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Groups > alt.os.linux.mint > #45568 > unrolled thread

Password incorrect after name change Home folder

Started by"s|b" <me@privacy.invalid>
First post2025-10-21 14:43 +0200
Last post2025-10-23 00:20 +0000
Articles 7 on this page of 67 — 13 participants

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Contents

  Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-21 14:43 +0200
    Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Dan Purgert <dan@djph.net> - 2025-10-21 12:59 +0000
      Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-21 16:10 +0200
        Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "Alan K." <alan@invalid.com> - 2025-10-21 11:04 -0400
          Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Dan Purgert <dan@djph.net> - 2025-10-21 15:45 +0000
          Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-10-23 07:16 +0000
          Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-10-23 09:06 -0400
        Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Dan Purgert <dan@djph.net> - 2025-10-21 15:42 +0000
          Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-10-22 02:05 -0400
    Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "Alan K." <alan@invalid.com> - 2025-10-21 09:24 -0400
      Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-21 16:16 +0200
      Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Gordon <Gordon@leaf.net.nz> - 2025-10-22 07:51 +0000
    Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder pinnerite <pinnerite@gmail.com> - 2025-10-21 14:47 +0100
      Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-21 16:20 +0200
        Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-10-21 13:12 -0400
          Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-24 11:42 +0200
    Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder yossarian <<nomail@gmail.com>> - 2025-10-21 18:14 +0200
      Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Joerg Walther <joerg.walther@magenta.de> - 2025-10-21 18:22 +0200
      Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-21 22:55 +0200
      Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-24 11:43 +0200
        Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-10-24 09:50 -0400
          Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-24 17:21 +0200
            Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-10-24 22:41 -0400
              Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-25 13:31 +0200
        Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder yossarian <<nomail@gmail.com>> - 2025-10-24 17:07 +0200
          Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-25 13:33 +0200
    Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-10-21 13:08 -0400
      Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-21 23:08 +0200
        Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Chris Elvidge <chris@internal.net> - 2025-10-22 12:32 +0100
          Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-10-22 08:46 -0400
          Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-10-23 07:13 +0000
          Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-24 11:47 +0200
            Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Dan Purgert <dan@djph.net> - 2025-10-24 10:49 +0000
              Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-24 15:53 +0200
                Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Dan Purgert <dan@djph.net> - 2025-10-24 14:47 +0000
                  Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-24 20:48 +0200
                    Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-10-24 23:03 -0400
                      Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-25 14:06 +0200
                        Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder vallor <vallor@vallor.earth> - 2025-10-25 12:52 +0000
                          Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-25 16:40 +0200
                        Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Chris Elvidge <chris@internal.net> - 2025-10-25 14:31 +0100
                          Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-25 16:46 +0200
                            Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder vallor <vallor@vallor.earth> - 2025-10-25 17:39 +0000
                              Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-26 17:02 +0100
                                Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder yossarian <<nomail@gmail.com>> - 2025-10-26 17:44 +0100
                                  Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-27 21:07 +0100
                        Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-10-25 09:42 -0400
                          Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-25 17:22 +0200
                            Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder lisa <not.in.use@home.invalid> - 2025-10-28 14:22 +0100
                              Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-29 19:35 +0100
                                Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder lisa <not.in.use@home.invalid> - 2025-10-30 09:30 +0100
                                  Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-30 15:28 +0100
                    Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Dan Purgert <dan@djph.net> - 2025-10-25 13:27 +0000
                      Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder [OT] "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-25 17:04 +0200
                    Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Gordon <Gordon@leaf.net.nz> - 2025-10-26 22:51 +0000
                      Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-27 21:34 +0100
                        Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-10-27 18:57 -0400
                          Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder [OT] "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-29 19:40 +0100
                        Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Monsieur <Monsieur@notreal.invalid> - 2025-10-28 15:05 +0100
                          Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder [OT] "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-29 19:48 +0100
            Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Chris Elvidge <chris@internal.net> - 2025-10-24 14:54 +0100
              Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-24 17:33 +0200
                Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Chris Elvidge <chris@internal.net> - 2025-10-24 17:52 +0100
                  Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2025-10-24 20:55 +0200
                Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Gordon <Gordon@leaf.net.nz> - 2025-10-26 22:04 +0000
            Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-10-24 11:08 -0400
    Re: Password incorrect after name change Home folder Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-10-23 00:20 +0000

