18th December 2016, 11:43
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.