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I'm using Ubuntu 18.04, on a system with two monitors. First is an LG 23" monitor (in portrait) connected via D-SUB and the second a 27" Dell monitor (in landscape) connected with HDMI.

I've already verified in the Dell forums that the login screen won't be shown due to the HDMI connection (it's not shown when booting to different OSes as well). My question concerns the monitor connected via D-SUB. The observed behavior is the following:

The monitor fills with a deep purple color. My account (name and icon) and the password typing form are not visible. The system is operational; blindly hitting space and entering my password+Enter logs me into my account. When the D-SUB screen is the only one connected, the login screen appears normally.

This is one of the many problems encountered while working with two monitors in Ubuntu. Is there a solution? Would customizing my login screen solve the problem by virtue of overwritting settings?

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    I like using sddm as the greeter/login screen appears on both displays (I don't have issues with nothing showing, but I often have a display turned off thus having it all on displays works for me). The default is gdm3 for Ubuntu desktop (on 18.04). Switching to another DM is one option. ps: I would wait for other advice from people who are familiar with configuring gdm3; alas it's not me, so I'm offering my choice
    – guiverc
    Commented Apr 8, 2020 at 23:45
  • Is this an older computer? Do you know what video card it has?
    – heynnema
    Commented Apr 9, 2020 at 0:14
  • $ lspci | grep VGA 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 06) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK107 [GeForce GTX 650] (rev a1)
    – Lorah Attkins
    Commented Apr 9, 2020 at 0:18

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 06)

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK107 [GeForce GTX 650] (rev a1)

You may have a problem with an older computer, with an older GPU(s). Try this...

sudo pico /etc/gdm3/custom.conf # edit this file

change:

#WaylandEnable=false

to:

WaylandEnable=false

Save the file and quit the editor. Then reboot.

Note: Make sure that your Nvidia drivers are current.

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  • This worked! According to the comment above that line, this should only affect the login screen right? Junk content (a collage of images displayed prior to rebooting) is flashed for a couple of seconds and then the proper login screen is displayed. Thanks.
    – Lorah Attkins
    Commented Apr 9, 2020 at 0:53

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