Ubuntu 18.04 stuck in login loop with missing .Xauthority file

My computer running Ubuntu 18.04 is stuck in a login loop. I am using lightdm as my display manager, but trying to switch to gdm3 didn't fix the problem (I was still stuck in a login loop).

I have tried to follow the fixes found here to fix it, but after running ls -la there is no .Xauthority file in my home directory. I think this is related to my login loop problem, but I am not sure how to create a new .Xauthority file?

Update: I switched to gdm3 and can now login with Unity for a few seconds. The desktop loads but after a minute I am in a login loop again.

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2 Answers

Method 2 in this article worked for me. I am using an old Sony Vaio laptop and think the issue is a graphics problem.

Reinstalling Ubuntu lightdm.

sudo apt-get purge lightdm
sudo apt-get install lightdm
sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm

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Try updating your graphics card driver.

First, see what driver you need:

ubuntu-drivers devices

Then download the recommended driver for your graphics card. For example, if the recommend driver was nvidia-390:

 sudo apt install nvidia-390

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