Documentation needed for automatic login

[andy]

I am trying to figure out how to login to ubuntu without login in. When I restart the machine, I simply want ubuntu to come up in normal user mode, nothing more and nothing less. The documentation does not provide any help for this. If I could have an automatic login for root, that would be preferrable. I want my machine self sustaining and have no desire to set up logins and maintain or remember passwords.

Andy Peet
<email address hidden>

[Dougie Richardson (dougierichardson)]

I appreciate your situation but given our target audience for system documentation I think this is inadvisable for inclusion.

It is relatively straight forward: System->Administration->Login Window, Security Tab, Select "Enable Automatic Login" and choose your user name. Hope this helps.

[Phil Bull (philbull)]

Hi Andy,

Out of interest, what did you try and where did you look for the appropriate settings to do this before you filed your bug? That is, where would you have expected this setting to be?

It might be that the route into the settings that Dougie mentioned isn't very obvious and is something that should be looked at.

[Matthew East (mdke)]

I do think that this should be documented. Lots of more obvious tasks are documented, and I would have thought that this is quite a commonly performed task.

Ideally it would be in the gnome-user-guide alongside the other login information.

[Dougie Richardson (dougierichardson)]

If that is the consensus opinion, for automatic user access then fair enough but:

"If I could have an automatic login for root, that would be preferrable."

We are asking for a totally unprotected and open system with full access rights. Default super user access is the primary reason that there are huge numbers of Windows XP vulnerabilities, attacks and zombie machines.

[Matthew East (mdke)]

On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 12:29 PM, Dougie Richardson
<email address hidden> wrote:
> If that is the consensus opinion, for automatic user access then fair
> enough but:
>
> "If I could have an automatic login for root, that would be
> preferrable."
>
> We are asking for a totally unprotected and open system with full access
> rights. Default super user access is the primary reason that there are
> huge numbers of Windows XP vulnerabilities, attacks and zombie machines.

Yes, obviously we wouldn't document logging in as root. But automatic
login for regular users is a feature of the operating system, and
something that Windows users will frequently be interested in.

--
Matthew East
http://www.mdke.org
gnupg pub 1024D/0E6B06FF

[Dougie Richardson (dougierichardson)]

Posting to the list now to avoid reams of posts.

[Phil Bull (philbull)]

We should note that logging-in as root is possible, but is strongly discouraged. That way, when people search for "automatic root login", they will hopefully see our warning first rather than some third-party docs that don't mention why it's dangerous.

[Dougie Richardson (dougierichardson)]

OK, seems sensible.

-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Bull <email address hidden>
Sent: 30 October 2008 09:29
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: [Bug 290467] Re: unable to avoid login

We should note that logging-in as root is possible, but is strongly
discouraged. That way, when people search for "automatic root login",
they will hopefully see our warning first rather than some third-party
docs that don't mention why it's dangerous.

--
unable to avoid login
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/290467
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[andy (andy-peet)]

What is the default root password? I am trying to change the settings by
setting up a standard user account and then having that automatically log
in, but it is asking me for an administrative password to perform
administrative tasks.

 I originally worked with SCO Unix and I completely understand where you are
going with this operating system.

Thanks!
Andy Peet
443.417.4090 - cell
410.665.6448 - home/office
-----Original Message-----
From: <email address hidden> [mailto:<email address hidden>] On Behalf Of
Dougie Richardson
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 6:39 AM
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: RE: [Bug 290467] Re: unable to avoid login

OK, seems sensible.

-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Bull <email address hidden>
Sent: 30 October 2008 09:29
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: [Bug 290467] Re: unable to avoid login

We should note that logging-in as root is possible, but is strongly
discouraged. That way, when people search for "automatic root login",
they will hopefully see our warning first rather than some third-party
docs that don't mention why it's dangerous.

--
unable to avoid login
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/290467
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Documentation Committers, which is subscribed to Ubuntu Documentation.

--
unable to avoid login
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/290467
You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
of the bug.

Status in Ubuntu Documentation: New

Bug description:
I am trying to figure out how to login to ubuntu without login in. When I
restart the machine, I simply want ubuntu to come up in normal user mode,
nothing more and nothing less. The documentation does not provide any help
for this. If I could have an automatic login for root, that would be
preferrable. I want my machine self sustaining and have no desire to set up
logins and maintain or remember passwords.

Andy Peet
<email address hidden>

[Brian Burger (bburger)]

There is no default password for root in Ubuntu - root is simply locked.

When a default install of Ubuntu asks for a password, it is asking for the user password - assuming the user account has sudo privs, which of course the initial/default account does.

Much more information here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

[jscc88 (jscc88-deactivatedaccount)]

this is not a bug, is a software problem

you can solution thi sproblem get into ubuntu in recovery mode

[Dougie Richardson (dougierichardson)]

Seriously, Juan can you stop setting Fix Released when it isn't?

[jscc88 (jscc88-deactivatedaccount)]

all is right dougie, but i believe that a hardware or kernel problem is not a bug.

good luck

[Dougie Richardson (dougierichardson)]

This is not a "kernel" problem and certainly not a hardware problem.

In any event, can I ask you again to stop setting bugs to "Fix Released" when they are not. There is also no need to assign them to yourself if you want to close them.

[Dougie Richardson (dougierichardson)]

Added to Keeping Safe documentation under Passwords.

[Matthew East (mdke)]

This bug was fixed in ubuntu-docs 9.04.2