Arch Linux

Richards

Member

Registered: 2019-04-21

Posts: 8

(Solved) Lightdm does not start at boot

At boot I get the tty. If I log in and enter (sudo systemctl start lightdm), the log in page of the lightdm greeter loads, I enter my password, and the desktop loads perfectly. So there appears to be nothing wrong with lightdm or with the greeter; it just doesn't load at boot.
I enabled the lightdm.service.
I modified the lightdm.conf by un-commenting (logind-check-graphical=true)
I have read all of the previous posts here and tried everything they suggest. I am at a loss.

Last edited by Richards (2024-11-14 15:47:35)

Awebb

Member

Registered: 2010-05-06

Posts: 6,628

Re: (Solved) Lightdm does not start at boot

systemctl status lightdm.service after boot.
journalctl -u lightdm.service or perhaps add -b for only "this boot" to see the logs. Always read the journal/logs and check the status of systemd services.
Also, show the output of systemctl get-default.

EDIT or even better, instead of just posting the result, compare it to systemctl show -p WantedBy lightdm.service.

Last edited by Awebb (2024-11-10 04:51:47)

Richards

Member

Registered: 2019-04-21

Posts: 8

Re: (Solved) Lightdm does not start at boot

[richard@archlinux ~]$ systemctl status lightdm.service
* lightdm.service - Light Display Manager
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/lightdm.service; enabled; preset: disab>
     Active: inactive (dead)
       Docs: man:lightdm(1)

journalctl -u lightdm.service
Nov 06 06:26:28 archlinux systemd[1]: Starting Light Display Manager...
Nov 06 06:26:28 archlinux systemd[1]: Started Light Display Manager.
Nov 06 06:27:16 archlinux systemd[1]: Stopping Light Display Manager...
Nov 06 06:27:22 archlinux systemd[1]: lightdm.service: Deactivated successfully.
Nov 06 06:27:22 archlinux systemd[1]: Stopped Light Display Manager.
-- Boot ba97f698c9424060b31b9766ede7658b --
Nov 06 06:28:40 archlinux systemd[1]: Starting Light Display Manager...
Nov 06 06:28:41 archlinux systemd[1]: Started Light Display Manager.
Nov 06 06:30:17 archlinux systemd[1]: Stopping Light Display Manager...
Nov 06 06:30:22 archlinux systemd[1]: lightdm.service: Deactivated successfully.
Nov 06 06:30:22 archlinux systemd[1]: Stopped Light Display Manager.
Nov 06 06:30:22 archlinux systemd[1]: lightdm.service: Consumed 63ms CPU time, 117.9M memory peak.
-- Boot b2aa52bacc1d433ca225d289c7624011 --
Nov 07 06:37:45 archlinux systemd[1]: Starting Light Display Manager...
Nov 07 06:37:45 archlinux systemd[1]: Started Light Display Manager.
Nov 07 06:37:45 archlinux lightdm[2545]: pam_unix(lightdm-greeter:session): session opened for user lightdm(uid=974) by (uid=0)
Nov 07 06:37:45 archlinux lightdm[2545]: pam_systemd(lightdm-greeter:session): New sd-bus connection (system-bus-pam-systemd-2545) opened.
Nov 07 06:37:49 archlinux lightdm[2577]: pam_systemd_home(lightdm:auth): New sd-bus connection (system-bus-pam-systemd-home-2577) opened.
Nov 07 06:37:56 archlinux lightdm[2577]: pam_unix(lightdm:session): session opened for user richard(uid=1000) by richard(uid=0)
Nov 07 06:37:56 archlinux lightdm[2577]: pam_systemd(lightdm:session): New sd-bus connection (system-bus-pam-systemd-2577) opened.
Nov 07 06:38:17 archlinux systemd[1]: Stopping Light Display Manager...
Nov 07 06:38:17 archlinux systemd[1]: lightdm.service: Deactivated successfully.
Nov 07 06:38:17 archlinux systemd[1]: Stopped Light Display Manager.
Nov 07 06:38:17 archlinux systemd[1]: lightdm.service: Consumed 2.133s CPU time, 84.1M memory peak.
-- Boot d7c76d4fc0f74d1dae65175c8c998dec --
Nov 07 06:40:06 archlinux systemd[1]: Starting Light Display Manager...
Nov 07 06:40:06 archlinux systemd[1]: Started Light Display Manager.

[richard@archlinux ~]$ journalctl -u lightdm.service -b
-- No entries --

[richard@archlinux ~]$ systemctl get-default
multi-user.target

[richard@archlinux ~]$ systemctl show -p WantedBy lightdm.service
WantedBy=

Last edited by Richards (2024-11-10 17:54:03)

Awebb

Member

Registered: 2010-05-06

Posts: 6,628

Re: (Solved) Lightdm does not start at boot

It looks like lightdm.service isn't wanted by anything, my mistake.

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 59,588

Re: (Solved) Lightdm does not start at boot

[richard@archlinux ~]$ systemctl get-default
multi-user.target

2nd link below, lightdm is part of the graphical.target

Please also use [code][/code] tags. Edit your post in this regard.
And assuming it will, please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Awebb

Member

Registered: 2010-05-06

Posts: 6,628

Re: (Solved) Lightdm does not start at boot

To understand more about targets, our Wiki's systemd article has a targets chapter: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd#Targets

Richards

Member

Registered: 2019-04-21

Posts: 8

Re: (Solved) Lightdm does not start at boot

I have studied the above referenced Wiki pages as best I can. The Arch Wiki uses a lot of Arch technical jargon that I do not understand. I am fairly knowledgeable with Arch. I have built a number of Arch systems over the past five years, both on bare metal and as virtual machines using the Light DM gtk greeter, both with the XFCE desktop and with Openbox desktops I have built, and I have never had this problem before. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what step I should take next to get the greeter to load at boot instead of the tty?

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 23,393

Re: (Solved) Lightdm does not start at boot

you need to configure the graphical target as your default target to boot into. "normally" enabling lightdm should set that up itself automatically, that's basically the thing that's somewhat weird about this. but it should boil down to

systemctl set-default graphical.target

Last edited by V1del (2024-11-14 13:47:33)

Richards

Member

Registered: 2019-04-21

Posts: 8

Re: (Solved) Lightdm does not start at boot

That did it.

Thank you sir.

Richard