Can't open terminal

[Nils Kassube]

Pat Brown wrote:
> I'm having problems with error messages about 'unable to copy the
> user's Xauthorization file'. I found some online help that said open
> the terminal and check various settings, but I can't open the
> terminal. All I get is a blank gray screen.
> 
> I'm also unable to run Update Manager and get the same Xauthorization
> message. I can't run my Office or GIMP. I either get the
> Xauthorization message or a message about my swap file and in the
> Office case a message about the backup file.

It seems to me like you have a permission problem which is possibly 
caused by running a GUI application with sudo - you should use gksudo or 
kdesudo instead for GUI applications.

To fix that problem you can use CTRL-ALT-F1 and login there using your 
login name and password. Then run the command

sudo chown -R $USER: $HOME

to change the ownership of all files in your $HOME directory to your 
login name. Then you can return to the GUI with CTRL-ALT-F7 or CTRL-ALT-
F8 where you should now be able to run the previously non-working 
applications.

If that also doesn't work, you should reboot and select the recovery 
mode from the grub menu. There you can select the root shell option. 
First you should remount your disk with the command

mount -oremount,rw /

and then use the command

chown -R yourloginname: /home/yourloginname

where you replace the "yourloginname" with your actual login name at 
both places. After that it is probably the easiest way to proceed if you 
reboot with CTRL-ALT-DEL.


Nils