Emulationstation not showing up after recent update (it was working with root)

misterbirra

Pi Model or other hardware: RPi 3 B+
Power Supply used: 5V 3A
RetroPie Version Used: 4.7 updated end of December 2020
Built From: DietPi
USB Devices connected: none
Controller used: PS3 bluetooth gamepad

Before a recent update (Decembre 2020, using retropie_setup), I was able to use Emulationstation/Retropie even if started by root user. In fact, my system configuration was:

OS autologin as root
Emulationstation run at boot (/opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart.sh contains emulationstation #auto)

The RPI3 is connected to my HDMI screen, without keyboard. This way, Emulationstation always started and I was also able to do things like launch RetroPie script, access Kodi and install system packages... without needing to type a password, only using the PS3 gamepad. This was really good!

But after this general update (the usual way with Retropie_Setup script), this is what I see on my TV:

All the system services has started, but not Emulationstation.

I've read RetroPie must not run with root priviledges, but in fact I was able to... ?
I've tried changing the autologin now using "pi", user... it does start now, but most of the settings screens and Kodi now ask for password! Totally useless for me.

How can I go back to my previous situation?

BuZz

@misterbirra DietPi is not supported - but also it shouldn't be run as root. RetroPie-Setup should be run as root for a non root user via sudo to install, then run as that user.

You can adjust sudo config to not require a password as with Raspberry Pi OS, but really if you want to run Retropie you should use a supported OS or our prebuilt image.

misterbirra

I've "solved" by keeping "pi" as login user and disabling password when doing sudo
thanks