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I have a laptop running Fedora 31 and Xfce 4/14, fully updated. I'm trying to configure the greeter to use a custom background, but all I can get is a black background. I've tried both lightdm-settings and lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings with the same results. Does the image have to be in a specific location or file format?
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From the Arch wiki:
Changing background images/colors
You can set the background to a hex color or an image. Some greeters offer more robust background options like background selection from the login screen, random backgrounds, etc.
GTK greeterYou can use the lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings gui.
Users wishing to customize the wallpaper on the greeter screen need to edit /etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf and define the background variable under the [greeter] section. For example:
/etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf
[greeter]
background=/usr/share/pixmaps/black_and_white_photography-wallpaper-1920x1080.jpgNote: It is recommended to place the PNG or JPG file in /usr/share/pixmaps since the LightDM user needs read access to the wallpaper file.
Siduction
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Xfce 4.18
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Interesting: you're saying that neither GUI can change the background, even though both of them have a place where you can set the wallpaper, and I remember changing it in a GUI on a different machine. And, I have managed to change it from the default for my distro to a blank, black screen.
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I think it can be done in the greeter settings this but like the wiki post mentioned the image should be in /usr/share/pixmaps so it can be seen by the greeter.
Siduction
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Well, that did work, so thanx, but it leaves me with a question. The image was in ~/Pictures, and I know that /home is mounted at boot. I wonder why the greeter couldn't find it until I put a copy in /usr/share/pixmaps.
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When lightdm runs the greeter, it runs it as the "lightdm" user. This user account, by default, does not have access to your home directory so it cannot see or use those images. If you look at your /var/log/lightdm.log file you'll see an entry where it starts the greeter and with which user account:
[+3.23s] DEBUG: Session pid=660: Started with service 'lightdm-greeter', username 'lightdm'
You could work around this if you granted the lightdm user access to your home directory.
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I also have F31 and I have no problem with a custom background, I only have three lines in my /etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf, without the need for a lightdm-gtk-greeter-settings gui (which is sometimes problematic):
[greeter]
background = /usr/share/backgrounds/1920x1200_f26.png
default-user-image = /casa_1/trastero/Grafica/ICONOS/iconos_PNG/aviones/tempest_icono.png
user-background = false
From my experience I can say that the location of the image is not important.
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When lightdm runs the greeter, it runs it as the "lightdm" user. This user account, by default, does not have access to your home directory so it cannot see or use those images. If you look at your /var/log/lightdm.log file you'll see an entry where it starts the greeter and with which user account:
[+3.23s] DEBUG: Session pid=660: Started with service 'lightdm-greeter', username 'lightdm'
You could work around this if you granted the lightdm user access to your home directory.
While I don't think much - and none of it good - about the practice of having odd "users" on a computer that the owner didn't expressly create... In other words, neither the root/admin account nor real user accounts... In this instance, it inadvertently(?) does serve one useful purpose. You might end up one day deleting an image from one of your image directories, and never even give a thought to, "Oh, wait, is that the image that I'm using for my login screen?" But you're probably not going to do so to an image that is stored in your boot(?) directory - because common sense is going to tell you that it's there for a purpose.
So maybe we should place a copy of the image we want to use at boot time, into the same directory that holds the rest of that boot stuff (instead of using the original image file in its original location).
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I'm now trying to customize a new laptop because my old one died. /etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf includes this line:
background = /usr/share/pixmaps/PerserveranceRover.jpg
but I still just get a blank black screen. And yes, I did use the gui to make the change.
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What does the following return:
stat /usr/share/pixmaps/PerserveranceRover.jpg
Can you also post your /var/log/lightdm/x-0-greeter.log file?
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stat /usr/share/pixmaps/PerserveranceRover.jpg
File: /usr/share/pixmaps/PerserveranceRover.jpg
Size: 78504 Blocks: 160 IO Block: 4096 regular file
Device: 803h/2051d Inode: 786705 Links: 1
Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)
Context: unconfined_u:object_r:usr_t:s0
Access: 2022-05-03 17:55:17.671188714 -0600
Modify: 2022-05-03 17:55:17.671188714 -0600
Change: 2022-05-03 17:55:17.671188714 -0600
Birth: 2022-05-03 17:55:17.671188714 -0600
There is no /var/log/lightdm/x-0-greeter.log.
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There is no /var/log/lightdm/x-0-greeter.log.
