Issues with user switching

[Princey]

Hi folks. I'm not sure if this is a problem related to version 20 or not. I've been using Kubuntu for over 10 years and can't remember having an issue that was beyond solving until I had to share my laptop recently with my sister for an online course that has shifted to Zoom since COVID-19 lock down. To avoid her having to peruse through my documents when using my laptop, I decided to remove such inconvenience by creating a user account on my laptop for her and that's when I noticed the issue.

When I switch user so she can use her account, when I log her out, I return to a new session. This means that when I switch to her account it doesn't switch but logs me out instead. I have, over the past week, been searching hi and low for a solution. Last time I used user switching was back with version 16 I believe and that worked fine. But now, I lose all opened programmes. Even the VM I have running is forcefully closed. Is there something I'm overlooking or is "fast user switching" no longer available?

[jlittle]

"Switch User" is very badly named, IMO. "Start a new user session" is roughly what it does. I imagine that you went to "Switch User" when you wanted to switch back to the first user session, but no, it tried to create another new user session, and your original session was there the whole time, maybe as well as your sister's.

I don't know how it's supposed to work. The first session is on ctrl-alt-f1, the second ctrl-alt-f2, and I can switch between them quickly. I had to type a password on the first transfer, but after that no. In your use case, the second user session should log out, and the first then asks for your password. It's been running the whole time. Players should pause, but other apps (I tried a konsole session running in a loop) keep going. As I've typed this, I've got a YouTube live stream going in the other.

Something gets easily confused if you start multiple sessions as the same user, and sessions get stuck, or freeze. It's all a bit sketchy, IMO.

[Princey]

Hi, thanks for the reply. I've taken note of what you said and tested it out. Here are the results:

1. If I use "switch user" on the Kmenu, I am actually logged out completely. Logging into my sister account and using Ksysguard, none of the applications (browser included) gets listed. If I use the CTRL+ALT+F1 to switch back. I don't see my session and have to log into a brand new session.

2. If I use CTRL + ALT+ F2 to start a new session for my sister, I get the log in prompt and in a terminal screen. If I press CTRL+ALT+F1 to switch back I can switch back without a problem. I have no idea why this is happening. If I type in the username and password, I get a screen or error messages about some pci error.

My laptop has an Nvidia discreet graphics card and I'm using the nvidia drivers. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with it.