Permissions issues in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Ubuntu noob here,

Was messing around with permissions and external disk mounting options and I think I made a mistake with the permissions. Now I can't install updates and the gnome-desktop won't start. I've tried rebooting to no avail.

I couldn't figure out how to make this display properly here so apologies, let me know if there's a better way.

jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:~$ systemctl start gdm.service==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.freedesktop.systemd1.manage-units ===Authentication is required to start 'gdm.service'.Authenticating as: jellyadminPassword: ==== AUTHENTICATION COMPLETE ===Job for gdm.service failed because the control process exited with error code.See "systemctl status gdm.service" and "journalctl -xeu gdm.service" for details.jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:~$ systemctl status gdm.service× gdm.service - GNOME Display Manager     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/gdm.service; static)     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2024-06-11 14:32:31 EDT; 18s ago    Process: 4615 ExecStartPre=/usr/share/gdm/generate-config (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)        CPU: 7msJun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: gdm.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: Stopped GNOME Display Manager.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: gdm.service: Start request repeated too quickly.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: gdm.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: Failed to start GNOME Display Manager.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: gdm.service: Triggering OnFailure= dependencies.jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:~$ jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:~$ jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:~$ systemctl start displaymanager.target==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.freedesktop.systemd1.manage-units ===Authentication is required to start 'displaymanager.target'.Authenticating as: jellyadminPassword: ==== AUTHENTICATION COMPLETE ===Failed to start displaymanager.target: Unit displaymanager.target not found.jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:~$ jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:~$ jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm3debconf: DbDriver "templatedb": could not write /var/cache/debconf/templates.dat-new: Read-only file systemjellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:~$ jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:~$ jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:~$ cd /jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/$ lsbin  boot  cdrom  dev  etc  home  lib  lib32  lib64  libx32  lost+found  media  mnt  opt  proc  root  run  sbin  snap  srv  swap.img  sys  tmp  usr  varjellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/$ ls -ltotal 4194384lrwxrwxrwx   1 root       root                7 Aug  9  2023 bin -> usr/bindrwxr-xr-x   4 root       root             4096 Jun  7 06:51 bootdr-xr-xr-x   2 root       root             4096 Aug 10  2023 cdromdrwxr-xr-x  20 root       root             4700 Jun 11 14:00 devdrwxr-xr-x 156 root       root            12288 Jun 11 06:33 etcdrwxr-xr-x   3 root       root             4096 Feb  4 20:28 homelrwxrwxrwx   1 root       root                7 Aug  9  2023 lib -> usr/liblrwxrwxrwx   1 root       root                9 Aug  9  2023 lib32 -> usr/lib32lrwxrwxrwx   1 root       root                9 Aug  9  2023 lib64 -> usr/lib64lrwxrwxrwx   1 root       root               10 Aug  9  2023 libx32 -> usr/libx32drwx------   2 root       root            16384 Feb  4 20:24 lost+founddrwxrwxr-x   5 jellyadmin jellyadmin       4096 Feb 20 09:50 mediadrwxr-xr-x  11 jellyadmin root             4096 Jun 10 13:47 mntdrwxr-xr-x   4 root       root             4096 Feb 10 15:12 optdr-xr-xr-x 210 root       root                0 Jun 11 14:00 procdrwx------   8 root       root             4096 Feb 10 15:08 rootdrwxr-xr-x  42 root       root             1200 Jun 11 14:23 runlrwxrwxrwx   1 root       root                8 Aug  9  2023 sbin -> usr/sbindrwxr-xr-x  17 root       root             4096 Feb  5 19:05 snapdrwxr-xr-x   2 root       root             4096 Aug  9  2023 srv-rw-------   1 root       root       4294967296 Feb  4 20:25 swap.imgdr-xr-xr-x  13 root       root                0 Jun 11 14:00 sysdrwxrwxrwt   8 root       root             4096 Jun 11 12:12 tmpdrwxr-xr-x  14 root       root             4096 May 30 10:48 usrdrwxr-xr-x  14 root       root             4096 Feb  4 20:46 varjellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/$ 

