I can't get to the desktop when using ubuntu

Question

Anytime I log into Ubuntu, it shows the desktop and when I am about to access my files it goes back to the log in screen. This doesn't happen if I log into safe mode. I don't know why it's doing this. I also don't want to use the safe mode because you can't do all the things you normally can in safe mode.

Answer 1

Login in safe mode. In a terminal window:

ls -A
mkdir OOPS
mv .xsession .xsessionrc .xinitrc .XCompose .XResources .gnomerc .xinput.d .Xmodmap OOPS/
mv .kde .gtk* OOPS/

If you're comfortable logging in on a text console, instead of into a graphical login, then after a login failure use Ctrl-Alt-F1 to switch to a text console. (Ctrl-Alt- switches between the consoles, I forget which number gets the graphical one in Ubuntu; try a few, be patient). Then login, same usercode and password, and look at some log files.

The /var/log/Xorg.0.log file has the logs for the core of the GUI system, but since things work in safe-mode, it probably won't help.

In your home directory, .xsession-errors is likely to help the most, if you can wade through the spam from broken apps which think it's okay to spew junk because "nobody ever sees it". On the bright side, things broke early enough that most stuff never got a chance to spam it, so what is in there stands a higher chance of being relevant.