I'm using Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS, and I have the "shaking authentication window" problem mentioned a few times around the internet, specifically here:
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1761052&p=11267228#post11267228
and here: http://www.dahoba.xyz/2011/08/ubuntu-fix-cant-authenticate.html?m=1
The long and short of it is the authentication window for commands requiring root privs appears for maybe a second, shakes back and forth, then disappears.
One recommended solution I keep coming across is this:
"sudo chmod +s /usr/lib/policykit-1/polkit-agent-helper-1"
however this does not work for me
Here is what I believe is the relevant portion of my auth.log (notice the times, the window literally flashes):
Apr 25 06:56:53 xxxx polkit-agent-helper-1[4527]: PAM (polkit-1) illegal module type: etc/login.defs Apr 25 06:56:53 xxxx polkit-agent-helper-1[4527]: PAM pam_parse: expecting return value; [...to] Apr 25 06:56:53 xxxx polkit-agent-helper-1[4529]: PAM (polkit-1) illegal module type: etc/login.defs Apr 25 06:56:53 xxxx polkit-agent-helper-1[4529]: PAM pam_parse: expecting return value; [...to] Apr 25 06:56:53 xxxx polkit-agent-helper-1[4530]: PAM (polkit-1) illegal module type: etc/login.defs Apr 25 06:56:53 xxxx polkit-agent-helper-1[4530]: PAM pam_parse: expecting return value; [...to] Apr 25 06:56:53 xxxx polkitd(authority=local): Operator of unix-session:c2 FAILED to authenticate to gain authorization for action org.freedesktop.policykit.exec for unix-process:2310:5776 [bash] (owned by unix-user:computer_user)
Any insights or help will be greatly appreciated!
ok so after some looking, I realized my polkit-1 looked like this:
etc/login.defs to make sure that removing a user
# also removes the user's mail spool file.
# See comments in /etc/login.defs
session optional pam_mail.so standard
# Standard Un*x account and session
@include common-account
@include common-session
...Once I commented out the first line everything started working :-|