Calendar

[Rich J]

Hi All - Mea Culpa!!!  I've managed to screw up my wife's Compaq Mini ......... 

She wanted the lock-screen theme changing and I thought I remembered how but......

I installed MDM themes and changed the default file (etc/usr/bin) to reflect that.  Obviously I've boobed - cos now, at boot, the progress bar moves very slowly across the box but doesn't complete to the password screen.  I've tried opening a terminal to re-edit the file (Ctrl/Alt/T) but that  doesn't work either. 

I'm now in deep doo-doo so any help would be great!  (Just going to find my shovel  )

Thanks

Rich

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Firstly there's no file /etc/usr/bin 

Secondly, Ctrl+Alt+T will only work from a booted desktop.

To edit the file you'll either have to boot a LiveCD/LiveUSB then edit the file on your hard drive

or

Boot to recovery mode
then select "Drop to a root prompt"
then remount the root partition read/write with

Code Select Expand

mount -o rw,remount /
then use "nano" to edit the file .. as in

Code Select Expand

nano /full/path/to/file/to/be/edited

The LiveCD/LiveUSB method will be the easiest unless you're comfortable without a GUI

[Rich J]

Firstly there's no file /etc/usr/bin     Senior moment     I'd actually edited /etc/X11/default-display-manager from lightdm to mdm and was trying to get back to it...........I changed lightdm to mdm - I'd found mdm in Synaptic and thought I'd installed it correctly, but obviously not!


Secondly, Ctrl+Alt+T will only work from a booted desktop. Understood!

To edit the file you'll either have to boot a LiveCD/LiveUSB then edit the file on your hard drive Could you post the steps for this method, please?

or

Boot to recovery mode
then select "Drop to a root prompt"
then remount the root partition read/write with

Code Select Expand

mount -o rw,remount /
then use "nano" to edit the file .. as in

Code Select Expand

nano /full/path/to/file/to/be/edited I tried this (twice) but get the error 'GTK-WARNING : cannot open display' and it stalls at this point

I've tried booting previous versions also but get the same error.

The LiveCD/LiveUSB method will be the easiest unless you're comfortable without a GUI

Thanks

Rich

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Boot to a LiveCD/LiveUSB

Open file manager

select the hard drive in the left hand column of file manager

browse (on the hard drive) to /etc/X11

right-click on the default-display-manager file and select "Open as root" (leave the passsword  empty, just  hit enter)

edit the file

SAVE the file

Reboot to t he hard drive

[Rich J]

Boot to a LiveCD/LiveUSB

Open file manager

select the hard drive in the left hand column of file manager

browse (on the hard drive) to /etc/X11

right-click on the default-display-manager file and select "Open as root" (leave the passsword  empty, just  hit enter)

edit the file

SAVE the file

Reboot to t he hard drive

Thanks Mark - I owe you one!

That worked fine except - it's the X11 file itself that needs opening as root rather than the default-display-manager file inside it.     (There was no 'root' option available with default-display-manager)

Rich

Just a thought for those reading this post who are thinking of switching to Linux from Windows......... 

Due to my ineptitude, I was left with an inoperable system.  If this had been Windows I'd have been up **** creek with the best advice being 'try system restore', re-install Windows (if I was lucky enough to have the disk) or take it to my nearest computer shop!  Instead, one post to a dedicated site and a response from someone who knows what they are doing, and all is well.  Worst thing to happen - I look a bit of an idiot, but I can live with that!  Food for thought............

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

You spotted the intentional mistake, carefully crafted to test your observational skills  .. well done grasshopper </lying through teeth smiley>