diff --git a/pkgs/applications/display-managers/lightdm-gtk-greeter/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/display-managers/lightdm-gtk-greeter/default.nix
index 501826b82df2..0b8863752d2a 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/display-managers/lightdm-gtk-greeter/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/display-managers/lightdm-gtk-greeter/default.nix
@@ -1,23 +1,43 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, lightdm, pkgconfig, gtk3, intltool }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, lightdm, pkgconfig, intltool
+, hicolor_icon_theme, makeWrapper
+, useGTK2 ? false, gtk2, gtk3 # gtk3 seems better supported
+}:
 
-stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = "lightdm-gtk-greeter";
+#ToDo: bad icons with gtk2;
+#  avatar icon is missing in standard hicolor theme, I don't know where gtk3 takes it from
+
+#ToDo: Failed to open sessions directory: Error opening directory '${lightdm}/share/lightdm/remote-sessions': No such file or directory
+
+let
+  ver_branch = "1.6";
+  version = "1.5.1"; # 1.5.2 and 1.6.0 result into infinite cycling of X in restarts
+in
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  name = "lightdm-gtk-greeter-${version}";
 
   src = fetchurl {
-    url = "https://launchpad.net/lightdm-gtk-greeter/1.6/1.5.1/+download/lightdm-gtk-greeter-1.5.1.tar.gz";
-    sha256 = "ecce7e917a79fa8f2126c3fafb6337f81f2198892159a4ef695016afecd2d621";
+    url = "${meta.homepage}/${ver_branch}/${version}/+download/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "08fnsbnay5jhd7ps8n91i6c227zq6xizpyn34qhqzykrga8pxkpc";
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [ pkgconfig gtk3 lightdm intltool ];
-
-  patches =
-    [ ./lightdm-gtk-greeter.patch
-    ];
-
+  patches = [ ./lightdm-gtk-greeter.patch ];
   patchFlags = "-p0";
 
+  buildInputs = [ pkgconfig lightdm intltool ]
+    ++ (if useGTK2 then [ gtk2 makeWrapper ] else [ gtk3 ]);
+
+  configureFlags = stdenv.lib.optional useGTK2 "--with-gtk2";
+
   postInstall = ''
       substituteInPlace "$out/share/xgreeters/lightdm-gtk-greeter.desktop" \
         --replace "Exec=lightdm-gtk-greeter" "Exec=$out/sbin/lightdm-gtk-greeter"
+    '' + stdenv.lib.optionalString useGTK2 ''
+      wrapProgram "$out/sbin/lightdm-gtk-greeter" \
+        --prefix XDG_DATA_DIRS ":" "${hicolor_icon_theme}/share"
     '';
+
+  meta = {
+    homepage = http://launchpad.net/lightdm-gtk-greeter;
+    platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.linux;
+  };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/display-managers/lightdm/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/display-managers/lightdm/default.nix
index ce1f4400b271..598c42199bec 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/display-managers/lightdm/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/display-managers/lightdm/default.nix
@@ -1,25 +1,31 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, pam, pkgconfig, libxcb, glib, libXdmcp, itstool, libxml2, intltool, x11, libxklavier, libgcrypt, makeWrapper }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, pam, pkgconfig, libxcb, glib, libXdmcp, itstool, libxml2
+, intltool, x11, libxklavier, libgcrypt, dbus/*for tests*/ }:
 
-stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = "lightdm-1.5.1";
+let
+  ver_branch = "1.8";
+  version = "1.7.0";
+in
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  name = "lightdm-${version}";
 
   src = fetchurl {
-    url = https://launchpad.net/lightdm/1.6/1.5.1/+download/lightdm-1.5.1.tar.xz;
-    sha256 = "645db2d763cc514d6aecb1838f4a9c33c3dcf0c94567a7ef36c6b23d8aa56c86";
+    url = "${meta.homepage}/${ver_branch}/${version}/+download/${name}.tar.xz";
+    sha256 = "0nwwjgc9xvwili6714ag88wsrf0lr5hv1i6z9f0xvin4ym18cbs5";
   };
 
-  buildInputs = [ pkgconfig pam libxcb glib libXdmcp itstool libxml2 intltool libxklavier libgcrypt makeWrapper ];
-
-  configureFlags = [ "--enable-liblightdm-gobject" ];
-
-  patches =
-    [ ./lightdm.patch
-    ];
-
+  patches = [ ./lightdm.patch ];
   patchFlags = "-p0";
 
+  buildInputs = [
+    pkgconfig pam libxcb glib libXdmcp itstool libxml2 intltool libxklavier libgcrypt
+  ] ++ stdenv.lib.optional doCheck dbus.daemon;
+
+  configureFlags = [ "--enable-liblightdm-gobject" "--localstatedir=/var" ];
+
+  doCheck = false; # some tests fail, don't know why
+
   meta = {
     homepage = http://launchpad.net/lightdm;
     platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.linux;
   };
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}