Ubuntu 16.04 GUI won't start in VM after update

[melchimm]

I resumed a suspended instance of an Ubuntu VM guest and updated using "apt-get dist-upgrade", after which things seemed to be working fine. Then I rebooted the instance and it no longer makes it past an attempt to start the graphics manager. Instead, I get a "The system is running in low-graphics mode" dialog that never resolves correctly. Furthermore, if I switch to a terminal and try restarting the graphics manager (either lightdm or gdm) it freezes.

The funny thing is that when I boot the Ubuntu OS directly (it's on a separate drive), everything works correctly. I just can't boot it within a VM.

Details:

Host: Windows 7

Guest: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (64-bit)

VMWare version: 11.1.4

[JustinMercier]

Try reconfiguring the video device for 3D.  I can't remember the exact wording but if you go to the VM's settings (while it is powered off) and select the video device, there is a checkbox to enable 3D acceleration.  This assumes that you have a GPU in the host and are not using nouveau (in the case of a Linux host).

[melchimm]

Thanks for the quick reply. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to work. The "3D acceleration" box was already checked, and unchecking it didn't make any difference.

The host is a Thinkpad T450s running Windows 7. It doesn't have a discrete GPU (it uses the on-chip Intel graphics), but I don't think that should make a difference, should it?

[Eric_Allione]

This sounds like something that could be fixed with VMware Tools if it's not on there. However, if it is, then would rebuilding the VM be an option? If you go that route you will always want to take snapshots before running apt-get. Something may have gone wrong with the package or installed incorrectly. All guest-level updates like this can be deadly. I've lost Windows 10 about 10 times from Windows Updates.

[melchimm · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the advice. I tried updating and uninstalling/reinstalling VMWare tools to no avail, along with many other potential solutions (e.g., reinstalling graphics drivers, mesa, etc.), none of which worked.

Finally, I checked the lightdm (/var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log) and xorg (/var/log/Xorg.0.log) logs, where I found that the xorg server was choking when loading device configuration files from /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/.

I tried moving the folder, which allowed lightdm to start, but disabled my input devices, so I went into the folder and removed individual configuration files until both lightdm and my input devices worked.

In retrospect, taking your advice to rebuild the VM probably would have saved me some time, but I was reluctant to do so because I have a complicated development environment that's always a bear to set up.

[Eric_Allione]

That is commendable because X11 is a nightmare to troubleshoot. At least from my perspective of only having basic CompTIA Linux+ skills. It is hard for me to tell whether this was some hyperspecific mishap or something that could be generally helpful as a troubleshooting step.