Linux not booting/root password not working | Linux Mint Community🍵 | Page 1

dusky shuttle Jan 18, 2026, 4:44 AM

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Hello, i'm new to Linux Mint so i'm sorry if this is an issue that has already been resolved, but i can't seem to find it online. I wanted to a new boot with Windows being on my second drive in order to play certain games with my friends while having Linux (currently) on my first drive. I found ventoy and downloaded the Windows ISO. Using ventoy, I boot up my boot using my burner usb and it ran the windows installation. I then proceeded to click the "advanced" option for windows to install it on my second drive instead of my current drive with Linux installed. After I clicked on the option. I left my computer to eat. I came back to my screen having linux up with the usual enter password screen to enter my computer. I thought windows wanted to restart and since my first boot option is linux i didn't thimk much of it. I proceeded to enter my password and came to the pop up of "unable to launch cinnamon-session-cinnamon". I've been trying to fix this problem for the past hour. I'm trying to boot up linux mint and I get the message of "unable to launch cinnamon-session-cinnamon". Reading online, I figured that it had to do something with my packages, so I boot up the text terminal with "Ctrl+Alt+F1" and enter "sudo apt get update". Upon asking for my password, I enter the "correct" password. In doing so, the terminal pops up with "Login Incorrect". I thought I knew my root password, so I kept entering it in. After awhile I gave up and tried to change the root password through the BIOS recovery reboot. After I did that, the same thing kept happening. I would still get the "Login Incorrect" outcome.

I expected to have a Linux boot on my primary drive while having Windows boot on my second. But instead, Window works on my second drive (poorly) while Linux is absolutely cooked on my primary. I don't think and tried not to touch my first drive.

bright monolith Jan 18, 2026, 4:48 AM

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dusky shuttle Hello, i'm new to Linux Mint so i'm sorry if this is an issue that has already b...

you're trying to enter a command where you need to supply a username first

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you're not logged in

dusky shuttle Jan 18, 2026, 4:49 AM

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How would i log in?

bright monolith Jan 18, 2026, 4:49 AM

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by supplying your username and password

dusky shuttle Jan 18, 2026, 4:49 AM

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Sorry, how would i supply it?

bright monolith Jan 18, 2026, 4:50 AM

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do you remember your linux username?

dusky shuttle Jan 18, 2026, 4:50 AM

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Yes i do

bright monolith Jan 18, 2026, 4:50 AM

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enter it when it says login:

dusky shuttle Jan 18, 2026, 4:50 AM

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ohh i see

bright monolith Jan 18, 2026, 4:51 AM

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but what happens if you do ctrl+alt+f7?

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you should see a graphical user interface

dusky shuttle Jan 18, 2026, 4:52 AM

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yes it does

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okay i figured it out now, i've reinstalled cinnamon and my packages so it works now

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thank you so much and sorry if this was not worth your time 😭

bright monolith Jan 18, 2026, 4:53 AM

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do you see the login screen or just your desktop?

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ok

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try and reboot and verify it all works just in case

dusky shuttle Jan 18, 2026, 4:54 AM

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okay i did, now some of my softwares are missing, is that something that is an effect of my doing or is it a common case.

bright monolith Jan 18, 2026, 4:55 AM

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what software?

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if you either purged/removed cinnamon DE then yes it's possible

dusky shuttle Jan 18, 2026, 4:55 AM

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My zen browser isn't working nor is it popping up, and discord from what i know

dusky shuttle Jan 18, 2026, 4:56 AM

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bright monolith if you either purged/removed cinnamon DE then yes it's possible

Some of my other software like steam or spotify is still on here

bright monolith Jan 18, 2026, 4:56 AM

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how did you reinstall cinnamon desktop?

dusky shuttle Jan 18, 2026, 4:56 AM

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sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nemo
sudo apt-get install cinnamon

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i think it removed my flathub softwares

bright monolith Jan 18, 2026, 4:59 AM

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you're sure both zen and discord were flatpaks?

dusky shuttle Jan 18, 2026, 4:59 AM

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yeah both were flatpaks

bright monolith Jan 18, 2026, 5:00 AM

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try to reinstall them through software manager as flatpaks

dusky shuttle Jan 18, 2026, 5:00 AM

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well i tried removing them first and then reinstalling, but i get this

bright monolith Jan 18, 2026, 5:01 AM

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try sudo flatpak repair

dusky shuttle Jan 18, 2026, 5:03 AM

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okay that seemed to do the job, but is there anything else i should be aware of because of the cinnamon reinstall?

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and thanks a lot

bright monolith Jan 18, 2026, 5:03 AM

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yes keep track if you have any GUI issues

dusky shuttle Jan 18, 2026, 5:04 AM

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Okay thank you

#Linux not booting/root password not working