I was recently unable to get to my desktop remotely after a reboot of Linux Mint.
If you have remote access via ssh (Secure Shell) on PuTTy or KiTTy, then you can edit a file, make the necessary changes listed below and then go for the reboot option:
File that needs to be changed is etc/mdm/mdm.conf
Check the contents of the file first:
less /etc/mdm/mdm.conf | grep -v \# | grep .
[daemon]
AutomaticLoginEnable=false
AutomaticLogin=
[security]
[xdmcp]
[gui]
[greeter]
[chooser]
[debug]
[servers]
Change the file using the 'vi' editor preferably.
vi /etc/mdm/mdm.conf and change the lines marked for AutomaticLoginEnable as true, and AutomaticLogin to the user that you want to set as auto-login. I've set mine to user-id John because that's me.
less /etc/mdm/mdm.conf | grep -v \# | grep .
[daemon]
AutomaticLoginEnable=true
AutomaticLogin=john
[security]
[xdmcp]
[gui]
[greeter]
[chooser]
[debug]
[servers]
Save the file and reboot. You should now have access to the GUI.
