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bambuntu
Asked: 2012-03-01 15:16:52 +0800 CST

Enable/Disable Passwordless Login/Autologin Via GUI/Command Line

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Before I ask the question, would someone please help stipulate the Ubuntu definition for these two seemingly identical but different terms (I've given drafts.):

Autologin - When you power up the computer, you sign directly into your account.

Passwordless Login - When you pick a user at the greeter and you are logged in without a prompt for a password.

Now, for the question. How do we change each via the command line? Is the solution the same for all currently supported releases?

And for those who would rather use the gui method, how is that done?

At the bottom of this pic is the checkbox for a passwordless login. It says:

Don't ask for password on login

How do I do this with the command line?

enter image description here

configuration command-line gdm password

6 Answers

  1. I honestly don't know the difference. I'm not sure I've seen the phrase "passwordless login" where I haven't just assumed they're talking about auto-login.

    For machines that use LightDM (11.04 up) you can add a user to the configuration in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf using the autologin-user variable so the file ends up looking something like this:

    [SeatDefaults]
autologin-guest=false
autologin-user=oli
autologin-user-timeout=0
autologin-session=lightdm-autologin
greeter-session=
user-session=ubuntu

    That gives you a screen where that user (oli in this case) is logged in automatically after a few seconds. If you want to alter that timeout so it happens more quickly , you can play around with the autologin-user-timeout variable in the same file.

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  2. Since none of the answers addresses the actual question

    How do I do this with the command line? (passwordless login)

    I paraphrase from the ArchWiki:

    Add the following line to /etc/pam.d/lightdm

    auth        sufficient  pam_succeed_if.so user ingroup nopasswdlogin

    and create and add yourself to the group nopasswdlogin.

    groupadd -r nopasswdlogin
gpasswd -a <username> nopasswdlogin

    A systemctl restart lightdm will show the effect. :-)

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  3. Here is how you can enable passwordless login from Ubuntu 11.10 onward.

    • Go to System Settings → User Accounts

    • Unlock the administrative functions by clicking the Unlock button in the top right corner and entering your password.

      User Accounts unlock button

    • Select the user for which you want to enable passwordless login.

    • Click on the field/button next to Password.

      User Accounts overview

    • From the Action dropdown list select Log in without a password and click the Change button.

      User Accounts actions

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  4. Ubuntu 18.04 uses GDM again. Similar to Suuuehgi's answer, this will enable passwordless login, but I don't know if it's safe.

    If you want to bypass the password prompt in GDM then simply add the following line on the first line of /etc/pam.d/gdm-password:

    auth sufficient pam_succeed_if.so user ingroup nopasswdlogin

    Then, add the group nopasswdlogin to your system.

    Now, add your user to the nopasswdlogin group and you will only have to click on your username to login.

    I don't know if it's safe, because the sufficient control bypasses the other rules that follow, including SELinux session rules, and I don't understand what any of that stuff does.

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  5. I initially followed the answer from Oli, but the VM complained about running in low-graphics mode. I think Oli turned off/changed a few too many things by clearing greeter-session. In my case, I want the UI to run. To enable this, only required adding two lines to the /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf file.

       autologin-user=<username>
   autologin-user-timeout=0

    so the complete file looks like:

       [SeatDefaults]
   greeter-session=unity-greeter
   user-session=ubuntu
   autologin-user=<username>
   autologin-user-timeout=0

    to test your changes without rebooting sudo service lightdm restart

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  6. See the answer from Suuuehgi (Enable/Disable Passwordless Login/Autologin Via GUI/Command Line)...

    but the following should be at the top, the first line in a pam file (before other auth rules)

    auth        sufficient  pam_succeed_if.so user ingroup nopasswdlogin

    Btw same works for lightdm as well /etc/pam.d/lightdm .

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