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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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  • thanks for the answer - using shift did not work it made me realise that i had an additional problem, my monitor was not showing terminal. so i sorted out another screen but this solution has not helped. i followed the instructions but still got the error message. so i deleted ICeauthority, still got the error message. so i tried to change the permissions again but now it says no such file. i'm a bit stumped. – martin Oct 11 '13 at 09:40
  • there are a range of solutions online which i am working through but none seem to work – martin Oct 11 '13 at 09:41
  • the probable cause in this case isn't running a graphical application with sudo, i wouldn't know how to do that. it stems i think from this update which is curious. – martin Oct 11 '13 at 09:41
  • some helpful links for other people searching for an answer to this exceedingly annoying problem:http://askubuntu.com/questions/55568/could-not-update-iceauthority-file-after-login-independent-of-gnome http://askubuntu.com/questions/10543/what-does-this-startup-dialog-message-mean-could-not-update-iceauthority-file http://askubuntu.com/questions/39785/could-not-update-iceauthority-file-home-me-iceauthority?rq=1 – martin Oct 11 '13 at 09:42
  • http://raywoodcockslatest.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/ubuntu-1010-error-could-not-update.html – martin Oct 11 '13 at 09:45
  • You may also up-vote my answer with '^'-button on the left and click to check-mark to thank me ;-) – MadMike Oct 11 '13 at 09:45
  • up vote requires 15 reputation apparently - i'm grateful that you replied but it didn't solve the problem unfortunately – martin Oct 11 '13 at 09:55
  • Oh, I thought we had the problem solved. I've added instructions how to recreate the file, – MadMike Oct 11 '13 at 09:56
  • hmmm so i followed these instructions to the letter but it's still not working out, i'm still getting the .ICEauthority error message at login

    the ICEauthority file does exist again and i do own it

    could i get some advice on options please?

    when i get into terminal it says my version of ubuntu is not supported any more, and gives a command to upgrade, do-release-upgrade. should i do that? i'm on 12.04 currently.

    otherwise options seem to be to reinstall gnome or install lxde, but i'm not sure if taking either of these steps will leave my data intact.

    thanks for any help!

     – martin Oct 11 '13 at 17:49
  • Can you give me the output of 'ls - al /home/USERNAME/.ICEauthority', please? – MadMike Oct 11 '13 at 18:24
  • -rw------- 1 user user 0 2013-10-11 11.00 .ICEauthority – martin Oct 12 '13 at 11:26
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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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