Hi Bernd, So just in regards this question:
* did you install open-vm-tools-desktop? if not, do it. What happens is when I install Trixie via the iso both 'open-vm-tools' and 'open-vm-tools-desktop' are both installed automatically. I can then break the desktop with those 2 installed. I then purge 'open-vm-tools' and 'open-vm-tools-desktop' and reboot Trixie to see if they are causing the issue and once again I can break the desktop. This maybe suggests it's not a VMWare tools issue but hard to know as the logs aren't giving me much info to be honest. I just made it break again at 'Jul 16 11:02' below where I have made the gap in the logs and as you can see it is still running in the background even now, but I can't access the desktop or another tty in Trixie. Hope this helps. david@debian:~$ sudo journalctl -f [sudo] password for david: Jul 16 11:00:58 debian systemd[1]: user-106.slice: Consumed 1.594s CPU time, 98.6M memory peak. Jul 16 11:01:10 debian systemd-timesyncd[349]: Contacted time server 85.199.214.99:123 (2.debian.pool.ntp.org). Jul 16 11:01:10 debian systemd-timesyncd[349]: Initial clock synchronization to Wed 2025-07-16 11:01:10.585010 BST. Jul 16 11:01:11 debian systemd[1]: systemd-hostnamed.service: Deactivated successfully. Jul 16 11:01:38 debian sshd-session[1321]: Accepted password for david from 192.168.0.203 port 33638 ssh2 Jul 16 11:01:38 debian sshd-session[1321]: pam_unix(sshd:session): session opened for user david(uid=1000) by david(uid=0) Jul 16 11:01:38 debian systemd-logind[738]: New session 4 of user david. Jul 16 11:01:38 debian systemd[1]: Started session-4.scope - Session 4 of User david. Jul 16 11:01:52 debian sudo[1336]: david : TTY=pts/1 ; PWD=/home/david ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/journalctl -f Jul 16 11:01:52 debian sudo[1336]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root(uid=0) by david(uid=1000) Jul 16 11:02:23 debian systemd[1]: Starting apt-daily-upgrade.service - Daily apt upgrade and clean activities... Jul 16 11:02:24 debian systemd[1]: apt-daily-upgrade.service: Deactivated successfully. Jul 16 11:02:24 debian systemd[1]: Finished apt-daily-upgrade.service - Daily apt upgrade and clean activities. Jul 16 11:09:57 debian systemd-timesyncd[349]: Timed out waiting for reply from 85.199.214.99:123 (2.debian.pool.ntp.org). Jul 16 11:09:57 debian systemd-timesyncd[349]: Contacted time server 176.58.115.34:123 (2.debian.pool.ntp.org). Jul 16 11:15:59 debian systemd[1]: Starting systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service - Cleanup of Temporary Directories... Jul 16 11:15:59 debian systemd-tmpfiles[1417]: /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/legacy.conf:14: Duplicate line for path "/run/lock", ignoring. Jul 16 11:15:59 debian systemd[1]: systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service: Deactivated successfully. Jul 16 11:15:59 debian systemd[1]: Finished systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service - Cleanup of Temporary Directories. Jul 16 11:17:01 debian CRON[1422]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root(uid=0) by root(uid=0) Jul 16 11:17:01 debian CRON[1424]: (root) CMD (cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly) Jul 16 11:17:01 debian CRON[1422]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root Jul 16 11:17:29 debian systemd[1]: Starting fstrim.service - Discard unused blocks on filesystems from /etc/fstab... Jul 16 11:17:29 debian systemd[1]: fstrim.service: Deactivated successfully. Jul 16 11:17:29 debian systemd[1]: Finished fstrim.service - Discard unused blocks on filesystems from /etc/fstab. Jul 16 11:30:01 debian CRON[1435]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root(uid=0) by root(uid=0) Jul 16 11:30:01 debian CRON[1437]: (root) CMD (if [ -x /etc/init.d/anacron ] && ! [ -d /run/systemd/system ]; then exec /usr/sbin/invoke-rc.d anacron start >/dev/null; fi) Jul 16 11:30:01 debian CRON[1435]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root Jul 16 11:31:23 debian systemd[1]: Started anacron.service - Run anacron jobs. Jul 16 11:31:23 debian anacron[1439]: Anacron 2.3 started on 2025-07-16 Jul 16 11:31:23 debian anacron[1439]: Normal exit (0 jobs run) Jul 16 11:31:23 debian systemd[1]: anacron.service: Deactivated successfully.
