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I have just installed Ubuntu 14.04 for the first time boot. I am a long time MS Windows user and don't like where Windows is headed so I decided to switch to Ubuntu and only use Windows for gaming.

However. I cannot get into my computer after the lock screen appears. It says the invalid password message no matter what password I use.

I have googled for a little bit, and the closest thing on here I could find is: Password is incorrect - when tried to login into Ubuntu 13.04 [duplicate] . Though there is no answer there.

I should note, that I mistakenly as a Linux newbie:

  • Did chown -R david /etc and lost the sudo power.
  • then I booted into recovery mode and ran a few things and ran chown -R root:root /etc and that fixed the sudo problem. But I think when I did that the lock screen stopped working and I can't get into the computer. I have to restart and have it auto login.

I went through the first 10 suggestions when posting this and nothing close helped.

Community
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David Lawrence
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  • I also should note that I have temporarily fixed the issue by disabling the requirement of the password when I unlock the computer. But I dont want people to access the computer when I have windows up and running, and would rather a password on waking or on the lock screen. I dont mind not having a password on the initial start up though. – David Lawrence Jun 22 '14 at 23:45
  • Have you try to temporarily change your password into a new one? If not yet, please try to change it in System Settings => User Account. – Abdillah Jun 23 '14 at 01:06
  • did you enter the correct password like what you entered when installing it? make sure that you entered the same password (password is usually case sensitive). – Mukhsin Jun 23 '14 at 09:10
  • Sorry for the late response. I have changed my password twice and it just doesnt work on the lock screen. I can enter password into terminal just fine, and everywhere else the password works but the lock screen just insists the password is incorrect. Its only the lock screen that does it. – David Lawrence Jun 23 '14 at 20:11
  • switching accounts solve the problem temporarily – Mustafa Magdi Dec 07 '16 at 09:13
  • The "encrypt home folder" feature seems to be broken. Just don't check this option when installing and you should be fine. – ttt Apr 29 '17 at 20:13
  • I have tested this post and it worked perfectly. –  Feb 27 '19 at 17:00
  • If your disk becomes full you will be unable to login as a normal user. – vesperto Nov 24 '20 at 12:15

3 Answers3

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I had this exact issue. The password worked in terminal, but not in LightDM. I could login as other users, just not the one I wanted. I even changed the password from a different user and also in recovery mode. LightDM didn't give a password incorrect notice, there was just a graphical glitch.

I don't have a fix for LightDM, but this works for me as a work-around, I set GDM as default display manager - GDM is not having any login issues:

  • Install GDM.

    sudo apt-get install gdm

    It will ask you which display manager to set it as Default, select GDM.

  • If it is already installed. Run reconfigure.

    sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm

Reference: How To Switch Between GDM And LightDM In Ubuntu 14.04 [Quick Tip]

user.dz
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robcmo
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  • Welcome to AskUbuntu! This may solve the poster's question, but if you wish to improve your answer (possible upvotes/more rep) you could explain or further expand your answer. – No Time Jul 31 '14 at 04:02
  • @NoTime: Same problem here, same solution, no comprehension here either. – Joshua May 16 '19 at 19:59
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I encountered the same on the lock screen, and found out that my account was suddenly locked.

I'm using Ubuntu 14.04.1 (lsb_release -a). I installed the latest update and then encountered the issue, password is incorrect when the screen locked.

So I googled and saw that from most of the suggestions, one is to change password.

I found out that the only account (admin account) I'm using was locked. So I unlocked it and I'm now back in.

user.dz
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bherto39
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    For me that worked, I had a hash in my password and for some reason in the terminal it worked correctly but on LightDM when `Shift+ 3' it output a different symbol. – George D Nov 18 '15 at 10:33
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This isn't the greatest fix.. but it worked. I just changed my password to something else. I noticed that one of the characters that I was using required being hit twice to register. This was only happening in the GUI. So I changed my password to not have that character and BINGO BANGO all fixed up.

AdamRas
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