Can't unlock screen when using a password-less account

[Alessio Bolognino]

Binary package hint: gnome-screensaver

I created a password-less account for my Mom, that is, in the Ubuntu Installer (or maybe later, using users-admin, I don't think it really matters) I created an account, inserted no password and checked the "don't ask for a password on login" checkbox. After tweaking the permissions a bit, it works fine for her. The only (quite big) problem is that when the screen is locked, either by locking it manually or after a user-switch, you simply can't unlock it, since it asks for a password that I never set.

 I think that gnome-screensaver simply shouldn't ask for a password for this type of accounts.

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this issue and helping to make Ubuntu better. Examining the information you have given us, this does not appear to be a bug report so we are closing it and converting it to a question in the support tracker. We appreciate the difficulties you are facing, but it would make more sense to raise problems you are having in the support tracker at https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu if you are uncertain if they are bugs. For help on reporting bugs, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs .

[Federico Tello Gentile (federicotg)]

It seems it is a Ubuntu bug.
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=620555

[Federico Tello Gentile (federicotg)]

Uninstalling gnome-screensaver solves the issue. Obviously you lose the screensaving functionality, but you can switch users with the fast user switch applet. When password is needed GDM asks for it, not the gnome-screensaver locked screen.

[hawthornso23 (hawthorn)]

A simpler workaround (two click solution) is to just click "switch user" to open the fast user switcher. Then, instead of selecting a new user, reselect the passwordless account to get back in. You don't have to uninstall the screensaver. You just have to know which buttons to click.

Possible fixes
1. Accept a blank password in the existing dialogue.
2. Don't ask for a password if blank.
3. Use the fast user switcher login dialogue instead.

1 and 2 would be simple fixes. 3 would give a more consistent interface. I believe there is a wishlist item requesting this.

[Adam Olsen (rhamph)]

GNOME claims that this is a pam misconfiguration, specific to Ubuntu. It's a real bug.