Can't Boot Into System After Switching Display Managers

[Zer0sVoid]

I was looking to try a new Display Manager to add some flare on the screen before I log in to my system.

The Desktop Environment and Display Manager I’ve been using has been Gnome and gdm.

I wanted to try LightDM.
I installed it through pacman and changed the Display Manager through the EndeavourOS Welcome app.
When I reboot, my system is stuck on the screen that says

:: running early hook [udev]
Starting systemd-udevd version 253.4-1-arch

I have tried booting into tty through grub or using ctrl + alt + F2, however the screen is still stuck at the same message.

[manuel]

So you can give terminal commands in TTY?
If not, then you can arch-chroot into your system using the USB installer.
Search for arch-chroot in our wiki for more details.

Then you can change to the previous DM with commands:

sudo systemctl disable lightdm
sudo systemctl enable gdm

and reboot back to the system.

[Zer0sVoid]

I had trouble entering any commands into the TTY, but using arch-chroot did the trick.

What advice do you have on diagnosing why my system doesn’t like booting into lightdm?

[manuel]

You can look at some logs, like

less /var/log/Xorg.0.log  # or older
sudo journalctl -b -0

For the latter, see also the manual page

man journalctl

for more options.

Also logs in folder /var/log/lightdm can be useful.

[Pudge]

@Zer0sVoid

I wanted to try LightDM.
I installed it through pacman and changed the Display Manager through the EndeavourOS Welcome app.

Besides lightdm, did you also install either lightdm-gtk-greeter or lightdm-slick-greeter?
You might want to take a look here:

Want to experiment with Lightdm slick greeter?

By default, EndeavourOS uses LightDM for the log-in, and uses the lightdm-gtk-greeter. There is absolutely nothing wrong with lightdm-gtk-greeter, but if you’re like me and just have to tinker around, here is how to play around with lightdm-slick-greeter. Open a terminal window, and as root install lightdm-slick-greeter and lightdm-settings from the AUR using yay # yay -S lightdm-slick-greeter Tell it to erase compiler only dependencies so it cleans up after itself. # yay -S lightdm-setting…

Pudge

[Zer0sVoid]

Hmm I did not, I would guess that either of those might be dependencies that LightDM needs?

[Pudge]

Yes, LightDM is just the base, and supports multiple greeters that are layered on top.

lightdm-gtk-greeter was the most stable when I was playing with Display Managers for ARM.

lightdm-slick-greeter either works or it doesn’t depending on the Desktop Envirornment. Slick’s advantage is most people think the esthetics are prettier than gtk-greeter.

Plus, once lightdm is installed, it must be enabled via systemctl. just the opposite from @mauel 's post.

sudo systemctl disable gdm
sudo systemctl enable lightdm

I would highly suggest reading through the above link before trying again.
Especially if you try slick-greeter. That requires configuration in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

Pudge

EDIT:
Only one greeter can be installed at a time.

[petsam]

@Pudge

Only one greeter can be installed at a time

It doesn’t look so, checking their pacman info.
Why did you think so?

[Pudge]

@petsam

@Pudge

Only one greeter can be installed at a time

It doesn’t look so, checking their pacman info.
Why did you think so?

@petsam

I should have remembered, but brain deterioration is unavoidable, sadly…)

You are correct, brain deterioration at my age is unavoidable.

Again, you are correct. I referred back to my Topic about lightdm-slick. You can have more than one installed, but then you have to specify which one is active in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

Pudge