What files are in there?
ls /var/log/lightdm
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[joe@barrayar ~]$ ls /var/log/lightdm
lightdm.log seat0-greeter.log x-0.log x-1.log
lightdm.log.old seat0-greeter.log.old x-0.log.old x-1.log.old
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Ok sorry. Can you post back the contents of the lightdm.log and seat0-greeter.log files?
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[root@barrayar lightdm]# cat lightdm.log
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Starting Light Display Manager 1.30.0, UID=0 PID=2833
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration dirs from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-backup-logs.conf
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-disable-guest.conf
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-minimum-vt.conf
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-run-directory.conf
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-session-wrapper.conf
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-user-authority-in-system-dir.conf
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-xserver-command.conf
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/60-lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/90-slick-greeter.conf
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration dirs from /usr/local/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration dirs from /var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration dirs from /root/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration dirs from /etc/xdg/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Registered seat module local
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Registered seat module xremote
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Using D-Bus name org.freedesktop.DisplayManager
[+0.02s] DEBUG: _g_io_module_get_default: Found default implementation gvfs (GDaemonVfs) for ‘gio-vfs’
[+0.02s] DEBUG: Monitoring logind for seats
[+0.02s] DEBUG: New seat added from logind: seat0
[+0.02s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Loading properties from config section Seat:*
[+0.02s] DEBUG: Seat seat0 has property CanMultiSession=no
[+0.02s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Starting
[+0.02s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Creating greeter session
[+0.02s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Creating display server of type x
[+0.02s] DEBUG: Using VT 1
[+0.02s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Starting local X display on VT 1
[+0.02s] DEBUG: XServer 1: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/x-1.log
[+0.02s] DEBUG: XServer 1: Writing X server authority to /run/lightdm/root/:1
[+0.02s] DEBUG: XServer 1: Launching X Server
[+0.02s] DEBUG: Launching process 2846: /usr/bin/X -core -noreset :1 -seat seat0 -auth /run/lightdm/root/:1 -nolisten tcp vt1 -novtswitch
[+0.02s] DEBUG: XServer 1: Waiting for ready signal from X server :1
[+0.02s] DEBUG: Acquired bus name org.freedesktop.DisplayManager
[+0.02s] DEBUG: Registering seat with bus path /org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Seat0
[+0.02s] DEBUG: Loading users from org.freedesktop.Accounts
[+0.02s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 added
[root@barrayar lightdm]# cat seat0-greeter.log
[+0.00s] DEBUG: _g_io_module_get_default: Found default implementation dconf (DConfSettingsBackend) for ‘gsettings-backend’
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:170: Resetting dconf setting for background to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:170: Resetting dconf setting for background-color to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:170: Resetting dconf setting for logo to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:170: Resetting dconf setting for other-monitors-logo to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:170: Resetting dconf setting for theme-name to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:170: Resetting dconf setting for icon-theme-name to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:170: Resetting dconf setting for font-name to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:170: Resetting dconf setting for play-ready-sound to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:170: Resetting dconf setting for xft-hintstyle to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:170: Resetting dconf setting for xft-rgba to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:170: Resetting dconf setting for enable-hidpi to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:170: Resetting dconf setting for only-on-monitor to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:170: Resetting dconf setting for clock-format to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:188: Resetting dconf setting for draw-user-backgrounds to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:188: Resetting dconf setting for stretch-background-across-monitors to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:188: Resetting dconf setting for draw-grid to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:188: Resetting dconf setting for show-hostname to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:188: Resetting dconf setting for show-power to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:188: Resetting dconf setting for show-a11y to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:188: Resetting dconf setting for show-clock to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:188: Resetting dconf setting for show-keyboard to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:188: Resetting dconf setting for show-quit to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:188: Resetting dconf setting for xft-antialias to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:188: Resetting dconf setting for activate-numlock to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:206: Resetting dconf setting for xft-dpi to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:224: Resetting dconf setting for hidden-users to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: settings.vala:224: Resetting dconf setting for group-filter to default
