How To hide the log in KDE / kwin login (greeter) screen
How To hide log in KDE / kwin login (greeter) screen
The Problem
Unix operating systems log everything that is done on the system - and the system logs look like errors. Your users (even tech-savvy developer types!) can get confused by the syslog or message log being displayed in their login screen, resulting in needless calls to the help desk.
Or, you just like a nice, neat login screen and do not care to see the message log in your nice KDE theme when you log in. You want a nice, neat greeter screen to log into. Windows users don't have to look at their error logs all the time, and you don't want your Window$-using friends to laugh at you for having a cluttered login screen.
So, how do you neaten up the login screen, hide the message log, reduce helpdesk workload, and show up your Window$-using pals?
The Solution: How to hide the log from the greeter
Start kwrite (or kate) with root permissions. . .
1. click the K-menu button
2. select Run
3. type "kate" or "kwrite" in the Command textbox and Click Options
4. check "run as other user"
5. enter "root" for the username
6. type your root password in the password textbox
7. click OK
Open this file: /etc/opt/kde3/share/config/kdm/kdmrc
Look for the following code in this file:
# Enable KDM's built-in xconsole. Note that this can be enabled for only
# one display at a time.
# Default is false
ShowLog=true
Note that ShowLog=true. The comments claim that the default is false, but many Linux (and Unix) distributions ship KDE with it set to true, out of the box. Change it to false, then restart your Xwindow environment. When your login manager (the greeter) comes back up the message log will no longer display. You now have a nice, clean login screen that will be the envy of your Microsoft-worshipping friends! ;)
