Unable to log in after migrating Arch Linux from another computer

prosoitos · 2019-01-30 09:22:04

I tried to install Arch Linux on an old machine (Toshiba Satellite A300) by copying files from my current machine (Dell Latitude e7450).

Toshiba (machine I am trying to setup): BIOS with MBR
Dell (machine source): UEFI with GPT

The partitions are of different sizes, but same file systems.

I read several posts on the subject and 2 wiki pages and it looks like it worked, except that now I cannot log in to the new installation.

What I did:

- burnt a DVD with archlinux iso (the old beast cannot boot from USB...)
- booted from it
- created partition table and partitions
- formatted partitions
- mounted partitions
- copied files from Dell to Toshiba with an external drive using "cp -av"

Here I had a little issue:
- tried to chroot to the Toshiba but the system was telling me that there was no /bin/bash even though there was. So I thought that copying the programs didn't go all that well, so I followed instructions from https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mi … hitectures:

Edit the LiveCD /etc/pacman.conf repositories to match the existing /mnt/etc/pacman.conf repositories.
Use the following commands to update the local pacman database and clear the cache directory.
# pacman --root /mnt -Syy
# pacman --root /mnt -Scc
# pacman --root /mnt -Qnq | pacman --root /mnt -S -

Had a warning that /proc had to be mounted, so I manually mounted it.

- could now chroot to the Toshiba
- deleted fstab copied from Dell and generated the new one
- deleted EFI related stuff in /boot
- installed grub for MBR and updated the grub config file
- recreated the initramfs

I could reboot no problem, but then, root without password, root with my root password, and user with my user password all failed.

I booted again on the DVD, mounted drives, chroot to Toshiba, ran passwd and re-entered my root password.

Tried again to boot on the Toshiba: no problem booting, but same.

I can't log in.

Last edited by prosoitos (2019-01-30 09:24:18)

Lone_Wolf · 2019-01-30 09:59:58

I booted again on the DVD, mounted drives, chroot to Toshiba,

From that point you can also access the logs from one of the boots where you failed to login .
Use journalctl -b some-number ( -1 will show logs from previous boot, -2 2 boots ago etc ) to find one, then post that* .

* You may want to use a cli pastebin client to upload the log somewhere, search wiki for a list.

chrisdb · 2019-01-30 10:05:33

What's the exact output when you've entered your password?

Another thought, is your keyboard configured correctly?

Last edited by chrisdb (2019-01-30 10:08:34)

prosoitos · 2019-01-31 01:06:27

Thank you for the advice:

For now, I manually copied some errors from journalctl.

Probably not relevant (though, a problem with loadkeys may matter if @chrisdb's idea about keyboard configuration is right):

/usr/bin/loadkeys failed with exit status 1

Failed to start Rotate log files.

I had a few other errors, but didn't seem relevant.

And then, for the login errors:

PAM unable to dlopen(/usr/lib/security/pam_gnome_keyring.so): /usr/lib/security/pam_gnome_keyring.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
PAM adding faulty module: /usr/lib/security/pam_gnome_keyring.so
pam_tally(login:auth): /var/log/faillog is either world writable or not a normal file
pam_shells(login:auth): /etc/shells is either world writable or not a normal file
pam_unix(login:auth): authentication failure; logname=LOGIN uid=0 euid=0 tty=tty1 ruser= rhost= user=root
FAILED LOGIN 1 FROM tty1 FOR root, Authentication failure

When I try to log in, I get "Login incorrect" as if I had typed a wrong password.

Last edited by prosoitos (2019-01-31 01:07:10)

ngoonee · 2019-01-31 01:13:38

Does seem like a keyboard issue. Try typing your password in when it asks for username so you can see what keys are actually being detected.

prosoitos · 2019-01-31 06:02:45

That is a great idea to test the keyboard hypothesis that @chrisdb suggested and I feel silly not to have thought of it myself. Doesn't seem to be the problem however as my password looks just fine when I type it in my username.

The keyboard is Canadian (allowing for French accents with some key combos which I have never used), so it seemed like a great hypothesis. But I don't see anything wrong as I type things in...

Maybe I will write "KEYMAP=us" in my /etc/vconsole.conf just to make sure. I haven't touched at that file when I migrated things and maybe there is something going on there. But again, my password looks totally fine when I test it in the username...

Last edited by prosoitos (2019-01-31 06:07:13)

prosoitos · 2019-01-31 06:17:52

/usr/bin/loadkeys failed with exit status 1

is probably not the problem as my Dell also shows this in the journal and I have never had any issue logging in on it.

chrisdb · 2019-02-01 08:26:57

Can you post output of:

/etc/pam.d/system-auth

Also, are you using gnome-keyring?

Otherwise try and reinstall the 'gnome-keyring' package

Last edited by chrisdb (2019-02-01 08:35:26)

seth · 2019-02-01 09:14:49

pam_tally(login:auth): /var/log/faillog is either world writable or not a normal file
pam_shells(login:auth): /etc/shells is either world writable or not a normal file

Is the "external drive" FAT32 partitioned?

Arch Linux

#1 2019-01-30 09:22:04

Unable to log in after migrating Arch Linux from another computer

#2 2019-01-30 09:59:58

Re: Unable to log in after migrating Arch Linux from another computer

#3 2019-01-30 10:05:33

Re: Unable to log in after migrating Arch Linux from another computer

#4 2019-01-31 01:06:27

Re: Unable to log in after migrating Arch Linux from another computer

#5 2019-01-31 01:13:38

Re: Unable to log in after migrating Arch Linux from another computer

#6 2019-01-31 06:02:45

Re: Unable to log in after migrating Arch Linux from another computer

#7 2019-01-31 06:17:52

Re: Unable to log in after migrating Arch Linux from another computer

#8 2019-02-01 08:26:57

Re: Unable to log in after migrating Arch Linux from another computer

#9 2019-02-01 09:14:49

Re: Unable to log in after migrating Arch Linux from another computer

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