[+0.00s] DEBUG: slick-greeter.vala:632: HiDPI support: auto
/usr/bin/slick-greeter-check-hidpi:17: DeprecationWarning: Gdk.Screen.get_primary_monitor is deprecated
primary = screen.get_primary_monitor()
/usr/bin/slick-greeter-check-hidpi:19: DeprecationWarning: Gdk.Screen.get_monitor_geometry is deprecated
rect = screen.get_monitor_geometry(primary)
/usr/bin/slick-greeter-check-hidpi:20: DeprecationWarning: Gdk.Screen.get_monitor_width_mm is deprecated
width_mm = screen.get_monitor_width_mm(primary)
/usr/bin/slick-greeter-check-hidpi:21: DeprecationWarning: Gdk.Screen.get_monitor_height_mm is deprecated
height_mm = screen.get_monitor_height_mm(primary)
/usr/bin/slick-greeter-check-hidpi:22: DeprecationWarning: Gdk.Screen.get_monitor_scale_factor is deprecated
monitor_scale = screen.get_monitor_scale_factor(primary)
[+0.09s] DEBUG: unsetenv() is not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
[+0.10s] DEBUG: slick-greeter.vala:651: Starting slick-greeter 1.5.6 UID=989 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
[+0.10s] DEBUG: slick-greeter.vala:654: Setting cursor
[+0.10s] DEBUG: slick-greeter.vala:668: Loading command line options
[+0.10s] DEBUG: slick-greeter.vala:695: Setting GTK+ settings
[+0.10s] DEBUG: _g_io_module_get_default: Found default implementation gvfs (GDaemonVfs) for ‘gio-vfs’
[+0.13s] DEBUG: slick-greeter.vala:718: Creating Slick Greeter
[+0.13s] DEBUG: slick-greeter.vala:55: Creating background surface
[+0.13s] DEBUG: Connecting to display manager...
[+0.13s] DEBUG: Wrote 26 bytes to daemon
[+0.13s] DEBUG: Read 8 bytes from daemon
[+0.13s] DEBUG: Read 160 bytes from daemon
[+0.13s] DEBUG: Connected api=1 version=1.30.0 hide-users=false has-guest-account=false default-session=default show-manual-login=false show-remote-login=true
[+0.18s] DEBUG: Loading users from org.freedesktop.Accounts
[+0.18s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 added
[+0.19s] DEBUG: user-list.vala:1036: Adding/updating user joe (Joe Zeff)
[+0.19s] DEBUG: Loading sessions from org.freedesktop.DisplayManager
[+0.19s] DEBUG: main-window.vala:229: Monitor 0 is 1920x1080 pixels at 0,0
[+0.19s] DEBUG: main-window.vala:245: MainWindow is 0x0 pixels
[+0.19s] DEBUG: slick-greeter.vala:721: Showing greeter
[+0.19s] DEBUG: slick-greeter.vala:303: Showing main window
[+0.21s] DEBUG: background.vala:66: Making background #000000 at 1920x1080
[+0.21s] DEBUG: background.vala:77: Render of background #000000 complete
[+0.24s] DEBUG: Loaded session /usr/share/xsessions/xfce.desktop (Xfce Session, Use this session to run Xfce as your desktop environment)
[+0.24s] DEBUG: Starting authentication for user joe...
[+0.24s] DEBUG: Wrote 19 bytes to daemon
[+0.24s] DEBUG: slick-greeter.vala:731: Starting main loop
[+0.24s] DEBUG: background.vala:605: Regenerating backgrounds
[+0.24s] DEBUG: background.vala:66: Making background #000000 at 1920x1080
[+0.24s] DEBUG: background.vala:77: Render of background #000000 complete
[+0.24s] DEBUG: background.vala:605: Regenerating backgrounds
[+0.24s] DEBUG: background.vala:66: Making background #000000 at 1920x1080
[+0.24s] DEBUG: background.vala:77: Render of background #000000 complete
[+0.26s] DEBUG: slick-greeter.vala:291: starting system-ready sound
[+0.26s] DEBUG: background.vala:753: Can't read background file /home/joe/Pictures/Wallpaper/B-25_bomber_by_James_Doolittle_took_off_from_the_USS_Hornet_for_Doolittle_Raid_in_1942.jpg, falling back to #000000
[+0.30s] DEBUG: Read 8 bytes from daemon
[+0.30s] DEBUG: Read 33 bytes from daemon
[+0.30s] DEBUG: Prompt user with 1 message(s)
[+15.05s] DEBUG: Providing response to display manager
[+15.05s] DEBUG: Wrote 26 bytes to daemon
[+15.10s] DEBUG: Read 8 bytes from daemon
[+15.10s] DEBUG: Read 15 bytes from daemon
[+15.10s] DEBUG: Authentication complete for user joe with return code 0
[+15.10s] DEBUG: main-window.vala:204: Killing orca and onboard
[+15.10s] DEBUG: Starting session xfce
[+15.10s] DEBUG: Wrote 16 bytes to daemon
[+15.10s] DEBUG: Read 8 bytes from daemon
[+15.10s] DEBUG: Read 4 bytes from daemon
[+15.10s] DEBUG: slick-greeter.vala:726: Got a SIGTERM
[+15.10s] DEBUG: slick-greeter.vala:734: Cleaning up
[+15.10s] DEBUG: slick-greeter.vala:747: Exiting
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[+0.26s] DEBUG: background.vala:753: Can't read background file /home/joe/Pictures/Wallpaper/B-25_bomber_by_James_Doolittle_took_off_from_the_USS_Hornet_for_Doolittle_Raid_in_1942.jpg, falling back to #000000
It can’t find the configured wallpaper and is reverting to black. You also appear to be using the slick greeter. Is there a configuration setting in the slick greeter that allows you to set the wallpaper?
