I used the correct key but when I use it in that root command it comes out as a broken line, I went and got another keyboard from Neil's computer and it shows the pipe but it shows the broken line when I use it in the one place (root command prompt) Anyway, I took some pics with my camera cuz I can't use screen shot when I am in the middle of no where. so I will post what I have, in a few minutes when I get them set up.





Now I will go back and try those new commands

That looks like a capital I "Is" but it should be a lowercase L "ls".

I did use lower case. I used l as in ls, not L looks like I got results in the molly one. It is hard to take a pic with the darn flash cover partly.

Ok, that makes sense. So, your user name is molly and you do have a user folder(directory) /home/molly. You listed the files in that folder. I can see the .ICEauthority file in there as well.

You do not have a folder(directory) named "test" so there is really no such file as /home/test/.ICEauthority as you pointed to in your first post. That is actually an erroneous error message.

Issue this command exactly as written..

chown -R molly:molly /home/molly/.*

This should change ownership of all the hidden files in the home folder "molly".

If the command was a success (no errors) then reboot to see if that fixes the problem.

Note: Always login to the system from the initial login screen as molly. Never login from there as root. Only use your root password when in super user mode (sudo) (su -) or root.

I would not recommend that. ".*" will match the parent directory ("..") and (attempt to) change the owner of all files and directories under /home . This is probably not a problem, if molly is the only user or other users have all their ducks in a row, but it is a dangerous approach to dealing with hidden files or folders.

A more targeted command would be:

The "bracket caret period bracket" will match any character that is NOT a period, so ".." will not be processed.

Okay, I did the chown -R molly:molly /home/molly/.*
Everything went whizzing by and I could see where it kept saying changing ownership or something like that. so I thought I had it made. I typed in exit and rebooted it and then I saw the pink screen then a box came up to type in my password. I did that and I got that same error that I got at the very beginning.
I tried that about 6 times and kept getting that error. I could get in as a guest but I didn't want that. When I tried to close it, it wouldn't close no matter what I did so I had to use the switch. Dam.

Good point but this is a brand new install with only one user, so there is no problem using this approach.



Can you post a pic of the exact error message? Maybe we need to search for all instances of .ICEauthority.

Personally, you could have re-installed Linux several times (Fedora preferably) in the time it's taken to get this far and we haven't even resolved this very odd error. Perhaps it's a bug related to Gnome3, which I have played around with but have so far rejected. You know, you can install other desktop GUIs like LXDE or KDE.

That's a different error. At what point do you get this error?

That tells us that the file can't be updated (during bootup?). Will have to investigate further...

Geeze, what a nightmare of trial and error. From what I can tell from my research, this "bug" can be caused, amongst other things, by various apps being installed in Ubuntu. There seems to be different solutions for different people, with no single solution, so it's trail and error until you stumble on one that works or you.

I believe my next step would be to try bumping the permissions for .ICEauthority from 600 to 644 then maybe to 664 or even 666 just to see what happens. Mine is sitting on 600, same as molly's.

Molly, since you can't get to a GUI, issue this command as root and try a reboot.



This allows group read/write access and public read. Something is clearly trying to access this file without the proper ownership or permissions. We have ensured all that "molly" owns all the files under the home folder this bumps up the permissions on that file to cover group r/w.

You get this message after you enter your username and password, then your only option is to logout, correct?

I very rarely have issues in Fedora. Fedora just works. Ubuntu seems so bug riddled. Not so sure why it's so popular.

cannot access ICEauthority - No such file or directory. Maybe I should try to take the whole thing out and install Fedora. I dunno.

I would say time to cut your losses, best is, you have learned a little about linux command line. Not a lot lost (apart from time & hair pulling out) since your installation is a on a separate drive. From windows you can delete any partitions and start afresh.

Before jumping in with Fedora, try different versions out to see how they feel. There is a whole list here: http://distrowatch.com Don't go too much by the popularity ratings but do look at the different editions for each distro. example LinuxMint has both a version based on Ubuntu and one based on Debian.
I did a little note here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3450&start=20 very last post

I use PCLOS, maybe not for a beginner, it is a rolling release, you need to keep on top of updates and some can be sizable. In the past used Mepis, almost pure debian, very stable, very boring, still use it occasionally.
one more reference, this is years old but useful
http://www.cheat-sheets.org/saved-copy/The%20One%20Page%20Linux%20Manual.pdf
edit: if you have problems withthat url try http://tinyurl.com/7qhergd

Thank you Rich, I see that mint is on top of the list now and I have heard good things about it. Anyway, You are right about cutting my losses. I guess I have a lot of pondering to do.

Don't be discouraged, molly, I installed and reinstalled many times before I got it right. It's part of the learning process and part of the fun. Even now when I install to flash drives I spend hours/days/weeks even setting up the system only to have something happen and break the system. But you will learn. My primary system, Mint, is set up absolutely beautifully. And that the result of many crashes/breaks/reinstalls.

Keep on keeping on!

What kinda surprises me is that none of you use "mc".(Or so it seems)
It's short for Midnight Commander a clone of Norton Commander of the DOS era.
You can run it either in a console terminal or in a desktop one.
It saves typing command line commands.
And it will show you where and what you have in your system.
All Linux distro's carry it.
Gerard.

Nix, that gives me a lot of encouragement, and Gerard, that is worth looking into.
Thank you guys for letting me know I am not the only one that has problems.

Nix, love your slogan, "refuse to be confused". I should follow that advice too.

Tux I get that error above after I did that last command that changed the ownership.

You must have mistyped something because we know that .ICEauthority exists. Make sure there are no spaces in /home/molly/.ICEauthority (it's also case sensitive).

To view the file..

ls -la /home/molly/.ICEauthority

To change permissions

chmod 664 /home/molly/.ICEauthority

Do you get that last error message after you enter your username and password, then your only option is to logout?

Yes I do and I can't even log out, I have to turn off the switch to get out.