Problems loading SDDM themes

anonythl · 2025-05-04 05:23:06

Hey guys,

When I try and load most SDDM themes, I get error messages and it shows the ugly fallback theme instead.

Running SDDM with the sugar-candy theme outputs:

file:///usr/share/sddm/themes/sugar-candy/Main.qml:28:1: module "QtGraphicalEffects" is not installed 
     import QtGraphicalEffects 1.0
     ^

Running SDDM with the plasma-chili theme:

file:///usr/share/sddm/themes/plasma-chili/Main.qml:23:1: module "QtQuick.Controls" version 1.1 is not installed 
     import QtQuick.Controls 1.1 
     ^

This instance of Arch Linux was installed a few days ago, and I've configured a basic Hyprland setup with some QT configuration (qt6ct).
Here are all of the qt packages I have installed (pacman -Q | grep qt):

appstream-qt 1.0.5-2
hyprland-qt-support 0.1.0-6
hyprland-qtutils 0.1.4-2
kdsoap-qt6 2.2.0-1
layer-shell-qt 6.3.4-2
libqaccessibilityclient-qt6 0.6.0-1
networkmanager-qt 6.13.0-1
phonon-qt6 4.12.0-4
phonon-qt6-mpv 0.1.0-3
polkit-qt6 0.200.0-1
poppler-qt6 25.04.0-1
qca-qt6 2.3.10-1
qt5-base 5.15.16+kde+r131-1
qt5-declarative 5.15.16+kde+r22-3
qt5-graphicaleffects 5.15.16-3
qt5-quickcontrols 5.15.16-3
qt5-quickcontrols2 5.15.16+kde+r5-3
qt5-svg 5.15.16+kde+r5-3
qt5-translations 5.15.16-3
qt5-wayland 5.15.16+kde+r60-1
qt6-5compat 6.9.0-1
qt6-base 6.9.0-1
qt6-declarative 6.9.0-2
qt6-multimedia 6.9.0-1
qt6-multimedia-gstreamer 6.9.0-1
qt6-positioning 6.9.0-1
qt6-sensors 6.9.0-1
qt6-shadertools 6.9.0-1
qt6-speech 6.9.0-1
qt6-svg 6.9.0-1
qt6-tools 6.9.0-2
qt6-translations 6.9.0-1
qt6-virtualkeyboard 6.9.0-1
qt6-wayland 6.9.0-2
qt6ct 0.10-3

Additionally, there doesn't seem to be a version conflict between qmake and qtquick. QMake uses Qt version 5.15.16 (qmake --version), and the version of qt5-quickcontrols is 5.15.16-3 (pacman -Q | grep qt5-quickcontrols).

I haven't found anyone with this exact problem. How can I resolve this?

seth · 2025-05-04 06:12:05

I've configured a basic Hyprland setup with some Qt configuration

Is this SDDM on X11 or are you trying to use hyprland as SDDM compositor?

anonythl · 2025-05-04 07:03:21

This is SDDM on X11. I only mentioned Hyprland because when I installed it and configured it, I could have installed only a subset of the Qt/KDE dependencies that SDDM themes would require.

seth · 2025-05-04 07:16:15

Try to run "sddm --test-mode", if it faces the same issues we could strace it to see what paths are attempted and fail (and why)
Fwwi, https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comm … t/lt512sp/ - though the Qt5 themes recently-ish still worked according to some forum threads and the SDDM PKGBUILD has t qt5-declearative as a make dependency.

Last edited by seth (2025-05-04 07:16:27)

anonythl · 2025-05-09 19:51:27

I'm sorry for the late response. "sddm --test-mode" still shows the same error, but I've moved on at this point. I'm now using KDE with autologin from SDDM, so the theme doesn't even matter at this point.

The issue isn't technically resolved, but I've pretty much moved on. Should I mark it as [Solved]?

seth · 2025-05-10 06:33:02

"[ABANDONED]" (you no longer care about the topic)

CornyVanBeck · 2025-07-13 11:38:19

Heyho, I have the exact same problem but I do NOT have hyperland installed at the moment.
When I run

sddm-greeter-qt6 --test-mode --theme sugar-candy

i get the following output

sddm-greeter-qt6 --test-mode --theme sugar-candy
High-DPI autoscaling Enabled
Reading from "/usr/local/share/wayland-sessions/plasma.desktop"
Reading from "/usr/share/wayland-sessions/plasma.desktop"
Reading from "/usr/local/share/xsessions/plasmax11.desktop"
Reading from "/usr/share/xsessions/plasmax11.desktop"
Loading theme configuration from "sugar-candy/theme.conf"
Socket error:  "QLocalSocket::connectToServer: Invalid name"
Loading file:sugar-candy/Main.qml...
file:///usr/share/sddm/themes/sugar-candy/Main.qml:28:1: module "QtGraphicalEffects" is not installed 
     import QtGraphicalEffects 1.0 
     ^
file:///usr/share/sddm/themes/sugar-candy/Main.qml:28:1: module "QtGraphicalEffects" is not installed 
     import QtGraphicalEffects 1.0 
     ^
Fallback to embedded theme
file:///usr/lib/qt6/qml/SddmComponents/LayoutBox.qml:35:5: QML Connections: Implicitly defined onFoo properties in Connections are deprecated. Use this syntax instead: function onFoo(<arguments>) { ... }
file:///usr/lib/qt6/qml/SddmComponents/ComboBox.qml:105:9: QML Image: Cannot open: file:///usr/lib/qt6/qml/SddmComponents/angle-down.png
file:///usr/lib/qt6/qml/SddmComponents/ComboBox.qml:105:9: QML Image: Cannot open: file:///usr/lib/qt6/qml/SddmComponents/angle-down.png
qrc:/theme/Main.qml:41:5: QML Connections: Implicitly defined onFoo properties in Connections are deprecated. Use this syntax instead: function onFoo(<arguments>) { ... }
Adding view for "HDMI-A-1" QRect(0,0 3440x1440)
qt.qml.context: file:///usr/lib/qt6/qml/SddmComponents/PictureBox.qml:106:13 Parameter "event" is not declared. Injection of parameters into signal handlers is deprecated. Use JavaScript functions with formal parameters instead.

