Why is sddm not working right?

When i enter sddm by logging out i just get a white screen and a login prompt, I’m pretty sure sddm is supposed to be capable of doing more than that (like maybe showing a clock, and allowing me to select between plasma wayland and plasma xorg sessions or even other environments)

How do I correct this?

Hi @rabcor
Have you tried to apply plasma settings for SDDM?

Choose your SDDM Theme and look out for button at the bottom of:

  • System Settings > Startup and Shutdown > Login Screen (SDDM) > Apply Plasma Settings

For being able to choose between X11 and Wayland session make sure to have plasma-wayland-session package installed. Requires restart after installation.

I have tried changing the settings for the sddm theme and applying them as well as applying the plasma settings as you suggested but there was no change.

Have you looked for errors?

journalctl --boot=0 --unit=sddm --no-pager

The above suggested by @maycne.sonahoz plus also try in terminal:

sddm-greeter --test-mode --theme /usr/share/sddm/themes/breeze/

The same should work for Breath theme or any other SDDM you have installed.
I guess the white screen not only happens with logout but also with reboot.

$ journalctl --boot=0 --unit=sddm --no-pager
ágú 22 05:41:37 Thulebox systemd[1]: Started Simple Desktop Display Manager.
ágú 22 05:41:37 Thulebox sddm[694]: Initializing...
ágú 22 05:41:37 Thulebox sddm[694]: Starting...
ágú 22 05:41:37 Thulebox sddm[694]: Logind interface found
ágú 22 05:41:37 Thulebox sddm[694]: Adding new display on vt 1 ...
ágú 22 05:41:37 Thulebox sddm[694]: Loading theme configuration from ""
ágú 22 05:41:37 Thulebox sddm[694]: Display server starting...
ágú 22 05:41:37 Thulebox sddm[694]: Adding cookie to "/var/run/sddm/{20b08c0e-a81f-44e1-a408-5987a70288aa}"
ágú 22 05:41:37 Thulebox sddm[694]: Running: /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp -background none -seat seat0 vt1 -auth /var/run/sddm/{20b08c0e-a81f-44e1-a408-5987a70288aa} -noreset -displayfd 17
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm[694]: Setting default cursor
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm[694]: Running display setup script  "/usr/share/sddm/scripts/Xsetup"
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm[694]: Display server started.
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm[694]: Reading from "/usr/share/xsessions/plasma.desktop"
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm[694]: Reading from "/usr/share/xsessions/plasma.desktop"
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm[694]: Session "/usr/share/xsessions/plasma.desktop" selected, command: "/usr/bin/startplasma-x11"
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm-helper[844]: [PAM] Starting...
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm-helper[844]: [PAM] Authenticating...
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm-helper[844]: gkr-pam: no password is available for user
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm-helper[844]: pam_kwallet5(sddm-autologin:auth): pam_kwallet5: pam_sm_authenticate
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm-helper[844]: [PAM] Preparing to converse...
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm-helper[844]: pam_kwallet5(sddm-autologin:auth): pam_kwallet5: Couldn't get password (it is empty)
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm-helper[844]: [PAM] Conversation with 1 messages
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm-helper[844]: [PAM] returning.
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm-helper[844]: pam_systemd_home(sddm-autologin:account): systemd-homed is not available: Unit dbus-org.freedesktop.home1.service not found.
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm[694]: Authenticated successfully
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm-helper[844]: pam_kwallet5(sddm-autologin:setcred): pam_kwallet5: pam_sm_setcred
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm-helper[844]: pam_unix(sddm-autologin:session): session opened for user rabcor(uid=1000) by (uid=0)
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm-helper[844]: pam_env(sddm-autologin:session): deprecated reading of user environment enabled
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm-helper[844]: gkr-pam: couldn't unlock the login keyring.
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm-helper[844]: pam_kwallet5(sddm-autologin:session): pam_kwallet5: pam_sm_open_session
