Unable to Switch Users at Lock Screen – Fix for Unity on Ubuntu 18.04

18.04switch-userunity

If I am logged in as a user or at the lock screen, I am unable to switch accounts to another user. When I click on the symbol in the top right and click on the name of another user to switch to, nothing happens.

It's ok if I'm logged in because I can just log out, but that's not an option at the lock screen. The only way to switch to another user is to restart the computer which is annoying. I'm using Unity with lightdm on Ubuntu 18.04.

Anyone else have this issue? Or have an idea how to fix it? Thanks!

Best Answer

I was able to fix it by removing lightdm, re-installing lightdm, and then rebooting. Not sure what went wrong, but I can switch users again no problem.

sudo apt-get remove lightdm
sudo apt-get install lightdm

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User Management – Can You Switch Between Two Users in a Single Click?

Not a single click, but I can give you a keyboard shortcut solution.

Go into the menu to set custom keyboard shortcuts

and add a new one with this command:

dm-tool switch-to-user suzi

Assuming suzi is your wife's username, and set a shortcut of your choice by clicking where is says "disabled" and then pressing the key combination you want to use (for example, super+alt+S if the user's initial is S). Set another shortcut to switch to your own account (with your own username in the command).

Ubuntu – Can’t set up Unity on Ubuntu 18.04

Start with a 1604 installation with Unity, then upgrade/dist-upgrade it to 1804.

Best Answer

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User Management – Can You Switch Between Two Users in a Single Click?

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