How to fix the error “The greeter application appears to be crashing” in Ubuntu
While fooling around with the XDMCP configuration on Ubuntu I checked the “Enable accessible login” under the “Accessibility” tab, Big mistake 
, on the next reboot I got the following error ” The greeter application appears to be crashing. Attempting to use a different one ” . I was not able to login into Ubuntu as the greeter kept crashing repeatedly.
I searched on the Ubuntu forums, most of the fixes on the Ubuntu forums talked about unchecking the box but the problem was that I couldn’t login into the system to do that in the first place. After studying the gdm.conf I figured out a way to fix this.
If the GUI fails to load and you are unable to access the system menu then you should try the instructions below.
1. first reboot your computer into maintenance mode/recovery mode.
2. open /etc/gdm/gdm.conf-custom by entering the following command
sudo vim /etc/gdm/gdm.conf-custom
3. press i to enter into insert mode. Locate the following line and comment it by inserting a # in front of the line.
GtkModulesList=gail:atk-bridge:/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/modules/libdwellmouselistener:/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/modules/libkeymouselistener
4. press the Esc key and then type in :wq to save and quit the editor.
5. type sudo init 6 to reboot that should fix the problem.I am using gutsy tribe 5 and looks like this problem has been present in Ubuntu ever since dapper hope they fix it before gutsy gets released.
Great…..!!!!! It’s works… perfect….!!!!
Maicon
September 25, 2007 at 11:57 am
Hi, just to say that it worked fine, and i think you should share this with more people, in ubuntuforuns:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=269764
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=3417592
I have a dapper and i don-t have this problem there, only in gutsy …
Just an observation, it is not necessary a reboot, just a /etc/init.d/gdm restart.
Best Regards
Pedro Rodrigues
September 27, 2007 at 5:20 am
This solved my problem at a stroke. Many thanks.
William
September 28, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Above same problem I am having with fedora8 what ever solution you have given to make the changes in /etc/gdm/gdm.com
but in fedora8 gdm.conf is not present. Can you help in that ?
sachin mali
March 7, 2008 at 4:37 am
Hi Sachin,
You can type “whereis gdm.conf” without quotes in a terminal window to locate the config file. you might get a few lines on screen but only one of them will have /etc/ in it. This will be the location of the file. make sure you make a backup of the file before editing it.
cipher27
March 7, 2008 at 10:48 am
After trying many “solutions”, I tried yours. With a little modification it worked great! my gdm.conf-custom file did not show the line you said to insert a # in front of to comment. Instead it showed
GraphicalTheme=SpreadFirefox
GraphicalThemes=OpenSource
So I insterted the # in front of “GraphicalTheme=SpreadFirefox” and rebooted into perfection. I use Ubuntu Gutsy Gnome.
Thanks!
drew
March 31, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Hi Sachin,
In Fedora 8 gdm.conf is replaced by /etc/gdm/custom.conf. I am also facing “Greeter Application Crashing” problem.
Harish Surana
May 7, 2008 at 6:44 am
[...] no greeter application loads not even the “Emergency” one then take a look here http://liltux.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/how-to-fix-the-error-the-greeter-application-appears-to-be-cr... Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Loading Resource DictionariesGnome Panel [...]
Greeter Application Appears To Be Crashing « Hangell’s Blog
March 12, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Thanks for the solution it works very well.
In FC8 there is a custom conf file is in
/usr/share/gdm/defaults.conf
Thanks
Antony
Antony
April 16, 2009 at 9:19 am
Because I didn’t know yet the solution, i do an experiment : deleting anything the 4 hidden folder (something begins with “.”) in /tmp
Thats work fine for my Fedora 7. lol
PriyayiSae
April 27, 2009 at 4:16 pm
[...] If no greeter application loads not even the “Emergency” one then take a look here http://liltux.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/how-to-fix-the-error-the-greeter-application-appears-to-be-cr... [...]
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September 14, 2009 at 12:49 pm