Cinnamon Forgot My Password-Free Life
Ever get that thing where every time you click an app like Pulsar or GParted, Cinnamon suddenly thinks you should be typing your password like it’s 2005? Yeah, that happened to me — after playing around with other desktops like MATE and KDE. I removed them, but Cinnamon didn’t quite get the memo. Turns out, the wrong polkit authentication agent was either missing, replaced, or just ignored. Here’s how I slapped things back into shape:1. Reinstall the GNOME PolicyKit Package
This is what Cinnamon prefers to use. Install it (or reinstall if you wiped it):
sudo apt install policykit-1-gnome
This package provides a D-Bus session bus service that is used to bring up authentication dialogs for obtaining privileges. It’s commonly used by desktop environments like Cinnamon, XFCE, and Unity.
2. Restore the Missing .desktop Launcher
I had removed the startup launcher for it, so I recreated it:
sudo nano /etc/xdg/autostart/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1.desktop
Dropped this into the file:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=PolicyKit Authentication Agent
Comment=PolicyKit Authentication Agent
Exec=/usr/lib/policykit-1-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1
Terminal=false
Type=Application
NoDisplay=true
OnlyShowIn=GNOME;XFCE;Unity;Cinnamon;
X-GNOME-Autostart-Phase=Initialization
X-GNOME-Provides=polkit-1-authentication-agent
X-GNOME-Autostart-Notify=false
This ensures that the authentication agent starts automatically in supported desktop environments.
3. Remove Any Conflicting Junk
I had polkit autostart files from KDE and MATE still sitting in/etc/xdg/autostart. Nixed them.
sudo rm /etc/xdg/autostart/polkit-kde-authentication-agent-1.desktop
sudo rm /etc/xdg/autostart/polkit-mate-authentication-agent-1.desktop
Also cleared out any local override in my home:
rm ~/.config/autostart/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1.desktop 2>/dev/null
Having multiple authentication agents can lead to conflicts. It’s essential to ensure that only the appropriate agent for your desktop environment is active.