Desktop not loading - tried everything but still just a black screen

[wizard10000]

I see what happened. Snowhog and I posted two different solutions two minutes apart. Either follow his suggestions or mine, but don't mix them up

[wizard10000]

Gotcha. Ok I had one git pulldown folder that had most of the contents owned by root which shouldn't have any impact on my issue but was muddling the results. Here's the updated results:

ls -laR /home/[USER]/ | grep root
drwxr-xr-x  3 root   root     4096 Jul 30 12:31 ..
drwx------  2 root   root     4096 Oct  3 22:40 .gvfs
-rw-------  1 root   root    2125 Jul 31 10:53 katemetainfos
-rw-------  1 root   root    1592 Jul 30 12:47 katepartrc
-rw-------  1 root   root     533 Jul 31 01:48 katerc
-rw-------  1 root   root     419 Jul 30 12:50 katevirc
-rw-rw-r--  1 root   root     943 Jul 30 21:35 QtProject.conf
-rw-r--r--  1 root   root   4632 Dec 22 10:33 user
-rw-------  1 root   root         1024 Jul 30 14:30 ~
drwx------  2 root   root   4096 Oct  3 22:40 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root   root   4096 Jul 31 10:53 kate
-rw-------  1 root   root   1405 Dec 22 10:33 recently-used.xbel
drwxr-xr-x  3 root   root   4096 Jul 31 10:53 .
-rw-------  1 root   root   3919 Jul 31 10:53 anonymous.katesession
drwxr-xr-x  2 root   root   4096 Jul 30 12:47 sessions
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 30 12:47 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jul 31 10:53 ..

If you're gonna run kate as root you've got to quit using sudo and use kdesudo or kdesu instead. That's what's messing with your home directory

sudo does not inherit root's environment unless you run it with an -i or -H switch, so when you do sudo kate it writes files that are owned by root into *your* home directory. Easily resolved by fixing permissions and abstaining from using sudo to start a graphical application

[Enigma0]

If you're gonna run kate as root you've got to quit using sudo and use kdesudo or kdesu instead. That's what's messing with your home directory

sudo does not inherit root's environment unless you run it with an -i or -H switch, so when you do sudo kate it writes files that are owned by root into *your* home directory. Easily resolved by fixing permissions and abstaining from using sudo to start a graphical application

I don't actually use Kate at all. I use Gedit as I'm just used to it.

I'd happily delete all the kate stuffs in my home directory if that helps anything though I have no idea how since it doesn't list a location.

[Enigma0]

Got it cleaned up a little more to this:

:~$ ls -laR /home/[USER]/ | grep root
drwxr-xr-x  3 root   root     4096 Jul 30 12:31 ..
drwx------  2 root   root     4096 Oct  3 22:40 .gvfs
-rw-------  1 root   root         1024 Jul 30 14:30 ~
ls: cannot open directory '/home/[USER]/.gvfs': Permission denied

The ~ being owned by root is very curious to me. No idea what .gvfs is.

[Snowhog]

No idea what .gvfs is.

GVfs

[Enigma0]

GVfs

Ok I do have samba shares so that's probably it. Shouldn't have an impact on this issue.

[MoonRise]

OK now I'm lost from where I was heading based on the error. So where are we on this or do I need to bow out?

[Enigma0]

I still need help Definitely would appreciate any suggestions. So far I've done everything mentioned but still no desktop.

[MoonRise]

OK, I gave the wrong command. I left something out. It should be

sudo apt-get -f install --reinstall kubuntu-full

[Enigma0]

OK, I gave the wrong command. I left something out. It should be

sudo apt-get -f install --reinstall kubuntu-full

I've done that also.

[wizard10000]

Let's try one thing that will eliminate issues with your home directory; create another user and try logging in with a clean profile. Does that resolve the issue?

[Enigma0]

Let's try one thing that will eliminate issues with your home directory; create another user and try logging in with a clean profile. Does that resolve the issue?

How do I disable auto-login via command line?

If I've already gone and deleted seemingly everything relevant in ~/. ie .kde .config .cache then how might a new user creation help?

[wizard10000]

How do I disable auto-login via command line?

As root, edit /etc/sddm.conf - comment out the three lines under [Autologin] or remove them. If you remove them it'd be wise to copy sddm.conf first.

edit: you could try just removing the username from the appropriate line in sddm.conf - it should work. Without the username sddm won't know who to log on automagically

If I've already gone and deleted seemingly everything relevant in ~/. ie .kde .config .cache then how might a new user creation help?

The operative word being "seemingly" here. Creating a clean profile will determine for certain whether the issue is in your home directory. The user and his home directory can be easily removed afterward.

[Enigma0]

Ha, gotcha. Well there is nothing in the sddm.conf except:

[Autologin]
user=[USER]
session=plasma.desktop

Should there be more?

[wizard10000]

Ha, gotcha. Well there is nothing in the sddm.conf except:

[Autologin]
user=[USER]
session=plasma.desktop

Should there be more?

Not necessarily. Here's mine -

[Autologin]
Relogin=false
Session=plasma.desktop
User=wizard

[General]
HaltCommand=
RebootCommand=

[Theme]
Current=maui
CursorTheme=DMZ-White

[Users]
MaximumUid=65000
MinimumUid=1000

I've changed the default themes for background and cursor, so I have nonstandard stuff there. I do wonder why you don't have a [Users] section and whether that would make any difference.