/kde4/bin/kbuildsycoca4' from launcher.
kdeinit4: preparing to launch /usr/lib/kde4/bin/kbuildsycoca4
kbuildsycoca4 running...
kbuildsycoca4(6640) kdemain: Reusing existing ksycoca
QBuffer::seek: Invalid pos: 135024968
kopete(6625): Communication problem with "kopete" , it probably crashed.
Error message was: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply" : " "Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken." "

philippe@kubuntu:~$ kded(6635): Communication problem with "kded" , it probably crashed.
Error message was: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply" : " "Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken." "

kdeinit4: PID 6635 terminated.
kded(6637): "KLauncher could not be reached via D-Bus. Error when calling kdeinit_exec_wait:
empty
"

QBuffer::seek: Invalid pos: -1208663664
Waiting for already running kbuildsycoca4 to finish.
Waiting for already running kbuildsycoca4 to finish.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
and there it's stuck

the D-Bus message brought me here
I tried the edsoncv solution (qdbus && /usr/lib/kde4/bin/startkde) but it doesn't work ...

KDE4.1 is totally dead for me so far ... need help

Philippe,

Does KDE 4.0 work for you? This bug was originally about KDE 4.0, but it seems to have been fixed.

Using:
dbus 1.1.20-1ubuntu2
dbus-x11 1.1.20-1ubuntu2
hal 0.5.11~rc2-ubuntu8.1
kubuntu-kde4-desktop 0.14
libdbus-1-3 1.1.20-1ubuntu2
linux-headers-generic 2.6.24.19.21
kde4-core 3.3
kwin-kde4 4:4.0.3-0ubuntu2
and all other kde4 packages I checked (inc. kdm-kde4) are 4:4.0.3-0ubuntu2, except kde4graphics-dev, kdenetwork-kde4, kdesudo-kde4 (which are ubuntu1), and kdeutils-kde4 (which is ubuntu4)

And actually, the solution you mention is mine.

To see if this is the same bug, I suggest you try this:
$ sudo touch $HOME/foobar
$ ls ~/foobar
If the file is there, it's the same problem. If you get an error on the first command (permission denied), then I don't think your problem is related.

Do you remote mount your home directory? This appears to be mostly a problem of root not being able to write to directories mounted by users using automount/autofs.

...
philippe@kubuntu:~$ sudo touch $HOME/foobar
[sudo] password for philippe:
philippe@kubuntu:~$ ls ~/foobar
/home/philippe/foobar
philippe@kubuntu:~$
...

Home is local,...
Before I started having this problem I received some messages boxes about D-Bus errors just after login in kde4, as the rest worked and it's still a beta I didn't give more attention to this ...

In that case, I'd suggest you check elsewhere. You might check permissions of your user-specific configuration stuff, like .kde and .kde4 and .kde4.1 if there is one, and .ICEauthority, .Xauthority, .DCOPserver*, etc.

I don't think it's the same bug that you're describing.

All the files your mentionned are mine, and I already tried the .kde4 delete ....
Thanx anyway

Still an issue in Intrepid?

I think it's still an issue in Intrepid with kde4 at least, in fact I don't when did this happened, but after an update/upgrade, I wasn't able to login from kdm, I looked at .xsession-errors and there was only one error:
open: permission denied

I started a console login (by Ctrl-Alt-F2), no problem, and then after trying some programs (w3m, emacs,...) I got a message about an error with creating /tmp/xxxx, so I looked at the permissions of /tmp and it was like

drwxr-xr-x 20 root root 4096 2008-09-18 17:22 tmp

so why it wasn't writable only for root, I tried to change this by

sudo chmod o+w /tmp

and then (Alt-F7) to return to kdm login, and HOORRA!!! I could login normally in a dek4 session

so the problem is probably with bad permissions on /tmp.

That is _completely_ unrelated.

Cannot reproduce using a fresh installation of Ubuntu 8.10 + KDE nightly from project neon.

Closing unused PAM upstream bug watch.