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There is, but it's commented out, along with everything else. What I don't understand is how it got that as the background. I use rotating wallpapers and that may have been the one when I logged out. Maybe I should edit slick-greeter.conf, uncomment that line and make it match the line in lightgm-gtk-greeter.conf, which points to the right file, and the permissions are OK.
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Maybe its stored in dconf:
gsettings list-recursively x.dm.slick-greeter
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x.dm.slick-greeter show-power true
x.dm.slick-greeter show-quit true
x.dm.slick-greeter xft-hintstyle 'hintslight'
x.dm.slick-greeter show-a11y true
x.dm.slick-greeter background ''
x.dm.slick-greeter draw-grid false
x.dm.slick-greeter xft-rgba 'rgb'
x.dm.slick-greeter activate-numlock false
x.dm.slick-greeter background-color '#000000'
x.dm.slick-greeter hidden-users @as []
x.dm.slick-greeter onscreen-keyboard false
x.dm.slick-greeter enable-hidpi 'auto'
x.dm.slick-greeter only-on-monitor 'auto'
x.dm.slick-greeter screen-reader false
x.dm.slick-greeter clock-format '%H:%M'
x.dm.slick-greeter icon-theme-name 'gnome'
x.dm.slick-greeter other-monitors-logo ''
x.dm.slick-greeter high-contrast false
x.dm.slick-greeter theme-name 'Adwaita'
x.dm.slick-greeter show-clock true
x.dm.slick-greeter show-hostname true
x.dm.slick-greeter show-keyboard true
x.dm.slick-greeter group-filter @as []
x.dm.slick-greeter logo ''
x.dm.slick-greeter stretch-background-across-monitors false
x.dm.slick-greeter play-ready-sound ''
x.dm.slick-greeter xft-antialias true
x.dm.slick-greeter font-name 'Ubuntu 11'
x.dm.slick-greeter draw-user-backgrounds true
x.dm.slick-greeter xft-dpi 96.0
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x.dm.slick-greeter draw-user-backgrounds true
Maybe it's using AccountsService. With root privileges, have a look at the /var/lib/AccountsService/users/USERNAME file (where USERNAME is you account user name) and see if its listed there.
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BackgroundFile='/home/joe/Pictures/Wallpaper/Crater.jpg'
Stranger and stranger!
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Where is /home/joe/Pictures/Wallpaper/B-25_bomber_by_James_Doolittle_took_off_from_the_USS_Hornet_for_Doolittle_Raid_in_1942.jpg referenced? Is it in your ~/.dmrc file?
You can also try searching your home directory for a reference to that. Something like:
cd $HOME && fgrep -ri Doolittle * .[^.]*
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Xfce allows you to specify a number of wallpapers and either rotate through them or have them change in a random order. I have them change at random and keep them all in that directory. That's the only reference to that directory or any of the images in it that I know of.
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Try running these commands to configure the slick greeter to display your background:
gsettings set x.dm.slick-greeter draw-user-backgrounds false
gsettings set x.dm.slick-greeter background "/usr/share/pixmaps/PerserveranceRover.jpg"
...and then restart to test.
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Logging out and back in should have worked, but didn't. Neither did a full reboot. Have we discovered a bug here that needs reporting, and if so, which program?
Just what file are we modifying here? I ran those commands as root, but /etc/lightdm/slick-greeter.conf still shows a modification date of Jan 1, over a month before I installed Fedora on this laptop.
Last edited by Sideburns (2022-05-06 16:40:21)
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[ Generated in 0.012 seconds, 7 queries executed - Memory usage: 705.27 KiB (Peak: 754.55 KiB) ]