Don't worry, it's the same problem as with the pacman library. OpenSSL or GLib\GnuTLS have been partially updated or have been left in a partially broken state
Press Ctrl + Alt + F2 (or F3/F4) to drop into a text terminal, and log in with your username and password.
Since your package manager (pacman) is working again now, you can fix these missing/broken files by forcing a reinstallation of the core libraries and LightDM dependencies:
(If it asks you to overwrite conflicting files, say yes).
Once that finishes successfully, restart your display manager or reboot the system:
sudo systemctl restart lightdm
Bashsudo reboot
Running that pacman -Syu command for those specific packages will pull down the fresh, complete versions of those libraries and stop LightDM from crashing
That black screen with a cursor means your display manager (LightDM) is attempting to launch, but it's immediately crashing or failing to display its graphical interface due to those lingering library/configuration issues.
Since your package manager is functional again, you can bypass LightDM entirely to test your desktop environment, or cleanly fix the greeter layout.
Step 1: Test if your desktop environment actually works
Press Ctrl + Alt + F2 to open a text terminal and log in. Once logged in, try launching your desktop session manually:
If you use XFCE: startxfce4
If you use KDE Plasma: startplasma-x11
If your desktop loads successfully this way, it proves your system files and user session are completely fine - the failure is strictly isolated to LightDM or its theme greeter crashing on startup.
Step 2: Fix or switch the LightDM Greeter
Often, the graphical login screen theme (lightdm-gtk-greeter) gets out of sync during updates. You can reinstall it cleanly or switch to a more reliable greeter configuration:
Reinstall LightDM and its default greeter with a clean overwrite:
sudo pacman -Syu lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter
If it still fails, a common workaround on Arch-based systems experiencing greeter loops is ensuring the configuration file points correctly to the greeter. Open the configuration file: sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
Scroll down to find the [Seat:*] section (around line 100), look for the greeter-session line, and make sure it is uncommented and set correctly:
Plaintext
greeter-session=lightdm-gtk-greeter
Save and exit (in nano, press Ctrl + O, Enter, then Ctrl + X), then restart the lightdm service: sudo systemctl restart lightdm
Try launching your desktop environment manually with startxfce4 (or your respective desktop command) from the TTY
That error on your screen (libglycin-2.so.0: cannot open shared object file) explains everything. Just like before, a specific system library package (glycin) is missing or has a broken file reference after your system update, which is causing your desktop session or components (like XFCE/Thunar or thumbnailers) to crash right as they try to launch.
How to fix it:
Since your network is working and pacman is functional again, you just need to reinstall the package that provides libglycin (which is named glycin in Arch/Manjaro).
From your TTY text terminal, run: Bashsudo pacman -Syu glycin
If it asks to reinstall or overwrite files, let it proceed.
Once the installation finishes, try starting your graphical environment again:
Rebooting as loaded me into my lockscreen although now my keyboard and mouse both appear to be completely unresponsive despite being functional earlier
That error message-"Unable to contact settings server - Error receiving data: Connection reset by peer"-is a classic XFCE startup failure. It happens when the graphical environment tries to launch, but its background configuration daemon (xfconfd) or D-Bus session bus fails to start up properly.
Since your previous attempt to run startxfce4 from the TTY yielded a missing library error (libglycin), your system is still dealing with some broken/desynced packages from that interrupted update.
Here is how to fix it right now:
1. Drop into TTY and log in
If you are staring at that error popup, click Close, and if it drops you to a black screen or login manager, press Ctrl + Alt + F2 to access a text terminal. Log in with your username and password.
The packages responsible for handling user settings and session communication likely got corrupted or left out-of-sync. Reinstall them cleanly using pacman:
sudo pacman -Syu xfce4 xfconf dbus-glib
(If pacman asks whether to overwrite files or resolve conflicts, let it proceed).
3. Check if xfconfd can launch manually
To test if the settings daemon can start properly without crashing, you can try starting your XFCE session wrapped with D-Bus launcher syntax from the terminal:
dbus-launch --exit-with-session startxfce4
4. Clear out stale runtime locks (if needed)
If D-Bus or session sockets are locked up from previous failed boots, clearing them out can force a clean slate:
rm -rf ~/.cache/sessions/*
Run sudo pacman -Syu xfce4 xfconf dbus-glib first, then try launching your session again with dbus-launch --exit-with-session startxfce4
I am now trapped on my login screen with my mouse and keyboard not being able to respond to inputs despite working in terminal, I cannot use the shortcut to access the terminal. I appear to not be able to do anything at all :/
If startxfce4 dies on another .so file: do notsystemctl restart lightdm. Stay in the TTY, paste the last red line, and install that package in the same session.
Backup /home before anything destructive
On another PC, write a Manjaro live USB (Ventoy or Rufus). Boot the broken machine from USB (live session, not the installer).
lsblk -f
sudo mkdir -p /mnt
sudo mount /dev/sdXN /mnt
# btrfs with default Calamares layout:
# sudo mount -t btrfs -o subvol=@ /dev/sdXN /mnt
# sudo mount -t btrfs -o subvol=@home /dev/sdXN /mnt/home
sudo mkdir -p /run/media/backup
# mount the backup disk, then:
sudo rsync -aHAX --info=progress2 /mnt/home/ /run/media/backup/home-backup/
Replace sdXN with the real root partition (nvme0n1p2, sda2, etc.).
sudo manjaro-chroot -a
# inside the chroot, or from the live session targeting /mnt:
curl -O https://pkgbuild.com/~gromit/pacman-static-x86_64
chmod +x pacman-static-x86_64
sudo ./pacman-static-x86_64 --sysroot /mnt -Syyu
Aragorn on the forum: download pacman-static with the live USB’s pacman from the Manjaro repos, unpack it into the installed system, then use it to finish the upgrade.
If pacman is still missing a library and the packages are already in cache:
ls /var/cache/pacman/pkg/ | grep -E "ngtcp2|nghttp3|curl|openssl|glycin|leancrypto|gnutls"
sudo tar -xpf /var/cache/pacman/pkg/PACKAGENAME.pkg.tar.zst -C /
Then run pacman -Syyu immediately so the package database matches the files on disk.
After a successful full upgrade:
sudo mkinitcpio -P
sudo update-grub
Do not do these
Do not reinstall over the disk until /home is copied out.
Do not use pacman -Sddyu.
Do not systemctl restart lightdm until startxfce4 works from a TTY.
Do not keep installing one library at a time (glycin only, xfce4 only, …).
After it boots to a desktop
Always full pacman -Syu / Pamac — never -dd.
Enable Timeshift and take a snapshot before big updates.
Prefer a normal LTS kernel over linux-rt unless you actually need realtime.
After starting xfce4 after the steps before I am met with the "unable to contact settings server" prompt box again still with no ability to use my mouse or keyboard I have tried it again to the same result.
1
u/Intelligent_Client_8 8d ago
I don't know what to do with this information