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#45607

FromChris Elvidge <chris@internal.net>
Date2025-10-24 14:54 +0100
Message-ID<10dg0gg$2524$1@dont-email.me>
In reply to#45602
On 24/10/2025 at 10:47, s|b wrote:
> On Wed, 22 Oct 2025 12:32:33 +0100, Chris Elvidge wrote:
> 
> 8< snip >8
>> Never run X/Wayland as root!
>> Autologin should have been 'boss'.
> 
> Yesterday, we found out how to make another account without admin
> rights. Today, I noticed under settings you can also make a guest
> account.
> 
> So if we're going to do to help other people, the best way is to make an
> account with root access, then make an account (with password) with no
> root and the autologin with the latter?
> 
> How can I access the root account if I do this? Autologin and then
> simply sign in with the root account?
> 

You're installing Mint, right?
You specify your username during the install. As it happens this will 
make a directory under /home with your username as its name. E.g. I 
specify 'chris' as my username and get a directory /home/chris as my 
home directory. You also have a user root with home directory /root. 
This is standard. That's your user without root access and your user 
with root access.
As an added 'bonus' Mint will also allow your user (chris) access to 
root via sudo. Any users added after that will not have sudo access 
until and unless you provide it (see visudo) but this is not usual 
unless you are envisaging a multiuser system.

You can use user chris for autologin, it you want to.

According to your original post your boss, logged in as root, changed 
the directory name under /home from (e.g.) chris to Chris - linux is 
case sensitive, unlike Windows, so chris and Chris are different. Also 
changing the name of a home directory does not change the username. So, 
as I explained above, you cannot log in as Chris and expect anything to 
work - bad password - as user Chris is not in the password file, and 
/home/Chris is also not in the password file, so logging in as chris 
will not find a home directory, and will default to /, where you can't 
do anything remotely useful.

So log in as chris and use sudo (superuser do) to get access to the root 
user's account, if necessary.

The answer: don't use user root unless you know what you're doing - it 
will break something.


-- 
Chris Elvidge, England
I WILL NOT FAKE MY WAY THROUGH LIFE
Bart Simpson on chalkboard in episode 7F03

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#45612

From"s|b" <me@privacy.invalid>
Date2025-10-24 17:33 +0200
Message-ID<mm1khvFse76U1@mid.individual.net>
In reply to#45607
On Fri, 24 Oct 2025 14:54:46 +0100, Chris Elvidge wrote:

> You're installing Mint, right?

Yes, Linux Mint 22.2 Cinnamon 64-bit.

> You specify your username during the install. As it happens this will 
> make a directory under /home with your username as its name. E.g. I 
> specify 'chris' as my username and get a directory /home/chris as my 
> home directory. You also have a user root with home directory /root. 
> This is standard. That's your user without root access and your user 
> with root access.
>
> As an added 'bonus' Mint will also allow your user (chris) access to 
> root via sudo. Any users added after that will not have sudo access 
> until and unless you provide it (see visudo) but this is not usual 
> unless you are envisaging a multiuser system.
> 
> You can use user chris for autologin, it you want to.

But this user can access root via sudo you just said. Isn't it wise then
to autologin with an added user that doesn't have sudo access? If such a
thing is possible.
 
> According to your original post your boss, logged in as root, changed 
> the directory name under /home from (e.g.) chris to Chris - linux is 
> case sensitive, unlike Windows, so chris and Chris are different. Also 
> changing the name of a home directory does not change the username. So, 
> as I explained above, you cannot log in as Chris and expect anything to 
> work - bad password - as user Chris is not in the password file, and 
> /home/Chris is also not in the password file, so logging in as chris 
> will not find a home directory, and will default to /, where you can't 
> do anything remotely useful.

I've understood that now. In Windows, messing with c:\users\* will cause
problems as well.

> So log in as chris and use sudo (superuser do) to get access to the root 
> user's account, if necessary.
> 
> The answer: don't use user root unless you know what you're doing - it 
> will break something.

We've learned that the hard way. But it's not an answer to my question:

Can I install, create a user with root access with no autologin, then
create a user with no root access with autologin? If so and I want to
access the root account, how? Autologin (no root), then sign off and
switch user? Or are there other ways?

I can test this myself now, but I'd rather ask instead of breaking
something again.

