No auto login in Ubuntu GNOME

[Erick Brunzell]

Just installed Ubuntu GNOME Xenial 20160218 amd64 and selected to auto login during installation, but once the installation was complete and I booted into Ubuntu GNOME I was asked for my password. I looked in the user UI and auto login was set to off, so I unlocked it, selected auto login = on, clicked on lock again, and rebooted but was once again asked for my password and the user UI once again showed auto login = off.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: gdm3 3.18.2-1ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-6.21-generic 4.4.1
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-6-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: GNOME
Date: Thu Feb 18 20:26:14 2016
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-02-19 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-GNOME 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Alpha amd64 (20160218)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gdm3
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Sam (litle-sam)]

Same here on Ubuntu-GNOME 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Alpha amd64
Auto login is set back to off after a reboot.

[Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa)]

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1547297

[Tim Lunn (darkxst)]

autologin works if you set it in '/etc/gdm3/custom.conf'

Seems there is some confusion about what "Automatic Login" in the user panel really does, see linked upstream bug.

[amjjawad  (amjjawad)]

Testing Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 Beta 1 amd64 (build: 20160225.1) and I confirm this bug!

[Gianfranco Marino (gianfrancomarino)]

I confirm this bug on a fresh install of the Beta iso.

Also, setting autologin in /etc/gdm3/custom.conf as suggested above got my machine to get stuck on boot, and had to restore the original settings with a live cd.

[Erick Brunzell (lbsolost)]

Was bug #1487819 ever fixed in Wily? I just wondered if the two could be related.

[Keith Z-G (keithzg)]

Also observed this testing the Beta iso today for Kubuntu i386, so it's not gdm specific per se.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Tim Lunn (darkxst)]

Accounts Service is supposed to update custom.conf, but the path is wrong now

[Tim Lunn (darkxst)]

Note the above comment is specific to gdm.

I do notice however that the Accounts Service "AutomaticLogin" property is not persistent across reboots, that would be why the settings toggle is broken.

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

Sponsored to the xenial queue.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package accountsservice - 0.6.40-2ubuntu9

---------------
accountsservice (0.6.40-2ubuntu9) xenial; urgency=medium

  * debian/patches/0005-gdm_config_file_path_ubuntu.patch:
    Copy patch from Debian packaging to correct the path to the
    GDM config file. (LP: #1547297)
  * debian/patches/0007-add-lightdm-support.patch:
    Update paths to gdm config directory

 -- Tim Lunn <email address hidden> Wed, 06 Apr 2016 10:59:09 +1000

[Gene Soo (genesoo77072)]

I downloaded 4/7/16 15:37 Gnome AMD64 iso and this problem still exists. I see that the issue was marked as Fixed. Is this drop supposed to contain the fix or is there a delay in seeing this in the drop?

[Gene Soo (genesoo77072)]

Downloaded Daily Build for AMD64 4/8/16 15:59 at 4/8/16 15:49. Can't explain why time stamp was 10 minutes ahead of current time. This fix does not seem to be incorporated with this build. Even though the fix package accountsservice - 0.6.40-2ubuntu9 is available, it does no good unless it is incorporated into the build.

[Erick Brunzell (lbsolost)]

We're 99% of the way there. Setting auto-login during install still doesn't work though so I filed bug 1571415.

[cmcanulty (cmcanulty)]

confirmed no fix yet for xubuntu 16.04 this is a non starter for the library as users must be auto logged in or the librarians have to run around and login every machine

[cmcanulty (cmcanulty)]

I have a worse situation, the autologin goes to the admin user not the nonadmin as it is set. This is a library so it effects all of our security

[fermulator (fermulator)]

What was the installer editing instead? (is there some dangling file edits hanging around somewhere now?) -- I see from above that it was editing "/etc/gdm/...", on my system fully updated though, there is no dangling files in /etc/gdm/, so that's good.

This is what is actually needed (as we know):
{{{
$ cat /etc/gdm3/custom.conf | grep Auto
AutomaticLoginEnable = true
AutomaticLogin = <USER>
}}}

Even if we fixed the installer, what to do about all the existing versions with the bug?

Will we have it auto-correct once the user runs patch updates? - or are they just stuck with googling to find this bug report and then have to fix it manually? :(

[Tuomas Lähteenmäki (lahtis)]

I have a problem. Im using auto-login in my laptop. When im editing Users and Groups and selecting auto-login off in my user account. It not working. When reboot the computer. My account auto-login to desktop. Using Ubuntu MATE 16.04 32-bit. I have full upgraded system.

[Tuomas Lähteenmäki (lahtis)]

In my main computer 64-bit Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, it is working.

[Leo (leillo1975)]

I have the same problem in Ubuntu 17.10. I configure in settings my user to autologon in system but it don't works. If I type in a console:

cat /etc/gdm3/custom.conf | grep Auto

I have this:

AutomaticLoginEnable=True
AutomaticLogin=leo

I think that it's correct, but It don't login into my gnome xorg session

[Konrad Krawiec (konrad11901)]

I can confirm this bug on Ubuntu 18.04 (20180104). I checked the auto log in option in the installer, but I still need to log in manually.

[amk (9-launchpad-mikus-sk)]

Is GDM3 multiseat aware? It is desirable to enable autologin for selected seats only and need to specify different user per seat.