Comments on: Enable Timed or Automatic Login on Ubuntu 8.04

By: manifestmoney

manifestmoney — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:29:03 +0000

how to disable automatic login on ubuntu server？thanks

By: Christer Edwards

Christer Edwards — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:10:19 +0000

@djackson – reboot the computer and press esc at the Grub countdown. Select rescue mode and reset the user password / create a new account.

By: djackson

djackson — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:20:34 +0000

I recently purchased 2nd hand dell laptop which previous user has loaded with Ubuntu 8.04. After start up it asks for user name and password. No response from seller of machine. Does anyone know if there is default log in/password or a way of bypassing/changing it.

By: nakwan

nakwan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:34:13 +0000

how to disable automatic login on ubuntu server？thanks

By: Jisakiel

Jisakiel — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:18:35 +0000

A more secure and useful way is to add gnome-screensaver-command -l in gnome-session-properties, and give it a high priority. That way it autologins, but locks the session. When you reach your computer and unlock everything is on and you don’t have to wait for gnome, gnome-panel and a hundred applets to load ^^.

By: Vadim P.

Vadim P. — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:36:05 +0000

Hm no I’ll wait for the bug to be fixed

By: Meneer R

Meneer R — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:47:00 +0000

>Again, I would warn you that anyone able to get access to your machine will now be able to access all of your files and settings by simply booting the machine as normal.

Lies. As if pressing Escape -> B -> Recovery Mode Root Login isn’t doable at the grub login point.

The password entering is a _FAKE_ sense of security, and therefor even MORE harmfull than automatic login, because the end user is to believe the system is secure, when it’s not.

@Vadim
>I enabled it, however now network manager asks me for a password. Is there a way to make it not ask?

Yes, but you are not going to like it. GDM only unlocks the default keyring, if you truly login. (it doesn’t work if you autologin, it’s a bug, but some might act as if its a feature).

The solution? Delete teh default keyring, change password to “” (nothing). It won’t be encrypted anymore (yuck), but you don’t have to enter it everytime either.

By: Jonathan Lozinski

Jonathan Lozinski — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:30:24 +0000

Whilst there might be some concerns over doing automatic login, those who are really security concious might be more interested in how to stop root access being available by simply booting in recovery mode.

I love it myself.. I have nacked a password up accidentily and needed to root the machine to reset it.

However being able to stop it would be nice (presumably remove option from grub and lock grub down to require password to alter boot options on the fly?)

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:51:42 +0000

On my laptop, I use full disk encryption and automatic login. So I don’t need to worry if it gets stolen, and it is still really quick to start up.

By: Vadim P.

Vadim P. — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:57:10 +0000

I enabled it, however now network manager asks me for a password. Is there a way to make it not ask?