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Bug 683179 - polkit authentication dialog fails
polkit authentication dialog fails
Status: RESOLVED OBSOLETE
Product: gnome-shell
Classification: Core
Component: general
3.5.x
Other Linux
: Normal normal
: ---
Assigned To: gnome-shell-maint
gnome-shell-maint
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2012-09-01 22:34 UTC by darkxst
Modified: 2021-07-05 14:34 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: ---


Attachments
polkit errors from auth.log (1.04 KB, text/x-log)
2012-09-01 22:34 UTC, darkxst
Details

Description darkxst 2012-09-01 22:34:18 UTC
Created attachment 223177 [details]
polkit errors from auth.log

Sometimes the polkit dialog fails to work properly. I will start typing my password and before I have finished, I get the yellow "sorry, that didn’t work" message and then the dialog closes. At no stage have a hit enter to actually send my password.
Comment 1 Giovanni Campagna 2012-09-02 21:52:24 UTC
You seem to have configured pam_winbind (kerberos/active directory), but your user is unknown.
Comment 2 darkxst 2012-09-03 03:17:34 UTC
When it works (which is about half the time), it uses pam_unix to authenticate, however when that fails as per first line in above log, then it fallsback to pam_winbind which is not even configured on my system.

If I run pkexec from a terminal, then I get a console based auth dialog and this works correctly 100% of the time.
Comment 3 fab.head 2012-09-30 20:05:21 UTC
I bumped into a similar issue, and I can reproduce it this way:

1. Open 'Activities'

2. Type the name of a programme which requires authentication (e.g. Synaptics, GParted, etc) in order to select it

3. Hit 'Enter' (don't click the icon)

4. The 'Authentication Required' dialog pops up. After about 3 seconds you'll get the message 'Sorry, that didn't work' (no need to actually type anything)


On the other hand, everything works fine if you follow these steps:

1. Open 'Activities'

2. Type the name of a programme which requires authentication (e.g. Synaptics, GParted, etc) in order to select it

3. Click the programme icon (don't hit 'Enter')

4. The 'Authentication Required' dialog pops up, and everything works as expected (i.e. you can type in your password and start the programme)


Hope this helps
Comment 4 Mantas Mikulėnas (grawity) 2012-12-21 15:10:16 UTC
I get this often with plain `pkexec`, and with any other terminal commands that require polkit authentication...

It just depends on how long the Enter key was held down, not on any particular PAM config.
Comment 5 lainme993 2013-03-06 08:15:44 UTC
I also encountered the problem. 

1. search gparted and press enter in gnome-shell -> fail most of the time
2. search gparted and click the icon in gnome-shell -> works
3. type gparted-pkexec in terminal -> works
Comment 6 lainme993 2013-03-06 08:17:23 UTC
Here is the bug report in Archlinux https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/33471, where there is a Xface user who also has the problem either.
Comment 7 Mantas Mikulėnas (grawity) 2013-03-06 08:42:26 UTC
(In reply to comment #5)
> I also encountered the problem. 
> 
> 1. search gparted and press enter in gnome-shell -> fail most of the time
> 2. search gparted and click the icon in gnome-shell -> works
> 3. type gparted-pkexec in terminal -> works

You might be hitting bug #692937 here.
Comment 8 S. 2013-10-08 04:41:01 UTC
On Gnome 3.8.4 I frequently run into problems with the Gnome Shell password prompt. It repeatedly rejects my password, but then after a while it starts accepting it. It is very random and hard to pin down. Sometimes it rejects the first time and accepts it the second time. Sometimes on the third time. Occasionally it works on the first try. Sometimes it just keeps rejecting it. (Yes, I am typing my password correctly.) I usually open programs by searching applications menu and hitting enter, if that makes any difference.
Comment 9 GNOME Infrastructure Team 2021-07-05 14:34:17 UTC
GNOME is going to shut down bugzilla.gnome.org in favor of  gitlab.gnome.org.
As part of that, we are mass-closing older open tickets in bugzilla.gnome.org
which have not seen updates for a longer time (resources are unfortunately
quite limited so not every ticket can get handled).

If you can still reproduce the situation described in this ticket in a recent
and supported software version, then please follow
  https://wiki.gnome.org/GettingInTouch/BugReportingGuidelines
and create a new ticket at
  https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/

Thank you for your understanding and your help.