Arch Linux

eqo

Member

Registered: 2026-01-10

Posts: 1

'login incorrect' even if im logging in as known users or root

i successfully ran fsck on my root partition, and now i'm getting 'incorrect login' on the startup screen, even though im logging in as accounts that exist on the system, and function normally if i'm running an emergency shell. root filesystem works as expected.
here are the things i tried.
checked permissions on /etc/login, etc/shadow and etc/passwd,
checked nsswitch.conf, pam conf
all libraries are present
ran pwck and grpck.
wyd in this situation

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,085

Re: 'login incorrect' even if im logging in as known users or root

Check the system journal, the PAM module will likey point out the problem.
A popular way to run into such is https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Securi … n_attempts (and some background sudo job that never sees a password), but that should™ by default not affect the root.
Another way is a misconfigured keyboard layout and non-qwerty-safe password, have you tested the input while there's an echo (to see whether the keys you press produce the input you expect)?

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