I also installed those two because this was suggested in some stackoverflow post, but without anz luck

qt5-declarative-5.15.17+kde+r21-1 qt5-graphicaleffects-5.15.17-1

Last edited by CornyVanBeck (2025-07-13 11:40:06)

seth · 2025-07-13 13:40:23

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/sddm-sugar-candy-git or https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/sddm … -candy-git ?
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/sddm-sugar-candy-git saw the last update in 2024 and actually depends on qt5-graphicaleffects, qt5-quickcontrols2 and qt5-svg

CornyVanBeck · 2025-07-13 19:11:21

Hey, thanks for the response. I think it's the first one from 2024 (I downloaded it through the system settings).

I also tried what you proposed and installed quickcontrols and svg but no luck so far

seth · 2025-07-13 20:26:08

You think it's?

pacman -Qs sugar-candy
pacman -Qikk sddm-sugar-candy-git

However,

sddm-greeter-qt6 --test-mode --theme sugar-candy

why are you trying to run a Qt5 greeter w/ sddm-greeter-qt6?

sddm-greeter --test-mode --theme sugar-candy

CornyVanBeck · 2025-07-14 18:23:36

pacman -Qikk sddm-sugar-candy-git

This one gives me the following error

error: package 'sddm-sugar-candy-git' was not found

I am running the qt6 greeter because with the latest arch update i only have qt6 left and if i try enabling sugar-candy via system settings it is not applied at all and is returning to the blueish default login screen.
I am trying to find out why this is no longer working... ... ... i mean, i could reinstall qt5 i assume but i dunno if this breaks anything else

arojas · 2025-07-14 19:18:18

You *can't* run a Qt5 theme with Qt6. Either you install Qt5, or you use a Qt6 theme. And no, nothing is going to break by installing Qt5.

Donzv · 2025-07-14 20:52:46

Do you have the `GreeterEnvironment=QT_QUICK_BACKEND=software` workaround put in place and forgotten? It's a workaround for the long-standing and never-dying "constant high CPU usage by greeter" issue. I just commented it out and the greeter started working again, but I haven't been testing this long enough to be sure the hot CPU issue didn't resurface.

CornyVanBeck · 2025-07-17 18:22:24

hello and sorry for the late response. @Donzv i did not have this configured.

@arojas, this is what i will try next and give you guys feedback if this worked for me

Thanks so far

CornyVanBeck · 2025-07-17 19:02:31

Hey guys!

good news i finally found the reason why my sddm defaults to this blueish login. There is a sddm.conf file located int etc

/etc/sddm.conf

This file was completely empty. And this is why it was not working for me!
So i copied just a portion from

/lib/sddm/sddm.conf.d/default.conf

This part only

[Theme]
# Current theme name
Current=sugar-candy

# Cursor size used in the greeter
CursorSize=

# Cursor theme used in the greeter
CursorTheme=

# Number of users to use as threshold
# above which avatars are disabled
# unless explicitly enabled with EnableAvatars
DisableAvatarsThreshold=7

# Enable display of custom user avatars
EnableAvatars=true

# Global directory for user avatars
# The files should be named <username>.face.icon
FacesDir=/usr/share/sddm/faces

# Font used in the greeter
Font=

# Theme directory path
ThemeDir=/usr/share/sddm/themes

And after a reboot i can finally enjoy this beautiful login screen again.

The only question that remains in my opinion is, why the heck was this file empty?

seth · 2025-07-17 19:27:02

I guess the question is why that file was there - likely the sddm kcm from plasma or you put it there?

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.

CornyVanBeck · 2025-07-19 18:36:53

I don't know honestly I could try fiddling around with that file, but at the moment I am happy.

Aaaand I cannot mark this as resolved because I am not the original post creator

Last edited by CornyVanBeck (2025-07-19 18:37:17)

Arch Linux

#1 2025-05-04 05:23:06

Problems loading SDDM themes

#2 2025-05-04 06:12:05

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

#3 2025-05-04 07:03:21

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

#4 2025-05-04 07:16:15

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

#5 2025-05-09 19:51:27

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

#6 2025-05-10 06:33:02

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

#7 2025-07-13 11:38:19

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

#8 2025-07-13 13:40:23

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

#9 2025-07-13 19:11:21

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

#10 2025-07-13 20:26:08

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

#11 2025-07-14 18:23:36

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

#12 2025-07-14 19:18:18

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

#13 2025-07-14 20:52:46

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

#14 2025-07-17 18:22:24

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

#15 2025-07-17 19:02:31

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

#16 2025-07-17 19:27:02

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

#17 2025-07-19 18:36:53

Re: Problems loading SDDM themes

Board footer