(lightDM-) login frozen and keymap error messages after update

hank2121 · 2026-05-17T10:15:05+00:00

well, after three days (in total) of upgrading (GhostBSD/Xlibre) and get it running , re-installing and configuring painfully my VirtualBox VMs, the last big...

vimanuelt

Try this:

Boot into the working BE (the p5 environment)

Create a NEW safe clone before testing:

sudo bectl create safe-working-backup

Update only from terminal, not Update Station:

sudo pkg update -f
sudo pkg upgrade -fy

hank2121

vimanuelt ok, I ll give it a try tonight and let You know.
Thx for the info!

Robin

I'm curious, @vimanuelt , why you advised using the terminal instead of the Update Station. I assume it's the -f and the -fy components? I reckon they're not part of the regular update script that Update Station uses, correct?

vimanuelt

Robin

pkg update -y : Yes
pkg upgrade -fy : No

hank2121

ok, tried as You wrote @vimanuelt , but same result: after almost 1300 packages de-/re-installed and upgraded, it ends at login screen with no keyboard and no mouse (or should I say frozen mouse cursor). So again no navigation whatsoever. Will have to live with the p5-version then until - hopefully - the next major update will bring back full functionality on my Toshiba.

vimanuelt

Yes, it seems likely that there is an issue caused by changing your shell. If you changed to bash, it may be causing issues. Revert your shell setting and attempt to upgrade.

hank2121

vimanuelt so, You mean, going back to zsh may solve that issue?
can try tonight, when back from work...

hank2121

OK, this "lightDM, gkr-pam - unable to locate daemon control file" shows up again and this "zsh:compinit: insecure directories, run comaudit for list. Ignore insecure directories and continue (Y) or abort compinit (n) ncompinit initialization aborted", after I tried another command shell upgrade tog. with shell setting on zsh! seems to be another problem, why there s no mouse and keyboard available at login screen.
So will wait till next major update, that hopefully fixes this, as no kb and mouse, I cant search in any logfiles of this recent version p8!?
but had a look into "messages" under p5, which also includes the last upgrade messages from p8-version, where it says:
"hank-ghostbsd dbus-daemon [2976) (< package number ?, comment from me): Unable to set up transient service directory: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR '/var/run/user/164' not available: No such file or directory"
This message is repeated several times during re-installation/upgrade list.
The only real error, I could find.

vimanuelt

Try using fish instead.

hank2121

vimanuelt tried now. same result, no mouse, no keyboard on login screen, so no login possible.
will wait for the next major upgrade then and try again.
something goes wrong with my login when version p8 is active!?
and again this error about "lightDM, gkr-pam - unable to locate daemon control file"

vimanuelt

hank2121
I suggest reinstalling if your changes have materially affected the system state. Waiting for a future release is unlikely to resolve the issue, particularly as the behavior has not been reproduced in testing by others using the current code base.

hank2121

vimanuelt I was afraid, You d suggest that. sigh...
OK, maybe tomorrow on our holiday I ll try again and keep the add. configuration delayed until all is goin as expected...
thx my friend.

hank2121

OK, couldn t wait and made a fresh installation. The basic system tog. with LibreOffice, Ungoogled-Chromium and Wireshark. Plus one or two apps to get the complete whisker menue structure.
At Xfce-/desktop I switched to greybird and xfce-elementary-style again and kept zsh as default shell.
Now with the latest update I got to GhostBSD 26.1 ... p8 and without login trouble or missing keyboard and/or mouse.
Another update-station check said: I m on actual level and no updates available. So I guess, it was my sticking to Bash as default shell, that did the problem and keeping zsh did the trick to work!?
Although I have now the problem of missing permissions to change the desktop background (although being a member of "wheel" and "operator"), the rest seems to work. I ll carefully add now programs and permissions and will see, if I got stuck again somewhere on my Toshiba...

hank2121

ok,guess, I found the problem of frozen login: I tried to re-install VirtualBox after most apps working again.
Unfortunately it comes with xorg-Server and when I rebooted the laptop I was stuck again in frozen login screen, no mouse, no keyboard.
Is VirtualBox incompatible with new GhostBSD 26.1 under Xlibre and is bhyve and its graphical admintool workin?
Did someone try out and is there a chance to get VirtualBox woking again?
In the meantime I ll do another re-install without VirtualBox and see how far I come... sigh...

hank2121

ok, challenges get more n more.
three different USB stick installations let to one (!) successful restart with rEfind on three different laptops (2 Lenovos, one Dell Latitude 7490) and couldn t for any sake activate wlan on that Dell, so now on LAN.
With all stick installation (even on different ports) it did not find any bootable devices, although first restart worked!?
So had to repeat all this via DVD installation, then You get a persistent reFind.
At least the Lenovo TP T520 works with wlan; now trying to install AND boot GhostBSD 25.02 and try to upgrade this way, hpefully with VirtualBox included. well, simple and elegant is not quite right at the moment...

hank2121

hank2121 sorry, seems, I cant delete the posts, that are offtopic in here. I created new posts but wd like to delete the content in here...

hank2121

OK, a for now last update:

couldn t get a successful installation via USB stick, neither with Balena Etcher, nor Rufus, that would create a working boot environment with 26.1 or 25.02. only working with a burnt DVD
have now three version: old 25.02 xorg- one on desktop, an upgraded 26.1 xorg-version from 25.02 and a fresh 26.1-version with xlibre on the Toshiba
The upgraded one with Xorg will be my testbed for VirtualBox; the ThinkPad T520 may crash, but then it s easily re-installed.... ;-)

hank2121

aehm: except for the package collection in software-station, how can I check, if xorg or xlibre is running? it always show X11 when trying on command line? ;-)

vimanuelt

Each question should have a different topic instead of loading numerous off-topic questions to a lightdm thread.

hank2121

vimanuelt oops, You re right. I ll work on it tomorrow and will spread the different subjects into different posts, promised.

hank2121

ericbsd ooops, with all posts I lost overview. Thx Eric, will check this over the weekend and try my best. ;-)
On my ThinkPad testbed system is on xorg after upgrade, so I can test both versions later, VirtualBox with xorg and with xlibre, that s good.