UbuntuHandbook

How to Restore The Default Login Screen in Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: March 17, 2015

After installing another desktop environment (e.g. KDE, MATE, Cinnamon) in Ubuntu Unity, the default login screen may be replaced after restart.

Here’s the quick tip for those who want to restore the default login screen, Unity Greeter, in Ubuntu 14.04 and/or Ubuntu 14.10, so it looks like:

1. By default, Ubuntu Unity uses Lightdm display manager to handle its login screen. But installing Gnome Shell or Cinnamon Desktop also installs the GDM or MDM display manager.

So you may first run below command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to make sure LightDM is in use by choosing it from the prompt:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm

2. LightDM also supports “themes”, some DEs use LightDM-GTK-greeter instead of the default Unity-Greeter as its theme.

The easiest way to restore LightDM theme is:

Open terminal from the Dash or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to edit (or create) /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf:

gksudo gedit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

If need, install gksu from Ubuntu Software Center

When the file opens, change its content to (or paste below content):

[SeatDefaults]
greeter-session=unity-greeter

Save the file and you’ll see the default login screen at next boot.

In Howtos lightdm, LightDM GTK+ Greeter, unity

Enable Onscreen Keyboard in LightDM-Gtk-Greeter in Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: June 26, 2014

If you’re using Lightdm-Gtk-Greeter instead of the default Unity Greeter in Ubuntu 14.04, this quick tutorial will show you how to enable onscreen virtual keyboard in your login screen.

Lightdm-gtk-greeter provides a light-weight, GTK+2 or GTK+3 login screen for Linux desktops. It is available in the Software Center of Ubuntu 14.04.

Onscreen keyboard is not enabled by default in this greeter. If you want this feature, just do a little tweak on the config file and then you are able to launch the virtual keyboard via indicator menu or shortcut key F3.

First edit the config file, /etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf, with your favorite text editor. Here I use gedit.

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, run:

sudo gedit /etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf

When the file opens, do:

add new line keyboard=onboard
add ~a11y; as a value of indicators

So the file will look like this:

Finally save the file and reboot. Enjoy!

In Howtos LightDM GTK+ Greeter, Ubuntu 14.04

Install and Use LightDM GTK+ Greater 1.7.1 in Ubuntu 14.04/13.10

Last updated: January 24, 2014

LightDM GTK+ Greeter brings a quick, reliable, and GTK+ 2/3 support login screen. It is used by a number of Ubuntu’s flavours, including Xubuntu.

The latest version 1.7.1 has been released a few hours ago with below changes:

Username tooltip tweaks
Language applet now displays country code labels
Login windows can no longer be positioned ‘off screen’
Improvements to handling of xscreensaver timeout
Login button set as “default” widget

Install:

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run below commands one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lightdm-gtk-greeter-team/stable

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install lightdm-gtk-greeter

This will install the latest package for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 12.10 and their derivatives.

If you don’t like Launchpad PPAs, download & install the .deb from this page.

Usage:

After installation, your login screen should changed at next boot. If not, edit the config file via:

sudo gedit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

Make sure its content looks like:

[SeatDefaults]
greeter-session=lightdm-gtk-greeter

Edit the /etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf file via below command to change the theme, icon, etc.

sudo gedit /etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf

In below config file I used the Numix gtk theme:

#
# background = Background file to use, either an image path or a color (e.g. #772953)
# theme-name = GTK+ theme to use
# icon-theme-name = Icon theme to use
# font-name = Font to use
# xft-antialias = Whether to antialias Xft fonts (true or false)
# xft-dpi = Resolution for Xft in dots per inch (e.g. 96)
# xft-hintstyle = What degree of hinting to use (none, slight, medium, or full)
# xft-rgba = Type of subpixel antialiasing (none, rgb, bgr, vrgb or vbgr)
# show-language-selector (true or false)
# show-indicators = semi-colon “;” separated list of allowed indicator modules (e.g. libsoundmenu.so)
# show-clock (true or false)
# clock-format = strftime-format string, e.g. %H:%M
# keyboard = command to launch on-screen keyboard
#
[greeter]
background=/usr/share/backgrounds/mate/nature/Blinds.jpg
theme-name=Numix
icon-theme-name=LoginIcons
default-user-image = /usr/share/pixmaps/griffon_icon.png
font-name=Ubuntu 11
xft-antialias=true
xft-dpi=96
xft-hintstyle=slight
xft-rgba=rgb
show-language-selector=true