-- 
s|b

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#45613

FromChris Elvidge <chris@internal.net>
Date2025-10-24 17:52 +0100
Message-ID<10dgas7$2hdb$1@dont-email.me>
In reply to#45612
On 24/10/2025 at 16:33, s|b wrote:
> On Fri, 24 Oct 2025 14:54:46 +0100, Chris Elvidge wrote:
> 
>> You're installing Mint, right?
> 
> Yes, Linux Mint 22.2 Cinnamon 64-bit.
> 
>> You specify your username during the install. As it happens this will
>> make a directory under /home with your username as its name. E.g. I
>> specify 'chris' as my username and get a directory /home/chris as my
>> home directory. You also have a user root with home directory /root.
>> This is standard. That's your user without root access and your user
>> with root access.
>>
>> As an added 'bonus' Mint will also allow your user (chris) access to
>> root via sudo. Any users added after that will not have sudo access
>> until and unless you provide it (see visudo) but this is not usual
>> unless you are envisaging a multiuser system.
>>
>> You can use user chris for autologin, it you want to.
> 
> But this user can access root via sudo you just said. Isn't it wise then
> to autologin with an added user that doesn't have sudo access? If such a
> thing is possible.
>   
>> According to your original post your boss, logged in as root, changed
>> the directory name under /home from (e.g.) chris to Chris - linux is
>> case sensitive, unlike Windows, so chris and Chris are different. Also
>> changing the name of a home directory does not change the username. So,
>> as I explained above, you cannot log in as Chris and expect anything to
>> work - bad password - as user Chris is not in the password file, and
>> /home/Chris is also not in the password file, so logging in as chris
>> will not find a home directory, and will default to /, where you can't
>> do anything remotely useful.
> 
> I've understood that now. In Windows, messing with c:\users\* will cause
> problems as well.
> 
>> So log in as chris and use sudo (superuser do) to get access to the root
>> user's account, if necessary.
>>
>> The answer: don't use user root unless you know what you're doing - it
>> will break something.
> 
> We've learned that the hard way. But it's not an answer to my question:
> 
> Can I install, create a user with root access with no autologin, then
> create a user with no root access with autologin? If so and I want to
> access the root account, how? Autologin (no root), then sign off and
> switch user? Or are there other ways
> 
> I can test this myself now, but I'd rather ask instead of breaking
> something again.
> 

You've already got a user root, and a user with root access via sudo. 
Just create another user. (See: 
https://livingthelinuxlifestyle.wordpress.com/2021/04/24/how-to-add-and-remove-users-in-linux-mint/ 
for example). By default it will have no sudo access (like I said 
above). Change the autologin user to the new user. I don't have a new 
Mint installation to check how to do it to hand, but it will depend on 
your login manager's configuration file. Check /etc/ for a config file 
with autologin and username (hint: grep).

E.g. sddm.conf (for my login manager)
[Autologin]
Relogin=true
Session=xfce
User=chris

-- 
Chris Elvidge, England
ORGAN TRANSPLANTS ARE BEST LEFT TO THE PROFESSIONALS
Bart Simpson on chalkboard in episode 1F15

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#45615

From"s|b" <me@privacy.invalid>
Date2025-10-24 20:55 +0200
Message-ID<mm20dfFublnU1@mid.individual.net>
In reply to#45613
On Fri, 24 Oct 2025 17:52:06 +0100, Chris Elvidge wrote:

> You've already got a user root, and a user with root access via sudo. 
> Just create another user. (See: 
> https://livingthelinuxlifestyle.wordpress.com/2021/04/24/how-to-add-and-remove-users-in-linux-mint/ 
> for example).

This is very useful.

> By default it will have no sudo access (like I said 
> above). Change the autologin user to the new user. I don't have a new 
> Mint installation to check how to do it to hand, but it will depend on 
> your login manager's configuration file. Check /etc/ for a config file 
> with autologin and username (hint: grep).
> 
> E.g. sddm.conf (for my login manager)
> [Autologin]
> Relogin=true
> Session=xfce
> User=chris

Tnx, I will give this a go one of these days. It's obvious now we can't
give people an account with root access. We're available to people on
certain days, in the library for instance, so if something went wrong
they could come to us.

We're only now debating about this, so atm it's only about experimenting
ourselves. EU support for W10 will end Oct 13 2026, so we've got time.

