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I left my computer on overnight and when I came to it this morning it offered to update (I'm on Ubuntu 12.04). So I updated and restarted, now when I want to login, I get the message:

Could not update ICE authority file /home/user/.ICEauthority

I'm getting this on all accounts. I can't see a way to get into the terminal to sort this out, as various threads I've found suggest. If I use Ctrl+Alt+T nothing happens. If I use Ctrl+F1then just go to a black screen.

I tried using an old live CD (Ubuntu 8.04) but couldn't get to terminal via that either.

I made usb stick to boot 12.04 from but I have no option to boot from usb on the computer (it has USB sockets, but it's an old desktop).It's only got CdROM/HDD/Network boot as options.

I can't burn a boot CD of 12.04 because the file is too big.

Can someone suggest a way to get to the terminal so I can fix this?

Braiam
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martin
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2 Answers2

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How to fix .ICEauthority

Lifted from this post.

First you need to boot into recovery mode. If Ubuntu is the only system installed on your computer you need to hold Shift-Key while booting.

The recovery-mode entry on a single OS system

Select the "recovery mode"-entry which is usually the second one.

The menu from the recovery mode

  • Select "root Drop to root shell prompt".
  • Enter mount -o rw,remount / to make your system writeable

Repairing

Go to your home folder. Change USERNAME with you actual username:

cd /home/USERNAME

Check if .ICEAuthority is owned by you

ls -al .ICEauthority

If it isn't (like it is owned by root) change it to you. As above change USERNAME with you actual username:

sudo chown USERNAME:USERNAME .ICEauthority

If you there is no such file you need to recreate it. Change USERNAME yada yada ... :

touch .ICEauthority
sudo chown USERNAME:USERNAME .ICEauthority
sudo chmod 600 .ICEauthority

Type 

reboot

to reboot your system.

Probale cause

You probably ran a graphical application with sudo as explained here.

MadMike
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  1. CTRL-ALT-F1 to get to terminal window
  2. sudo chmod 777 /home/xxx -R
  3. Switch back to the login screen by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F7 or F8
Eric Carvalho
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Chris Stevenson
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