2

Since the last few days I get an error message when I try to shut my laptop down:

System policy prevents stopping the system when other users are logged in

This error message includes a prompt for administrator password.

I don't think that there should be other users logged in.

How can I find out what the problem is?

What I've tried

$ w 08:00:47 up 1:50, 2 users, load average: 0,74, 0,95, 0,70 USER TTY FROM LOGIN@ IDLE JCPU PCPU WHAT moose tty8 :0 07:57 1:49m 4.88s 0.11s x-session-manager moose pts/0 :0.0 08:00 2.00s 0.11s 0.00s w $ loginctl SESSION UID USER SEAT c1 117 couchdb c2 1000 moose seat0

2 sessions listed.

I'm not sure: is that already the problem?

$ sudo shutdown -h now worked as expected.

How I shut the computer down

By clicking on System > Shut Down... > Shut Down:

enter image description here

System information

I have Linux Mint MATE:

$ uname -a Linux pc08 3.11.0-12-generic #19-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 9 16:20:46 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux $ cat /etc/issue Linux Mint 16 Petra \n \l
Improve this question
6
  • If it's any comfort I had a similar issue with Fedora about an year ago, probably bug #890827. I'm not sure if the same applies to Linux Mint, but what's the output of loginctl? Commented Jul 14, 2014 at 22:17
  • @CristianCiupitu: It seems as if CouchDB might cause this problem. That would make sense, because I've installed CouchDB just some days ago. Do you have an idea how to fix it? Commented Jul 14, 2014 at 22:27
  • How is the CouchDB server run? Commented Jul 14, 2014 at 22:35
  • @CristianCiupitu: I don't know. How do I find it out? (I've just installed the debian package) Commented Jul 14, 2014 at 22:46
  • Then it should be a system service and not cause any trouble at all. Are you sure CouchDB is to blame? Commented Jul 14, 2014 at 22:50

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

By searching out I could find this:

Go to 

/usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.consolekit.policy

Then you should find out the code that has inside the message tag your message

<action id="org.freedesktop.consolekit.system.stop-multiple-users"> <description>Stop the system when multiple users are logged in</description> <message>System policy prevents stopping the system when other users are logged in</message> <defaults> <allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive> <allow_active>auth_admin_keep</allow_active> </defaults>

Then change the

<allow_active> auth_admin_keep </allow_active>

to 

<allow_active>yes</allow_active>

then save and restart. If you have the same problem with restarting your system, then is the same step but over the restart code.

<action id="org.freedesktop.consolekit.system.restart">
Improve this answer
2
  • I've used this system for many months and did not have this problem. Do you have any idea what could have changed that? How did you find this solution? Commented Jul 14, 2014 at 15:19
  • I google it and find it on a blog attecnica.wordpress.com/2013/04/27/… But it only say how to solve it not how it happens Commented Jul 14, 2014 at 15:23

You must log in to answer this question.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.