-- 
s|b

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#45633

FromGordon <Gordon@leaf.net.nz>
Date2025-10-26 22:04 +0000
Message-ID<mm7k7kFsqp0U1@mid.individual.net>
In reply to#45612
On 2025-10-24, s|b <me@privacy.invalid> wrote:
> On Fri, 24 Oct 2025 14:54:46 +0100, Chris Elvidge wrote:
>
>> You're installing Mint, right?
>
> Yes, Linux Mint 22.2 Cinnamon 64-bit.
>
>> You specify your username during the install. As it happens this will 
>> make a directory under /home with your username as its name. E.g. I 
>> specify 'chris' as my username and get a directory /home/chris as my 
>> home directory. You also have a user root with home directory /root. 
>> This is standard. That's your user without root access and your user 
>> with root access.
>>
>> As an added 'bonus' Mint will also allow your user (chris) access to 
>> root via sudo. Any users added after that will not have sudo access 
>> until and unless you provide it (see visudo) but this is not usual 
>> unless you are envisaging a multiuser system.
>> 
>> You can use user chris for autologin, it you want to.
>
> But this user can access root via sudo you just said. Isn't it wise then
> to autologin with an added user that doesn't have sudo access? If such a
> thing is possible.

The rule is one login as, chris in this, case and when you can not do
something that to wish to do you all upon root. This is done with the sudo
command. 

As to help file says "execute a command as another user".

So you have sudo <some command> to get the job done if you can not do it as
chris, a normal user.

A user does need root powers to get some things done, but it is all too easy
to mess up with root powers, and most session go fine with not sudo being
required.
>  
>> According to your original post your boss, logged in as root, changed 
>> the directory name under /home from (e.g.) chris to Chris - linux is 
>> case sensitive, unlike Windows, so chris and Chris are different. Also 
>> changing the name of a home directory does not change the username. So, 
>> as I explained above, you cannot log in as Chris and expect anything to 
>> work - bad password - as user Chris is not in the password file, and 
>> /home/Chris is also not in the password file, so logging in as chris 
>> will not find a home directory, and will default to /, where you can't 
>> do anything remotely useful.
>
> I've understood that now. In Windows, messing with c:\users\* will cause
> problems as well.
>
>> So log in as chris and use sudo (superuser do) to get access to the root 
>> user's account, if necessary.
>> 
>> The answer: don't use user root unless you know what you're doing - it 
>> will break something.
>
> We've learned that the hard way. But it's not an answer to my question:
>
> Can I install, create a user with root access with no autologin, 

Yes, Just follow the instructions on the install screen if Mint install.
Chris will need to login upon startup and the sudo powers will be avaliable
ti Chris via the sudo.

Get it into your head to go carefully, sudo does not ask any questions,
espically the Are you sure type? 

then
> create a user with no root access with autologin? If so and I want to
> access the root account, how?

Why would you? 


> Autologin (no root), then sign off and
> switch user? 

Logout (Not shut down) from the desktop and then log in with the new user.



> Or are there other ways?
>
> I can test this myself now, but I'd rather ask instead of breaking
> something again.
>

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#45610

FromPaul <nospam@needed.invalid>
Date2025-10-24 11:08 -0400
Message-ID<10dg4q5$2lult$1@dont-email.me>
In reply to#45602
On Fri, 10/24/2025 5:47 AM, s|b wrote:
> On Wed, 22 Oct 2025 12:32:33 +0100, Chris Elvidge wrote:
> 
> 8< snip >8
>> Never run X/Wayland as root!
>> Autologin should have been 'boss'.
> 
> Yesterday, we found out how to make another account without admin
> rights. Today, I noticed under settings you can also make a guest
> account.
> 
> So if we're going to do to help other people, the best way is to make an
> account with root access, then make an account (with password) with no
> root and the autologin with the latter?
> 
> How can I access the root account if I do this? Autologin and then
> simply sign in with the root account?
> 

The root account is not set up with a password in LM.

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?p=2273852#p2273852

    "chroot in a live session will do it"

What that means, is you boot the Linux Live USB stick, and
once the OS is loaded, the ordinary hard drive your machine is using
can be edited. The "chroot" or change-root, allows access
to the OS-at-rest. You notice in that article, after
the chroot is activated, they use

    passwd root

to make changes while chrooted in and making changes to
/dev/sda2 OS or whatever.

*******

Example of chroot for Linux Mint.