As suggested:

jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:~$ systemctl status gdm.service× gdm.service - GNOME Display Manager Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/gdm.service; static) Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2024-06-11 14:32:31 EDT; 2h 36min agoProcess: 4615 ExecStartPre=/usr/share/gdm/generate-config (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)    CPU: 7msJun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: gdm.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: Stopped GNOME Display Manager.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: gdm.service: Start request repeated too quickly.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: gdm.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: Failed to start GNOME Display Manager.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: gdm.service: Triggering OnFailure= dependencies.jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:~$ 

And:

jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:~$ journalctl -xeu gdm.service░░ The job identifier is 6945.Jun 11 14:32:30 jellyfin-drake generate-config[4618]: error: Failed to create file “/var/lib/gdm3/greeter-dconf-defaults.013GP2”: Read-only file systemJun 11 14:32:30 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: gdm.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE░░ Subject: Unit process exited░░ Defined-By: systemd░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support░░░░ An ExecStartPre= process belonging to unit gdm.service has exited.░░░░ The process' exit code is 'exited' and its exit status is 1.Jun 11 14:32:30 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: gdm.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.░░ Subject: Unit failed░░ Defined-By: systemd░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support░░░░ The unit gdm.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.Jun 11 14:32:30 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: Failed to start GNOME Display Manager.░░ Subject: A start job for unit gdm.service has failed░░ Defined-By: systemd░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support░░░░ A start job for unit gdm.service has finished with a failure.░░░░ The job identifier is 6945 and the job result is failed.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: gdm.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.░░ Subject: Automatic restarting of a unit has been scheduled░░ Defined-By: systemd░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support░░░░ Automatic restarting of the unit gdm.service has been scheduled, as the result for░░ the configured Restart= setting for the unit.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: Stopped GNOME Display Manager.░░ Subject: A stop job for unit gdm.service has finished░░ Defined-By: systemd░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support░░░░ A stop job for unit gdm.service has finished.░░░░ The job identifier is 7077 and the job result is done.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: gdm.service: Start request repeated too quickly.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: gdm.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.░░ Subject: Unit failed░░ Defined-By: systemd░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support░░░░ The unit gdm.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: Failed to start GNOME Display Manager.░░ Subject: A start job for unit gdm.service has failed░░ Defined-By: systemd░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support░░░░ A start job for unit gdm.service has finished with a failure.░░░░ The job identifier is 7077 and the job result is failed.Jun 11 14:32:31 jellyfin-drake systemd[1]: gdm.service: Triggering OnFailure= dependencies.lines 1286-1340/1340 (END)

Then:

jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:~$ findmnt -T /var/lib/gdm3TARGET SOURCE    FSTYPE OPTIONS/      /dev/sda2 ext4   ro,relatime

Here's my fstab file:

jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/etc$ cat fstab# /etc/fstab: static file system information.## Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).## <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass># / was on /dev/sda2 during curtin installation# /boot/efi was on /dev/sda1 during curtin installation/swap.img   none    swap    sw  0   0/dev/disk/by-uuid/8CD8-C307 /mnt/8CD8-C307 auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0/dev/disk/by-label/WD_BLACK     /media/jellyadmin/WD_BLACK auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0/dev/disk/by-label/SG_GREEN     /media/jellyadmin/SG_GREEN auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0/dev/disk/by-label/EFI /mnt/EFI auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0/dev/disk/by-label/SG_Green_2     /media//jellyadmin/SG_Green_2 auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0/dev/disk/by-label/EFI /mnt/EFI auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0

check current mounted drives:

jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/var/snap/firefox/common/host-hunspell$ df -hFilesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted ontmpfs           1.6G  9.5M  1.6G   1% /run/dev/sda2       915G   44G  826G   5% /tmpfs           7.8G     0  7.8G   0% /dev/shmtmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock/dev/sda1       1.1G  6.1M  1.1G   1% /mnt/8CD8-C307tmpfs           1.6G   64K  1.6G   1% /run/user/1000

And here is what I get when trying to remount the internal drive:

jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/dev$ sudo mount -o remount,uid=1000,gid=1000,rw /dev/sda2mount: /var/snap/firefox/common/host-hunspell: mount point not mounted or bad option.

