Timeshift GUI login won't authenticate

[hspindel]

Using Rocky Linux 9.2.

Installed and am using Timeshift. Seems to be working - snapshots are being created on the schedule I asked for.

If I click on Activities and select Timeshift it tells me authentication is required to run as superuser. I give it my superuser password and Timeshift won't authenticate (just says sorry, that didn't work). If I open a terminal window, su to root, execute /bin/timeshift-gtk the Timeshift GUI opens and works fine.

Any idea why Timeshift won't authenticate my superuser password if launched from Activities?

 

[Condobloke]

G'day hspindel. Welcome to Linux.org

I too run Timeshift, and my first thought was that you may have installed Timeshift more than once ?...or suffered a hiccup of some sort which necessitated you reinstalling it or similar ?

The above is just guesses....and likely quite incorrect.

The guy who will know what ails your install of Timehsift, is @wizardfromoz .....and by my mentioning his name, you can be assured he will visit this topic when next he appears....(which is quite likely in the next hour or two)

 

[hspindel]

Thank you.

I didn't reinstall Timeshift, but what problem would it cause if I did?

 

[Condobloke]

If done incorrectly it may bring about two instances of Timeshift....I have done that with other apps

Seeing you have not reinstalled etc ...then that is not the problem

 

[f33dm3bits]

Try adding your normal user to the "wheel" group, then launch Timeshift again and then when you do give the password of the normal user. What happens then?

 

[hspindel]

I'm already a member of wheel. I previously tried my normal password, and that doesn't work either. In that case, the Timeshift GUI just exits with no message at all.

 

[wizardfromoz]

@hspindel welcome to linux.org (where's your manners, boys? )

What version of Timeshift, and how did you install it, please?

eg output of

dnf list timeshift

## or

dnf info timeshift

I don't use Rocky so @f33dm3bits can say whether it's yum for dnf

Have to go for my Saturday evening so will check back tomorrow

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

The guy who will know what ails your install of Timehsift, is @wizardfromoz .....and by my mentioning his name, you can be assured he will visit this topic when next he appears....(which is quite likely in the next hour or two)

Hate it when he says that, sets me up for a big fall, Brian.

 

[f33dm3bits]

I'm already a member of wheel. I previously tried my normal password, and that doesn't work either. In that case, the Timeshift GUI just exits with no message at all.

I just test it on my Rocky Linux 9 vm and timeshift just works and accepts the password. When I am not a member of wheel it asks me for the root password and when I am a member of wheel it asks me for the password of my normal user. What happens when you open a terminal and run "timeshift-launcher" and can you share the output of the "id" command?

 

[f33dm3bits]

I don't use Rocky so @f33dm3bits can say whether it's yum for dnf

Both still work.

 

[Condobloke]

G'day hspindel. Welcome to Linux.org

Manners?....never leave home without them

 

[hspindel]

@hspindel welcome to linux.org (where's your manners, boys? )

What version of Timeshift, and how did you install it, please?

eg output of

dnf list timeshift

## or

dnf info timeshift

I don't use Rocky so @f33dm3bits can say whether it's yum for dnf

Have to go for my Saturday evening so will check back tomorrow

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz



Hate it when he says that, sets me up for a big fall, Brian.

I installed Timeshift with dnf install timeshift.

It reports version 22.11.2-1.el9

 

[hspindel]

I just test it on my Rocky Linux 9 vm and timeshift just works and accepts the password. When I am not a member of wheel it asks me for the root password and when I am a member of wheel it asks me for the password of my normal user. What happens when you open a terminal and run "timeshift-launcher" and can you share the output of the "id" command?

When I use timeshift-launcher the results are identical to launching it from the Activities menu, but there is one additional, probably important, clue. There is a message in the console window saying "Gtk-WARNING **: current time: cannot open display.

Output of id:
uid=1000(howard) gid=1000(howard) groups=1000(howard),10(wheel),973(vboxusers),976(docker)

I did some research about "can't open display: and tried a couple suggestions:

1. export DISPLAY:'ip:

I tried a couple variations on localhost, but nothing worked.

2. Found a website that advised ssh username@hostname -X

Really hosed myself doing this. Now if I try timeshift-launcher it asks me to authenticate. I give it my password and it says:

polkit-agent-helper-1: error response to PolicyKit daemon: GDBus.Errorrg.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.Error.Failed: No session for cookie
==== AUTHENTICATION FAILED ====
Error executing command as another user: Not authorized

I can't figure out how to undo the results of the ssh command. I'm trying a timeshift restore now.

 

[f33dm3bits]

When I use timeshift-launcher the results are identical to launching it from the Activities menu, but there is one additional, probably important, clue. There is a message in the console window saying "Gtk-WARNING **: current time: cannot open display.

How are you connected to the system running Rock Linux 9, it sounds more like you are connected to it remotely using are remote(ie: xrd, x2go, ..etc) graphical session?

I can't figure out how to undo the results of the ssh command. I'm trying a timeshift restore now.

You can undo the ssh connection by close/exiting the terminal where you ran that.

 

[hspindel]

Yes, I was connected via a remote session.

Don't know that I will try timeshift again. It rendered my system unbootable. Then REAR wouldn't recover my system either (it didn't like that I had a RAID 5).

So right now I'm trying to reinstall from scratch. I'm in for a long day.

Also, I need to find a different bare metal recovery since REAR didn't work.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Timeshift isn't the ideal solution if you are connecting through a remote graphical session, it's probably possible to get it working some but it would take some time to figure out. The alternative would be to just use the command-line tool timeshift has instead of the gui.

timeshift --help

 

[wizardfromoz]

You can save Back In Time backups to a remote server with SSH, but not so with Timeshift. By design Timeshift only supports locally attached drives.

The adverse results and warnings/errors you are getting is because of that.

Can't help further with your situation, but for what it's worth, in a non-networked environment, Timeshift is brilliant. I run 89 Linux and it is installed on each and every one. I have used it conservatively, between 10,000 and 13,000 times, and had less than a handful of adverse results.

Good luck

Wizard

 

[hspindel]

I tried to use Timeshift to recover from a mistake. It rendered my system unbootable.

Spent the last two days recovering.

 

[z7vl7abxc]

@knobeat since your issue is different from that of the original post, it may be helpful for you to create your own thread to see if you can get more specific help. part of the reason i mention that is i just created a rocky linux 9.2 virtual machine, installed timeshift and was able to use it to create snapshots on both a usb or the internal drive so it does work. you may need to provide more details about what is going wrong.

 

[knobeat]

@knobeat since your issue is different from that of the original post, it may be helpful for you to create your own thread to see if you can get more specific help. part of the reason i mention that is i just created a rocky linux 9.2 virtual machine, installed timeshift and was able to use it to create snapshots on both a usb or the internal drive so it does work. you may need to provide more details about what is going wrong.

I appreciate that. I actually realized it was my error and removed my reply. Timeshift is now working as expected. Thanks.