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So I have just installed Ubuntu 18.04 on an unformatted SSD using a USB boot media I flashed from macOS.

I used the minimal install, and selected install 3rd party drivers from the options, as well as the option to download updates during install.

The install process finished, and when I try to login using the password I provided during the install, the screen just goes black for a few seconds, and then the login screen comes back up.

I know I am using the correct password, because if I use a different password, it gives me an error and asks for the password again.

I tried re-installing from the flash drive again and I get the same result.

Please help! How do I get to my desktop?

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Try logging in at the usual login screen with Xorg instead of Wayland. Click the gear icon to the left of the Sign In button and select Ubuntu on Xorg from the dropdown menu. This selection will be persistent across reboots unless you switch back to Wayland.

select Ubuntu on Xorg

If that doesn't work try switching the login display manager from gdm3 to lightdm. LightDM is a more lightweight login display manager than gdm3. Open the terminal and run the following commands:

sudo apt install lightdm   
sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm 
sudo reboot

sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm will open up a new window allowing you to select lightdm as the default login display manager. Use the arrow keys to select lightdm, press the Tab key to put the focus on <OK> and press Enter. Then reboot by running sudo reboot

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  • It works! Actually mine showed Ubuntu and Ubuntu on Wayland as options, and I had to switch it to wayland for it to work. What's the difference between these options?
    – sak
    Mar 25, 2020 at 16:18
  • The choice of options in the Sign In dropdown menu depends on whether or not you have installed a proprietary graphics driver because proprietary graphics drivers are not compatible with Wayland (so you can't login), but the open source graphics drivers are compatible with Wayland.
    – karel
    Mar 25, 2020 at 16:25
  • ok thank you for clarifying
    – sak
    Mar 26, 2020 at 12:02
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WARNING: this method will close all graphical programs and unsaved data will be lost. Solution:

  1. Press ctrl+alt+f3
  2. Login
  3. Restart X11 by running: "sudo systemctl restart display-manager"
  4. Return to the GUI login screen by pressing ctrl+alt+f1
  5. Login and be sad that you lost the data in your GUI programs :[

This is better than restarting the computer in my case because I have an external HDD mounted which takes time and multiple tries in order to mount it in a stable way. I had the problem of being stuck in the login screen when trying to unlock a locked desktop.

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