So I try unmounting and remounting to no avail:

jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/$ umount /dev/sda2umount: /var/snap/firefox/common/host-hunspell: must be superuser to unmount.jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/$ sudo umount /dev/sda2jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/$ jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/$ jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/$ df -hFilesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted ontmpfs           1.6G  9.5M  1.6G   1% /run/dev/sda2       915G   44G  826G   5% /tmpfs           7.8G     0  7.8G   0% /dev/shmtmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock/dev/sda1       1.1G  6.1M  1.1G   1% /mnt/8CD8-C307tmpfs           1.6G   64K  1.6G   1% /run/user/1000jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/$ sudo mount -o remount,uid=1000,gid=1000,rw /dev/sda2mount: /: mount point not mounted or bad option.

After a fresh install of Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS, and using the "Disks" app to set only my 3 external drives to auto mount:

jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/etc$ df -hFilesystem                         Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted ontmpfs                              1.6G  2.0M  1.6G   1% /run/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv   98G   14G   80G  15% /tmpfs                              7.8G  4.0K  7.8G   1%     /dev/shmtmpfs                              5.0M   12K  5.0M   1%     /run/lock/dev/sda2                          2.0G  103M  1.7G   6% /boot/dev/sda1                          1.1G  6.2M  1.1G   1%     /boot/efitmpfs                              1.6G  100K  1.6G   1%     /run/user/124tmpfs                              1.6G  136K  1.6G   1%     /run/user/1000/dev/sdb1                          1.9T  1.8T   64G  97%     /media/jellyadmin/WD_BLACK/dev/sdc2                          3.7T  3.5T  185G  96%     /media/jellyadmin/SG_GREEN/dev/sdd2                          3.7T  812G  2.9T  22%     /media/jellyadmin/SG_Green_2jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/etc$ 

And:

jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/etc$ cat fstab# /etc/fstab: static file system information.## Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).## <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass># / was on /dev/ubuntu-vg/ubuntu-lv during curtin installation/dev/disk/by-id/dm-uuid-LVM-oOin7c1pI9TWy5aSmyLAJJrNcbiq5Oc1yziartSobMNQQW253V5MUwFaP0zIuXu7 / ext4 defaults 0 1# /boot was on /dev/sda2 during curtin installation/dev/disk/by-uuid/2685d670-4f44-4739-84f8-6550f0a08e7b /boot ext4 defaults 0 1# /boot/efi was on /dev/sda1 during curtin installation/dev/disk/by-uuid/872E-23CE /boot/efi vfat defaults 0 1/swap.img   none    swap    sw  0   0LABEL=SG_GREEN /media/jellyadmin/SG_GREEN auto     nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0LABEL=SG_Green_2 /media/jellyadmin/SG_Green_2 auto     nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0LABEL=WD_BLACK /media/jellyadmin/WD_BLACK auto     nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/etc$ 

My User folder in /media

jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/media$ ls -ltotal 8drwxr-x---+ 5 root jellyfinmedia 4096 Jun 19 00:52 jellyadmindrwxr-x---+ 2 root root          4096 Jun 19 00:43 root

And the containing folders that I can't chown:

jellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/media/jellyadmin$ ls -ltotal 1536drwxr-xr-x 7 root root  262144 Jun 20 22:25 SG_GREENdrwxr-xr-x 5 root root  262144 Jun 20 22:25 SG_Green_2drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 1048576 Jun 20 22:17 WD_BLACKjellyadmin@jellyfin-drake:/media/jellyadmin$