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=253270

# You can use gnome-disks to review your partitions, as well
# as looking at BLKID output. It's important to do this, to verify
# what the "sda1" and "sda5" values would be. Your install is unlikely
# to be "sda5" for the slash partition on the HDD.

$ mount /dev/sda5 /mnt
$ mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi
$ mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
$ mount --bind /dev/pts /mnt/dev/pts
$ mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
$ mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
$ chroot /mnt /bin/bash        # Now you're root on the hard drive OS
$ passwd root                  # Now you're setting the root password on the hard drive OS

$ exit                         # We have left the chroot environment and are back in USB-stick-land.

$ umount /mnt/dev/pts
$ umount /mnt/dev
$ umount /mnt/proc
$ umount /mnt/sys
$ umount /mnt/boot/efi
$ umount /mnt

$ df

Once you've removed the mounts in reverse order, check using "df"
command whether the USB boot OS is now "returned to normal",
before you shutdown. A pro cleanly unmounts things and doesn't
go around flipping power switches to achieve a result.

Now, attempt to reboot to the HDD OS, and see if you can
su root in there. Purely for amusement.

The security stance of a distro, depends on things being tilted
to one side or the other. Some distros rely on "admin stuff only
being done while being root". Others, allow mere users to sudo
stuff on their own machine. A machine with "sudo ls /home/otheraccount"
would not be secure as a multi-account machine (say the wife has an
account on the machine as well as the husband). If the machine
is single-user, then the usage of sudo is "OK" as the entire
machine belongs to that single user. When you pick up a Linux CD
in hand, it could be based on one scheme or the other. If sudo
with no restrictions in the sudoers file is given to a person,
it's better to not have a live/armed root account to complicate
matters (worry about sudoer resetting the root password directly).

Running as root, is a nuisance. It's dangerous for the machine.
There are usage scenarios, where you are blocked from doing
certain things, as from design the utility you're trying to use,
they know it shouldn't be run as root. You will occasionally
get an error message, that would not have happened if you'd
been running as "normaluser". While root is powerful, it's
also a restrictive environment when you're attempting to
have a good time.

*******

When I was a young lad, and I entered a UNIX shop, the first two
questions were cordially answered. On the third question attempt,
the departmental guru said "buy a book, then if you have questions
after reading the book, come back and see me". This wasn't the guy
being mean, and this was sage advice which I followed. We have a computer
book store here, with all sorts of technical stuff in it, and the
only limitation I had, was there was no book entirely devoted
to Bourne or Bash shell, and one book had a chapter on the shells
and that was about all. But that was sufficient for the job.

The UNIX experience I got, made it a lot easier to understand
some of the recipes in Linux. You could see patterns you'd seen
before, even if the syntax or utilities were not the same.

   Paul

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#45592

FromLawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid>
Date2025-10-23 00:20 +0000
Message-ID<10dbsbn$10pja$3@dont-email.me>
In reply to#45568
On Tue, 21 Oct 2025 14:43:12 +0200, s|b wrote:

> Apparently he changed the name of the Home folder (in the GUI) from
> 'Myname' to 'Organisationname' and now he can't login anymore. He
> sent me a screenshot that says:
>
> Myname
>
> Incorrect password, please try again

The correspondence between your login username and your home directory
is established by the corresponding entry in the /etc/passwd file
(which, contrary to its name, doesn’t actually contain the user
password).

For example, here’s the entry for my user in /etc/passwd on the system
I’m using now:

    ldo:x:1000:100:Lawrence D'Oliveiro,,,:/home/ldo:/bin/bash

Note how the fields are separated by colons, and there are 7 fields in
all. The first is the username, the second is where the password used
to go, then we have the user ID, the principal group ID, the
descriptive field aka the “GECOS” field (user’s full name, possibly
other contact info etc), the home directory, and the shell.

So if /home/ldo does not exist, the GUI login screen will likely fail.
But notice also that there is no assumption that a user named
«username» has to have a home directory named /home/«username›; this
is purely a convention, but the source of truth is always explicit in
the /etc/passwd entry. (It is also possible to extend that with info
from other sources, e.g. LDAP, but we won’t get into that here.)

If you accidentally changed the name of the home directory, then
change it back. But if you *do* want it to be something different,
then it should be sufficient to edit the appropriate field in the
/etc/passwd entry to get the system to accept the new name.

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