[SOLVED]BUSTER:MATE: configure login

[geoffkaniuk]

I am trying to configure my login dialogue - it currently shows an empty user. The mate->Control Center>About Me dialogue shows my correct user name. Before the upgrade to buster my display manager was gdm3. I have searched through dconf but did not find any relevant settings for login. I believe my current display manager is lightdm.

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# /etc/X11 cat default-display-manager
   /usr/sbin/lightdm

Now https://wiki.debian.org/LightDM->Viewing current configuration, gives the following command:

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# lightdm --show-config
  bash: lightdm: command not found

But the mimetype for lightdm is shared library (application/x-sharedlib), and indeed the manpage for lightdm shows no such option.

So, where do I look for instructions on how to set my login user to me?

[Head_on_a_Stick]

I believe my current display manager is lightdm

Check

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ls -l /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service

[geoffkaniuk]

Check

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ls -l /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service

Output is:

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lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 Aug 17 18:43 /etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service -> /lib/systemd/system/lightdm.service

The lightdm.service file seems to be a configuration file dealing with the plymouth package.

Do you want to see the file?

[sunrat]

Of course the Debian Wiki has the answer! https://wiki.debian.org/LightDM#Enable_user_list

Enable user list

By default, LightDM is configured so that the user should enter login name and password. Login name is considered sensitive information.

It is possible to provide the user with selection of available user accounts. The most recently used login name will be selected in the list. The user still has to enter password to login. This provides useful compromise between security and convenience for a single-user desktop system.

To enable user list, place the following setting into /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/01_my.conf:

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[Seat:*]
greeter-hide-users=false

It often pays to do a web search, often you will find your answer in minutes rather than hours, days, or never.

[geoffkaniuk]

It often pays to do a web search, ...

Many thanks for your timely reply. Perhaps you missed the beginning of my post, where I stated that I had consulted the wiki, and found that the very first suggested command failed. The other thing that dissuaded me from the solution was that there was no existing configuration directory:

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/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/

In view of the admonition "If you're new to LightDM, it's recommended to ... installed as a backup.", I did not want to risk experimentation.

Anyway, I have now implemented the solution, and my desktop now knows who I am.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Do you want to see the file?

No, that command just verifies which display manager is being used.