Login to the GUI at server console fails after upgrade to OES 2018 (SP1)

  • 7024107
  • 09-Sep-2019
  • 17-Dec-2019

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 2 (SLES 12 SP2)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 3 (SLES 12 SP3)
Open Enterprise Server 2018 (OES 2018) Linux
Open Enterprise Server 2018 SP1 (OES 2018 SP1) Linux

Situation

Upon upgrade to OES 2018 or OES 2018 SP1 login to the GUI at the server console fails when using a non-US English keyboard if the password contains characters that are typed with a different key on a non-US English keyboard than on a US English keyboard. For example, on a German keyboard and a US English keyboard the "y" and "z" keys are in opposite positions.

Resolution

You can adjust the keyboard layout the following way:
 
1) Login to the server per SSH from a remote device, for example with putty.exe on Windows.
 
2) If you want to check which keyboard languages are available before setting it, you can list them per:
 
# localectl list-keymaps
 
3) Configure the keyboard layout for the console and for X11. For example, if you use a German keyboard you can set the keyboard layout to German for the console and for X11 per:
 
# localectl set-keymap de
 
If you want to set the keyboard layout to German for X11 only, you can run:
 
# localectl set-x11-keymap de
 
4) Restart the GUI per:
 
# systemctl restart display-manager
 
5) Check if the keyboard layout has changed for the display-manager service:
 
# systemctl status display-manager
  display-manager.service - X Display Manager
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/display-manager.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Mon 2019-09-09 10:14:37 CEST; 44min ago
  Process: 8748 ExecStart=/usr/lib/X11/display-manager start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 9113 (gdm)
    Tasks: 15 (limit: 512)
   CGroup: /system.slice/display-manager.service
           ââ9113 /usr/sbin/gdm
           ââ9315 /usr/lib/gdm/gdm-simple-slave --display-id /org/gnome/Displ...
           ââ9415 /usr/bin/Xorg :0 -background none -verbose -auth /run/gdm/a...
Sep 09 10:14:23 QIJ-OES2018 systemd[1]: Starting X Display Manager...
Sep 09 10:14:30 QIJ-OES2018 display-manager[8748]: /etc/vconsole.conf available
Sep 09 10:14:30 QIJ-OES2018 display-manager[8748]: KEYMAP: de
Sep 09 10:14:30 QIJ-OES2018 display-manager[8748]: Command: localectl set-key...
Sep 09 10:14:30 QIJ-OES2018 display-manager[8748]: I: Using systemd /usr/shar...
Sep 09 10:14:33 QIJ-OES2018 display-manager[8748]: Starting service gdm..done
Sep 09 10:14:33 QIJ-OES2018 systemd[1]: display-manager.service: PID file /v...y
Sep 09 10:14:37 QIJ-OES2018 systemd[1]: Started X Display Manager.
Sep 09 10:15:35 QIJ-OES2018 gdm-launch-environment][13455]: pam_unix(gdm-laun...

Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full.
 
6) Login to the GUI at the server console.

Cause

The console and X11 keyboard layout had not been configured yet to match the console keyboard.

Additional Information

Please see  TID 7022871 for in case the GUI does not start at all after having upgraded to OES 2018 or OES 2018 SP1.