No avatars on login screens

[AJSlye]

They did? I need to go back and read. I'm pretty sure the system is not running on a single user run level.

[rocky7x]

It definitely is not and moreover, if it would be single user then why have the fast switch option, to have multiple logins? I tried it and it works perfectly...

[ali_deda]

It definitely is not and moreover, if it would be single user then why have the fast switch option, to have multiple logins? I tried it and it works perfectly...

So you're saying that if you have 4 usera you have 4 various avatars on the login screen. As far as I remember precisely the problem logging and displaying all the avatars more user start threads.

[kdemeoz]

I think there may be more than one issue though.
Was this before or after you had changed the FacesDir parameter in your /etc/sddm.conf file?
When you added moi.face.icon to /usr/share/sddm/faces, did you remember to change the ownership and permissions of the file to the system default values?

Code:

Owner (root) - read - write
Group - read
Others - read

Last but not least, is moi the user name you would type to log in via cli?
This usually matches your home directory name.

Re the "changed the FacesDir parameter in your /etc/sddm.conf file" question, i can no longer remember. Today i had another try, in one of my Maui VMs [sddm.conf is default; unedited by me]. 

No "moi" is not my real name, & is not my username in any of my Maui's, but when online i prefer to retain my anonymity by substituting my name with "moi". I certainly used my proper username, not moi, when i manipulated those various face files.

For today's VM test i created a new file in /usr/share/sddm/faces, as below. After rebooting the VM, the login screen continued to have a blank icon only. You can see that this new file is a real file, not just a symlink back to my /home [given as we established, that's encrypted hence unavailable to SDDM before login]. Have i still misunderstood your meaning?

   

[AJSlye]

Yes, however the file should not be executable by anyone, and only writable by it's owner.
In this case the file should be owned by root as it's in the default location, and not in the users home directory.
The file should also be readable by others since that is what the SDDM user would be.
   


Note: if the file is marked executable SDDM will see it as a binary and may not load it.

[kdemeoz]

Thanks AJ. I adjusted my file's permissions to match yours [& i reconfirmed it IS in the right path, same as yours]. When i reloaded that Dolphin pane, the file stopped displaying a padlock & no actual avatar pic, & instead correctly displayed my avatar [seen in Dolphin's preview]. This seemed like progress, so i semi-confidently did another reboot of the VM. Puzzlingly the login screen stubbornly still does not show my avatar. I have grown quite weary now of this little game Plasma5 is playing with me, & might not persist much longer.

[AJSlye]

This is actually not a plasma 5 issue, SDDM (Simple Desktop Display Manager) is a separate project from Plasma, it's just the recommended display manager. You can technically use any display manager you want, you just wouldn't be able to have it match the lock screen, etc.
Besides changing the permissions did you also change the ownership to ensure that the file was owned by root and not your user?
The only time the avatar file (face.icon) should be owned by the user it belongs to, is if it's in that users home directory. Anywhere else on the system it should be owned by root.

[kdemeoz]

Besides changing the permissions did you also change the ownership to ensure that the file was owned by root and not your user?

Yes.
   

[AJSlye]

Yep, looks about right.

[kdemeoz]

Ha, well then, i'm pretty much stuffed then, ain't i? If i've done it right, yet the login screen persists as an avatar-free-zone anyway, then apparently i've come to the end of the line. Time for me to move on to other issues now, methinks. Thanks anyway AJ.