Can't log into XFCE

Hello guys,
I just ran into the following issue.
I updated my system a few minutes ago and had to reboot, I get the login screen, type my passphrase and hit Enter, the screen goes dark for a moment and instead of starting my XFCE session I’m back to the login screen.
I can open a Gnome session (in fact I’m writing this in the Gnome session) without problems. So no user or password issues. And there’s no error message.

Finally I found the solution here: XFCE login loop solved

Try again

sudo pacman -Syu

Didn’t help.
pacman says all is up to date and nothing to do.

Here’s what pacman updated just before the issue

[2023-02-12T14:45:32+0100] [ALPM] upgraded boost-libs (1.81.0-2 -> 1.81.0-3)
[2023-02-12T14:45:32+0100] [ALPM] upgraded e2fsprogs (1.46.6-1 -> 1.47.0-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:32+0100] [ALPM] upgraded dbus (1.14.4-1 -> 1.14.6-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:32+0100] [ALPM] upgraded freetype2 (2.12.1-1 -> 2.13.0-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:32+0100] [ALPM] upgraded cryptsetup (2.6.0-1 -> 2.6.1-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:33+0100] [ALPM] upgraded chromium (110.0.5481.77-1 -> 110.0.5481.77-2)
[2023-02-12T14:45:33+0100] [ALPM] upgraded fakeroot (1.31-1 -> 1.31-2)
[2023-02-12T14:45:33+0100] [ALPM] upgraded eos-update-notifier (1.18-1 -> 23-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:33+0100] [ALPM] upgraded libadwaita (1:1.2.1-1 -> 1:1.2.2-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:33+0100] [ALPM] upgraded libimagequant (4.0.4-1 -> 4.1.0-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:34+0100] [ALPM] upgraded linux (6.1.10.arch1-1 -> 6.1.11.arch1-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:37+0100] [ALPM] upgraded linux-headers (6.1.10.arch1-1 -> 6.1.11.arch1-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:37+0100] [ALPM] upgraded lmdb (0.9.30-1 -> 0.9.30-2)
[2023-02-12T14:45:37+0100] [ALPM] upgraded postgresql-libs (15.1-1 -> 15.1-3)
[2023-02-12T14:45:37+0100] [ALPM] upgraded python-orjson (3.8.5-1 -> 3.8.6-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:38+0100] [ALPM] upgraded qt6-webengine (6.4.2-1 -> 6.4.2-2)
[2023-02-12T14:45:38+0100] [ALPM] upgraded sudo (1.9.12.p2-1 -> 1.9.12.p2-2)
[2023-02-12T14:45:38+0100] [ALPM] upgraded vala (0.56.3-1 -> 0.56.4-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:38+0100] [ALPM] upgraded vte-common (0.70.2-1 -> 0.70.3-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:38+0100] [ALPM] upgraded vte3 (0.70.2-1 -> 0.70.3-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:39+0100] [ALPM] upgraded xfce4-notifyd (0.7.3-1 -> 0.8.0-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:39+0100] [ALPM] upgraded xfce4-power-manager (4.18.0-1 -> 4.18.1-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:39+0100] [ALPM] upgraded xfce4-session (4.18.0-1 -> 4.18.1-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:39+0100] [ALPM] upgraded xfce4-settings (4.18.1-1 -> 4.18.2-1)
[2023-02-12T14:45:39+0100] [ALPM] transaction completed

Which display manager do you use? Does your passphrase contain characters which are different when using a US or DE keyboard? Example: y or z.

I use lightdm. There is no problem with keyboard settings or passphrase characters, I can log into a Gnome Session without problem but when I try to start a XFCE session I get back to the login screen.

Do you have a ~/.xsession-errors file showing error messages?

Yes, there is an error message in .xsession-errors
xfce4-session: symbol lookup error: xfce4-session: undefined symbol: xfce_screensaver_lock

But it’s all Greek to me

1 Like

Just guessing. I assume that xfce4-screensaver is installed

Perhaps check if somehow the xfce4 config is broken.

mv ~/.config/xfce4 ~/.config/xfce4.save

and try to login into xfce4 again.

2 Likes

this is the complete file/log?

Same problem on arch. Same dm, same steps. Downgrading xfce4-session package worked for me.

2 Likes

No, it’s not broken.
Vielen Dank für Deine Mühe!

Yes, it’s the complete log.

Worked for me too. Thanks for sharing and welcome to the purple community :enos_flag: :rocketa:

So what’s best practice now? Put xfce4-session on the ignore list until a new version shows up?

Interesting. On my system I have

xfce4-session 4.18.1-1

and no problem at all. What specifically does bring up the problem?

I really don’t know.
I ran yay and did a reboot because linux and linux-header packages were updated. After the reboot I typed in my password, hit Enter and the screen turns black for a few moments and instead of showing the XFCE desktop I’m back to the log-in screen.
I can reproduce this by updating to xfce4-session 4.18.1-1 again.

I have no problem on my desktop either, only on my laptop. I can’t find the right way to track errors from xfce4-session. Please share if you know.

I do not know for sure but if I have an error in xfce4 I usually look in

  • ~/.xession-errors
  • or use journalctl --since <date> or journalctl -xe (not sure if this gives more information)
  • or /var/log/Xorg.0.log if I believe it is an X error
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