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Questions tagged [switch-user]

58 questions
152
votes
6 answers

What is the purpose of the 'nobody' user?

After I read List all human users I noticed that there is a user account named 'nobody' in my Ubuntu system. Also I noticed that I can login in this account from terminal using the following command and my password: sudo su nobody It doesn't mind…
Radu Rădeanu
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32
votes
3 answers

Cannot login to newly created user account

Trying to switch accounts to my newly created account I get a black screen and then it takes me back to the main login screen after entering the correct password. Upon logging into my previously existing account I get: "System Program Problem…
penner
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25
votes
0 answers

Ubuntu 18.04 stuck at purple screen after login

Sometimes, when logging in after rebooting or when switching between users, after typing the password and confirming, I get stuck at a purple screen. Sometimes I can escape it with ctrl+alt+F3 followed by ctrl+alt+F2, and some other times those…
Qerubin
  • 616
16
votes
2 answers

Can I switch between two users in a single click?

I share my home computer with my wife, and we often switch between our two accounts. I'm considering using Ubuntu on my next computer, and I'm evaluation different desktop environments (E.g. Gnome, Unity, or Xfce). Fast user switching is a deal…
Kobi
  • 325
15
votes
2 answers

How can I invoke a user switch from the command line?

In 11.10 I used 'gdmflexiserver -xnest' to switch users without logging out however I think gdm has now been completely removed. I'm trying to bind a keyboard shortcut to do the equivalent of 'Me Menu>Switch User Account...'. How can I invoke a user…
edm
  • 4,035
11
votes
5 answers

Why does switching users completely hang my system every time?

I have a fresh install of 11.04 64bit, with 2 administrator accounts and 4 normal accounts. The 4 normal accounts (the kids' accounts) don't have passwords, they can login simply by clicking on their names. When any of the users -- either admin or…
Stéphane
  • 2,536
10
votes
1 answer

Switching between two opened X sessions without reauthenticating

Need: quick switch between pairs of users. On a system there is a pair of user accounts that are somehow equivalent. More concretely, for a given pair: Both account are regular Unix accounts, they just happened to be used by the same physical user…
Stéphane Gourichon
  • 2,089
10
votes
1 answer

Unable to switch users at lock screen. Unity, Ubuntu 18.04

If I am logged in as a user or at the lock screen, I am unable to switch accounts to another user. When I click on the symbol in the top right and click on the name of another user to switch to, nothing happens. It's ok if I'm logged in because I…
Jeff
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9
votes
1 answer

Screen turning black after switching users

I've create three users on my computer (admin + standard users), and whenever I switch between users, my screen is turned off. I have Ubuntu 16.10, and I switch users using the account menu on the top right corner. Symptoms I have two standard…
Kobi
  • 325
7
votes
3 answers

No more 'switch user' from sddm

I've searched extensively and there are many mentions of this problem but it seems only a few disparate users have had it over the last few months. But the 3 Kubuntu systems I upgraded to 20.10 all have it now, so I'm surprised it's not a critical…
dargaud
  • 1,028
6
votes
4 answers

How do I switch users?

How does one switch users in Unity? (i.e., in the GUI, not sudo.) I really want to launch another X session using a different WM, without abandoning the current one.
Thanatos
  • 272
6
votes
1 answer

Ubuntu 18.04 does not switch between users after upgrade

I have upgraded Ubuntu 16.04 to Ubuntu 18.04. I do not intend to make a further upgrade to Ubuntu 20.xx for the moment. All looks to have gone well except the switching of users from within the desktop environment. My desktop environment was and is…
XavierStuvw
  • 1,591
5
votes
0 answers

Cannot login second user after "switch user", but can if using Ctrl+Alt+F1

For at least a year or so I have had problems with the "switch user" function on Ubuntu. If I log in (whether as "user1" or "user2") and click "switch user" I am taken to the GDM login screen as expected. After clicking the user I want to login as,…
Stian Øby Johansen
  • 71
4
votes
1 answer

User switching broken in 14.04

I just upgraded to 14.04. I have an nVidia graphics card and am using the nVidia driver (proprietary, tested). I am using gdm as I don't light the look of lightdm (also, I have two monitors and it doesn't seem to work well with that set up). …
user234017
  • 121
4
votes
1 answer

How can I enable user switching in Xubuntu?

I've just installed Xubuntu 14.04 in my desktop PC but I just cannot get user switching working. It's funny because in the session menu on top right it does appear but in gray and unclickable just like the hibernate function does. If anyone could…
user277342
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