No write access to #home directory

RichGags · 01-21-2006, 09:31 PM

Hi everybody, Newbie here...

Im using Linux for the 1st time on a Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop. I installed "Auditor 2.6.11-auditor-10". On my login screen, I have "Kanotix User RichGags" and "root".

I can log in to root just fine. However, if I try to login as "Kanotix User RichGags", I get the following error:

---The following installation problem was detected while trying to start KDE:

---No write access to #home directory (/home/RichGags)
---KDE is unable to start.

Then I hit OK and another box pops up in the upper left corner that says:

---Could not start ksmserver. Check your installation.

I tried to login again as root and tried to set the permissions for that directory, but it didnt work. I must be doing something wrong.

I would just use root, however, I installed AOL's Instant Messanger and it says to install it as root, but run the program as a user....and it wont run from root for some reason...

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Rich

Netizen · 01-21-2006, 09:47 PM

Who is the owner of the directory?

Can you run the following and post the content?

Code:

$ ls -l /home/RichGags

RichGags · 01-21-2006, 10:00 PM

I did as you asked...here is the result:

root@Auditor:/# ls -l /home/RichGags
total 1112
drwxrwxrwx 3 RichGags RichGags 4096 Jan 21 22:33 Desktop
drwxrwxrwx 5 root root 4096 Jan 21 22:54 TEMP
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root root 1118089 Jan 21 21:19 aim-1.5.286.tgz
drwxrwxrwx 2 RichGags RichGags 4096 Dec 10 2002 tmp
drwxrwxrwx 4 root root 4096 Jan 10 2003 usr
root@Auditor:/#

What next?

BTW, Thanks for responding so fast...
Rich

Netizen · 01-22-2006, 12:45 PM

What distro you running? I am not sure why you have RichGags as the user and group. Its usually would be Rich Gags and Users as the group.

Try

Code:

# chown -R RichGags:users /home/RichGags

And then see if it allows you.

RichGags · 01-22-2006, 07:10 PM

Hi, I did as you suggested, now the message says:

The following installation problem was detected while trying to start KDE:

---No write access to '/home/RichGags/.ICEauthority'
---KDE is unable to start.

Any ideas?
Rich

Netizen · 01-22-2006, 09:17 PM

well, you can give yourself write access to the file.

Since RichGags should be the owner of the file, login and before you run startx type the following and hit enter.

Code:

$chmod +w .ICEauthority

Then run startx.

Dtsazza · 01-23-2006, 08:19 AM

Just FYI Netizen, Debian defaults to creating files with yourself as the user, and your eponymous group as the group (e.g. adoyle:adoyle). I assumed that was the usual thing...

RichGags · 01-23-2006, 02:16 PM

How do i log in without starting x?

Dtsazza · 01-24-2006, 03:48 AM

You'd have to change the "default runlevel" - which is essentially the level of services that Linux brings up on startup. For most distributions, you edit the /etc/inittab file and change the following:

Code:

# The default runlevel.
id:5:initdefault:

to

Code:

# The default runlevel.
id:3:initdefault:

I have a feeling that Kanotix might use runlevel 2 for text-only mode, instead of level 3 - can anyone corfirm this? (It shouldn't be dangerous to use the wrong one; unless you set it to 0, 1 or 6 by mistake, you can just change the file if you don't like the runlevel).

Also, the Boot-Up Manager tool has been noted to be a nice GUI for Kanotix runlevels. apt-get install bum if you fancy it, though I have no idea how it works or how easy it is to (mis)use.

esje · 01-24-2006, 04:21 AM

Debian runlevels between 3 and 5 are all the same. You have to edit the scripts yourself. Dunno if this is the same for Kanotix. If it is, you can use some kind of tool like rcconf and remove xdm/kdm/gdm from the default runlevel. That's somewhat easier than editing the symlinks [=-)