oemconfig should throw an error when not run in an oem install

[jollyr0ger]

Binary package hint: oem-config

I've installed a clear and simply Ubuntu intrepid i386 installation, not OEM mode.
I personalize it, and I install oem-config from apt. I use it to prepair for the end users, and all the customization are preserved, but also the sudo pass.
When I use an application that require the sudo password, the password of the just created user doesn't run. The password that run was the previos (of the user created during the normal Ubuntu installation).

How can it be?
There's a workaround to solve it in the meantime?

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

You can't use oem-config unless you installed using OEM mode.

It's not that it preserved the first user password as such, but that it preserved the whole first user! The bug here is that it didn't tell you that there was a problem.

[Loye Young (loyeyoung)]

Colin is right; OEM wasn't designed for the use case stated, so you
may have unpredictable results. However, I've been able to pull the
rabbit out of the hat, at least for an earlier incantation of
oem-config.

Here's what I did:

1. Reboot the machine.
2. At the GRUB menu, select the recovery mode.
3. When you get to the "friendly recovery" menu, drop to root shell.
4. As root, delete the regular user on the box. E.g., if you set up
yourself with a username of "foo":
     # deluser --remove-all-files foo

 // This would be a good time to get some coffee, smoke a cigarette,
check your email,
 // or go to the bathroom.

5. Add the oem user:
     # adduser oem
For the "Full Name", you can put what you like or nothing at all, but
"OEM" or your company name are common choices.

6. Give permissions (if someone knows of a more elegant way of doing
this from the command line, I'd appreciate hearing about it):
     # adduser oem admin
     # adduser oem adm
     # adduser oem dialout
     # adduser oem cdrom
     # adduser oem floppy
     # adduser oem audio
     # adduser oem dip
     # adduser oem video
     # adduser oem plugdev
     # adduser oem fuse
     # adduser oem lpadmin

7. Install oem-config. (In the following, oem-config-gtk installs the
GNOME GUI, which isn't strictly speaking necessary but which many
folks seem to prefer over the command line.)
     # aptitude install oem-config oem-config-gtk

8. Reboot
     # reboot now

Bada-bing-bada-boom. Your machine should now boot into an OEM configuration.

As I said, the foregoing procedure worked for me on a prior version of
oem-config. Your mileage may vary because Colin is continually
tinkering with oem-config in his heroic, thankless, and unending
struggle to herd cats (a/k/a system builders and manufacturers).

For more specifics on his efforts to keep us all happy, see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7yqlTMvp8

Happy Trails,

Loye Young
Isaac & Young Computer Company
Laredo, Texas
http://www.iycc.net

[Håvar (havar)]

Thanks for the info Loye Young.

Some additional information:

The password for the oem account should be the same as the username, oem.

I think you also need to run these commands:

You might have to remove the old users files
#rm -r /home/olduser

Add the oem user to the sudoers list.
# adduser oem sudo

Activate the oem-config next reboot
# oem-config-prepare

Then you might need to update the grub config to reset the timeout on the grub menu.
# update-grub

Before you reboot.
# reboot now

In case you accidentally happen to log into the oem account and set a keyring password (for instance by logging onto a wireless network), you should delete it like this:
# rm -r /home/oem/.gnome2/keyrings

[Marcus Tomlinson (marcustomlinson)]

This release of Ubuntu is no longer receiving maintenance updates. If this is still an issue on a maintained version of Ubuntu please let us know.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for ubiquity (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]