How to switch back to LightDM from GDM3

Support & Help Requests
#1

hi guys

So while trying to solve Logitech TouchPad T650 intermittent freezing issue, I installed Solaar ( https://pwr.github.io/Solaar/ ) via Synaptic. During the installation, it asked me to select between GDM3 and LightDM and I accidentally selected GDM3.

So now I'm stuck with GDM3 (to me it feels like being blinded). So far I've tried the following few times and rebooted few times but to no avail.

sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm

And on top of this TouchPad has kinda stopped working... while cursor moves, left/right click is not working. It's a desktop PC running Ubuntu Mate 18.10 64bit.

I like to get back to LightDM and remove Solaar, GDM3, etc.. completely. Thanks alot in advance.

Edit: I did figure out that, reconfigure lightdm was working but the system was booting in to Wayland desktop environment. I logged out and logged back into Mate, and it's working just fine :slight_smile:

Now is safe to remove Wayland? How could I do that please.

#2

Hi,

There is a lot of confusion.

solaar is among the default packages. You probably set it along with the suggested, but optional solaar-gnome3 package, and ended with a full Gnome 3 desktop.

Make sure that lightdm and mate-desktop-environment are still installed.
Then, uninstall every Gnome package, and especilly gdm3 and gnome-session-wayland.

Reboot and it should be fine.

1 Like
#3

See my answer on AskUbuntu:

The simpliest solution would be to remove GDM3 completely with

sudo apt-get purge gdm3
sudo apt-get autoremove

and then reboot.

To remove Solaar you can use

sudo apt-get purge solaar solaar-gnome3

To remove Ubuntu on Wayland from LightDM use the commands below:

sudo apt-get purge ubuntu-session xwayland

also you can remove other GNOME parts with

sudo apt-get purge gnome-session-bin gnome-settings-daemon
sudo apt-get autoremove

and reboot.

#4

@phocean and @Norbert_X

Thank you so much for the replies.

While I have purged:

sudo apt-get purge gdm3

sudo apt-get purge solaar solaar-gnome3

sudo apt-get purge ubuntu-session xwayland

When I tried to completely remove (via Synaptic) gnome-session-bin gnome-settings-daemon,

Synaptic said, it'll also remove:

gnome-startup-applications
gnome-control-center
gnome-shell

So is it safe to remove these three also? For now I have left gnome-session-bin and gnome-settings-daemon as it is.

#5

Yes, it is safe. I have just checked all this on clean Ubuntu 18.10 MATE VM.

#6

@Norbert_X Thanks alot.

Ok, I removed them and the PC rebooted just fine. Though it's working alright, after reboot I got following error. Now I don't know if it's related or not.

[Album] Imgur
#7

If you read that carefully, you will see mentions to xdman, a download manager that has nothing to do with Ubuntu.

You should be careful not to use random external programs, this is not Windows...

Sorry but I can't help.

1 Like
#8

Oh ok thanks. That's Xtreme Download Manager for occasional large file downloads. I rarely use it, so even if it doesn't work, not an issue with me.

By the way, I installed it after going thru these two posts:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/540054/how-do-i-install-xtreme-download-manager-in-ubuntu-14-04

https://www.ubuntufree.com/download-xtreme-download-manager-for-ubuntu-16-04/