4. Beginning your Session

We assume that you are sitting in front of a running Mandriva Linux computer which, when turned on, automatically displays the graphical login screen. If this isn't the case and you're facing a black screen with something like:

Mandriva Linux release 2006.0 for i586
Kernel 2.6.12-8mdk on an i686 / tty1
machine_name login:

with a flashing cursor, type your user name then your password. You should now be logged in. Now type startx to launch the graphical interface (KDE by default, see Chapter 7, Using KDE). If this doesn't work, please refer to Section 5.3, “X Doesn't Start”. In order to automatically start your system in graphical mode, refer to Section 2, “Controlling the Graphical Configuration”.

Identifying Yourself

To log into the system, you need to supply your user name and password (see Figure 5.1, “The Login Window”).

Figure 5.1. The Login Window

The Login Window

If you're the only user on your Mandriva Linux system, and typing your user name and password annoys you, you can set your system to boot directly into your favorite desktop environment. This feature is called auto-login (see Section 1, “Configuring the Login Mode”).

[Warning]Warning

Be careful with this option as no password is asked for, therefore anybody sitting in front of your system can use it and have access to your files.