I tried to do it with the command startx 1. It seemed to flicker to a different screen momentarily, but then exited. Got the following error:
/usr/bin/xterm: No absolute path found for shell: :1
Any ideas?
I think you can do it with this:
$ startx -- :1
Note that you need to be on a text console. If you do this from an X session, you may not be authorized. First Ctrl+Alt+F1 to switch to a text console and log in there.
Press Ctrl+Alt+F7 and Ctrl+Alt+F8 to switch between the X sessions (the F key numbers may vary depending on your distribution).
If you want more control you can add more options to the command like so:
$ startx gnome-session -- :1 vt8
This will start up gnome-session on display :1 and run it on virtual console 8 (Ctrl+Alt+F8).
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5Ugh, starting an X server with sudo causes everything within the X session to start with root privileges; this even causes some applications to fail. – Brian Peterson Aug 3 '13 at 3:29
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1@Bepetersn - I was surprised that you said you needed that. What happens without it? – slm♦ Aug 3 '13 at 3:30
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5@Bepetersn Run this from a text console, not from an X session. On Linux, press
Ctrl+Alt+F1first, log in, and runstartx -- :1from the shell prompt. – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Aug 3 '13 at 23:22 -
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1Sorry, I forgot to respond @slm. If I run
startx -- :1from an X session, the terminal appears unresponsive for a bit, then tells me:xauth: timeout in locking authority file /var/run/gdm3/auth-for-brian-3zy5Hn/database, and fails a bit later withX: user not authorized to run the X server, aborting.During this time, nothing would come up in the 8th tty as you would expect. – Brian Peterson Aug 4 '13 at 6:08
I have found that the following way works for me:
sudo xinit /usr/bin/xterm -e "su $(whoami) -c pekwm" $* -- :1
What happening here?
First I start xinit with an xterm, as a parameter to that xterm I su to become myself. From there I start the window manager.
Only thing you need to do is minimize (not close) the xterm.
Probably you could tell the xterm to start minimized—but I have not care enough to find that out.
Also: Replace pekwm with the session you want to login to. Look in the .dewsktop-file in /usr/share/xsessions
Edited code. Changed from my real username as in example to the output from whoami
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On ubuntu 20.04. This, at least gives a new login dialog on CTRL+ALT+F1. But after login, I land in the existing session on ...F2, and the ...F1 goes back to the login dialog. – user66081 Jun 1 at 6:56
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@user66081 I changed the command. Please try again. And read the lines I added in bottom off the edited post. – Swepter Jun 3 at 8:51
