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Accepted
htorque
Asked: 2011-06-30 01:51:01 +0800 CST

How do I enable auto-login in LightDM?

  • 772

I want user foo to auto-login using LightDM (which has been used by Ubuntu since version 11.10). How would I do that?

configuration

14 Answers

  1. An alternative to Alin's answer is to create a file /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf and add the following content:

    [SeatDefaults]
autologin-user=<YOUR USER>
autologin-user-timeout=0
user-session=ubuntu
# Uncomment the following, if running Unity
#greeter-session=unity-greeter

    Next time you start, auto-login should work like expected.

    • 91
  2. Best Answer

    You can do this without editing configuration files: go to System Settings > User accounts, click "Unlock" and enter your password, then click the button next to "Automatic login":

    'enter image description here

    • 49

  3. From Ubuntu 14.04 and above create the file:

    /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/12-autologin.conf

    and add:

    [SeatDefaults]
autologin-user=youruser
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  4. You can easily do this with lightdm-set-defaults if you'd rather not edit lightdm.conf manually:

    sudo /usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-set-defaults --autologin "$USER"

    It will not set the autologin timeout, but the default for that is 0 in the code anyway, so you don't need to set it.

    • 18 
  5. gksu gedit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

    add lines:

    autologin-user=username
autologin-user-timeout=0

    example:

    [SeatDefaults]

user-session=ubuntu

greeter-session=unity-greeter

autologin-user=alan

autologin-user-timeout=0
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  6. Open settings, select 'user accounts'. Click the unlock button, then change the Automatic Login switch to "On"

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  7. In Ubuntu 18.04 (Xubuntu Minimal Desktop), create /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf and add the following:

    # /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
[SeatDefaults]
autologin-user=<username>
autologin-user-timeout=0

    I couldn't get it working through the lightdm.conf.d folder.

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  8. Search for "User Accounts" application. Select the account you want to autologin Toggle the Automatic Login switch to On

    That should do the work.

    • 1

  9. I can confirm that this works for 16.04.
    Using your favourite editor, amend /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/60-lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf.
    Add autologin-user=xxxx to the file, for example:

    [Seat:*]
greeter-session=lightdm-gtk-greeter
autologin-user=wmurphy

    Remember to also set the Not asked to login option under Users and Groups.

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  10. Ubuntu 20.04 How To: automatic login of particular user (e.g. server login)

    autologin for Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS with XFCE4 this works:

    (all as root using sudo)

    0) set display manager to lightdm 

    dpkg-reconfigure lightdm

    check settings with 

    lightdm --show-config

    1) enable login without password

    under Users and Groups

    set the Not asked login option for the concerned user.

    2) create and edit a new file /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/01_username.conf

    vim /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/01_username.conf

    and set 

    [SeatDefaults]
autologin-user=username
autologin-user-timeout=0

    replace "username" according; do NOT set autologin-user-timeout other than 0, does not work!

    This solution worked fine with a nearly vanilla installation without gnome and without unity.

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