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm-helper[844]: Starting: "/usr/share/sddm/scripts/Xsession \"/usr/bin/startplasma-x11\""
ágú 22 05:41:39 Thulebox sddm[694]: Session started
ágú 22 13:10:45 Thulebox sddm[694]: Auth: sddm-helper exited successfully
ágú 22 13:10:45 Thulebox sddm[694]: Display server stopping...
ágú 22 13:10:45 Thulebox sddm[694]: Display server stopped.
ágú 22 13:10:45 Thulebox sddm[694]: Running display stop script  "/usr/share/sddm/scripts/Xstop"
ágú 22 13:10:45 Thulebox sddm[694]: Removing display ":0" ...
ágú 22 13:10:45 Thulebox sddm[694]: Adding new display on vt 1 ...
ágú 22 13:10:45 Thulebox sddm[694]: Loading theme configuration from ""
ágú 22 13:10:45 Thulebox sddm[694]: Display server starting...
ágú 22 13:10:45 Thulebox sddm[694]: Adding cookie to "/var/run/sddm/{eea8a276-dcba-4443-995f-aceb4647f469}"
ágú 22 13:10:45 Thulebox sddm[694]: Running: /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp -background none -seat seat0 vt1 -auth /var/run/sddm/{eea8a276-dcba-4443-995f-aceb4647f469} -noreset -displayfd 17
ágú 22 13:10:47 Thulebox sddm[694]: Setting default cursor
ágú 22 13:10:47 Thulebox sddm[694]: Running display setup script  "/usr/share/sddm/scripts/Xsetup"
ágú 22 13:10:47 Thulebox sddm[694]: Display server started.
ágú 22 13:10:47 Thulebox sddm[694]: Socket server starting...
ágú 22 13:10:47 Thulebox sddm[694]: Socket server started.
ágú 22 13:10:47 Thulebox sddm[694]: Loading theme configuration from "/usr/share/sddm/themes/breath/theme.conf"
ágú 22 13:10:47 Thulebox sddm[694]: Greeter starting...
ágú 22 13:10:47 Thulebox sddm-helper[185008]: [PAM] Starting...
ágú 22 13:10:47 Thulebox sddm-helper[185008]: [PAM] Authenticating...
ágú 22 13:10:47 Thulebox sddm-helper[185008]: pam_unix(sddm-greeter:session): session opened for user sddm(uid=963) by (uid=0)
ágú 22 13:10:47 Thulebox sddm-helper[185008]: [PAM] returning.
ágú 22 13:10:48 Thulebox sddm[694]: Greeter session started successfully
ágú 22 13:10:48 Thulebox sddm[694]: Message received from greeter: Connect
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm[694]: Message received from greeter: Login
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm[694]: Reading from "/usr/share/xsessions/plasma.desktop"
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm[694]: Reading from "/usr/share/xsessions/plasma.desktop"
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm[694]: Session "/usr/share/xsessions/plasma.desktop" selected, command: "/usr/bin/startplasma-x11"
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm-helper[186915]: [PAM] Starting...
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm-helper[186915]: [PAM] Authenticating...
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm-helper[186915]: pam_systemd_home(sddm:auth): systemd-homed is not available: Unit dbus-org.freedesktop.home1.service not found.
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm-helper[186915]: [PAM] Preparing to converse...
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm-helper[186915]: [PAM] Conversation with 1 messages
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm-helper[186915]: pam_kwallet5(sddm:auth): pam_kwallet5: pam_sm_authenticate
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm-helper[186915]: [PAM] returning.
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm[694]: Authenticated successfully
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm-helper[186915]: pam_kwallet5(sddm:setcred): pam_kwallet5: pam_sm_setcred
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm-helper[186915]: pam_unix(sddm:session): session opened for user rabcor(uid=1000) by (uid=0)
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm-helper[186915]: pam_env(sddm:session): deprecated reading of user environment enabled
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm-helper[186915]: pam_kwallet5(sddm:session): pam_kwallet5: pam_sm_open_session
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm[694]: Auth: sddm-helper exited successfully
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm[694]: Greeter stopped.
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm-helper[186915]: Starting: "/usr/share/sddm/scripts/Xsession \"/usr/bin/startplasma-x11\""
ágú 22 13:10:52 Thulebox sddm[694]: Session started

I’m not seeing anything myself.

@raguse I tried that command, this is the result:

Technically looks ok. What does the following say:

cat /usr/share/sddm/themes/breath/theme.conf.user

You are using Breath SDDM, right?

