[Gateway] Debian 13 login shows and can't login

Support
1

hello

How can i fix this?

Thank you

2

Are you using GDM?

Try to send a CTRL+ALT+F2/9 and open a TTY.
From there you should login without problems, try to see journalctl logs.
I had a similar problem some time ago and I managed to resolve it using the default Desktop Manager. It’s is a problem on the security system that is detecting you as a malicious attempt.

Try to restore the faillock and the DM.
sudo faillock --user user --reset

3

thanks for the help

my gateway used xfce (which i think is the default desktop env on the previous version)

i could get in as tty and executed the faillock command you provided but still can’t login using the gui

4

The Whonix 18 use LXQT.
What I would recommend you is like you shouldn’t have any custom app or software in the gateway, just download the Whonix 18 compress file and replace the gateway with the last version. Reuse the workstation that is the important one

5

yes, i was about to try out that, but i thought maybe using the new gateway with the old workstation could create some type of mismatch, will see how it goes
in the past i did clean installs, but this time i have lots of apps and configs on the workstation that i would (ideally) like to keep

6

Shouldn’t been any problem combining old workstation with new gateway because it’s just a network communication setting so.
I don’t know which virtualization tool are you using but before upgrading the workstation, make snapshots.

7

Hmm, this could be difficult to debug. Sometimes an application’s dependencies can result in apt deciding to install unexpected things, such as GDM or even an entire desktop environment. This is why the upgrade steps recommend backing up the VM as the first thing you do before an upgrade.

What you might do to debug / fix this is:

  • Download the Whonix 18 VirtualBox image
  • Install it
  • Get the installed package list from Whonix-Gateway 18 installed from the VBox image (use apt list --installed for this)
  • Get the installed package list from the upgraded, used-to-be-Whonix-Gateway 17 VM (use apt list --installed for this also)
  • Compare the lists, see what packages are different to help you decide which ones to remove from the upgraded VM
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8

i had some other issues with the workstation upgrade as well, so i’m going with the fresh install from the .ova like i did in the past and re install all apps, seems to be the better option really

thanks for the help

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