Yes I installed the manjaro kde version :slight_smile:

]$ cat /usr/share/sddm/themes/breath/theme.conf.user
[General]
type=image
$ cat /usr/share/sddm/themes/breeze/theme.conf.user
[General]
type=image

Since when? New install or after you did something (installed something, removed something, etc)?

If latter, what did you do between working sddm and non-working sddm?

Seems like you are missing a background picture. You can assign a new one in System Settings by clicking on the image icon.
image

[General]
background=mybackgroundpicture.jpg
type=image

Or you delete theme.conf.user , then it takes the theme default image.

Since the first time I tried it. I didn’t install anything in particular or change or remove any particular settings with sddm as far as I know; I did however get the error about sddm greeterrc being unwriteable but i’ve solved that issue, that didn’t do the trick to fix this one though.

@raguse tried deleting theme.conf.user; didn’t work, it still looks the same.

Actually without background= it automatically defaults to theme.conf settings

How about

cat /usr/share/sddm/themes/breath/theme.conf 
ls /usr/share/wallpapers/Bamboo/contents/images/

Edit: Just reproduced the same on my machine. It’s the missing background image which is causing the white screen.
From what I see is that /breeze/theme.conf.user and /breath/theme.conf.user somehow interfere each other, particularly since /breeze/theme.conf.user does also not have a background picture defined.

My suggestion: delete/rename both theme.conf.user, logout or reboot and it should work. Should you get stuck with a black screen after login → systemctl restart sddm .
The other option is to declare a background picture which has to be in the same directory of theme.user.conf .

2 Likes

Breath is an in-house theme, so the team might be able to do something about it: Artwork / themes / Breath Theme · GitLab
@bogdancovaciu Does the issue ring a bell to you?

1 Like

Not sure about that, shall wait for OP 's reply whether my suggestion fixes it.

The way I see it is that SDDM for some reason does not separate clearly away from Breeze. In most cases this is not an issue but when someone has used Breeze SDDM before and tried to change the picture, then goes back to Breath, changes picture you have 2 theme.conf.user, while the one from Breeze still is taken into consideration (somehow).
It’s rather something for upstream as I don’t see anything wrong with Breath SDDM (besides minor adaptations needed for plasma 5.25 :wink: ).

By default, or fresh install, both Breath and Breeze should not have any theme.conf.user Once another image is set, then both should work because both will copy the set image in the directory and also will add the theme.conf.user file with the information like this:

[General]
background=set_image_name.png
type=image

From what i see, on your end is not doing what is suppose to do?

Is all that is, and that is not enough information for it. Since in your case is showing a white BG and the clock is also white, you can’t see it, so it looks off.

Yes, for both themes and try them both after that. Should work.
Other than that, can’t reproduce the issue unless i manually alter the file with bogus lines … but that is not what we are suppose to do :smile:

3 Likes

@bogdancovaciu
Do you know why SDDM takes a misconfigured /breeze/theme.conf.user into account even though Breath SDDM is used/selected and /breath/theme.conf.user was deleted?

I guess can happen when using a different plasma theme and a different sddm theme and you use this

image

so that might mix some conf files? Have to test tho … never done that, and now i’m just speculating because i’m tired :sweat_smile:

Edit: I think something also changes in /etc/sddm.conf.d/
Need to make another test :joy:

No need for you to spend time on testing that. You have more important things to do. :wink:

My tests showed exactly that and also OP’s issue shows that. I’ve been using Breath exclusively but when I set up /breeze/theme.conf.user with a picture which does not exist the Breath SDDM goes white.

I might raise a bug report at KDE.

Btw; Will we get the SDDM animations with 22 release? :wink:

Well, i did the test anyway and i can confirm that once you click on the Apply Plasma Settings in SDDM Settings, inside the /etc/sddm.conf.d/ is created the kde_settings.conf while by default there is only the 00_manjaro_settings.conf and virtualkeyboard.conf … so, now will have to test on another install.

Meanwhile will ping @LordTermor so we know we can talk about some better approach of all this, because i do not think is KDE Plasma bug …

We will see about that too, because i do think we can update some code also …

2 Likes

After resetting everything with my tests I cant reproduce it anymore either.
The white is gone and worst case I get color=#1abc9c (green-ish cyan-ish, not white anymore.
It was probably also a cache/old config thing. Anyways.

Do you want me to open an Gitlab issue/feature request for it?