Auto-login does not work with lightdm

[Justin Rich]

Release from lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
Release: 12.04
 **Note** This is actually Xubuntu, with XFCE 4.8.

Lightdm Package:
lightdm:
  Installed: 1.2.1-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 1.2.1-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 1.2.1-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Attempted asking on launchpad first, this is the post:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/lightdm/+question/204213

In summary, when I installed I selected to use autologin and it worked fine, except that it was using en_GB locale instead of en_US. Didn't know how to change locale at first so I just went to Applications>System>Users and Groups and made it ask for a password to login. This allowed me to select locale on login. I've since changed it to automatically use en_US so I tried to turn auto-login back on. I at first just clicked the box to no longer ask for a password and it didn't work. It switched to a nosplash view for about a second and switched back to the greeter. Had to log in as a guest and change it back to asking for a password so that I could log in. This is my /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf output:

[SeatDefaults]
user-session=xubuntu
greeter-session=lightdm-gtk-greeter
autologin-user=justin
autologin-user-timeout=0

Just like http://xubuntu.org/news/faq-1204-precise/ says.

This is the only thing that stuck out from /var/log/lightdm.log:

[+941.41s] WARNING: Could not call SetLanguage: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.Acc$

Syslog only had one thing when I grepped "lightdm":

Jul 27 07:16:00 justin-Presario-V2000-EZ617UA-ABA lightdm: pam_ecryptfs: Passphrase file wrapped

Thanks in advance!

[Robert Ancell (robert-ancell)]

Can you attach the full lightdm.log after autologin fails?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[psl (slansky)]

This bug was not fixed so far. I run xubuntu 12.04.2 LTS x64 and I cannot find a way to autologin...

[psl (slansky)]

I run proprietary AMD Catalyst driver that was downloaded from AMD server, version 13.4. This is my extension to Xubuntu configuration. Manual login works fine. Autologin doesn't work.

$ dpkg -la | grep " lightdm "
ii lightdm 1.2.3-0ubuntu2 Display Manager

My /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf:

[SeatDefaults]
greeter-session=lightdm-gtk-greeter
user-session=xubuntu
autologin-user=psl

Part of /var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log as requested in the past:

[+0.00s] DEBUG: Starting seat
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Starting new display for automatic login as user psl
[+0.00s] DEBUG: Starting local X display
[+0.55s] DEBUG: X server :0 will replace Plymouth
[+0.57s] DEBUG: Using VT 7
[+0.57s] DEBUG: Activating VT 7
[+0.57s] DEBUG: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/x-0.log
[+0.57s] DEBUG: Writing X server authority to /var/run/lightdm/root/:0
[+0.57s] DEBUG: Launching X Server
[+0.57s] DEBUG: Launching process 1116: /usr/bin/X :0 -auth /var/run/lightdm/roo
t/:0 -nolisten tcp vt7 -novtswitch -background none
[+0.57s] DEBUG: Waiting for ready signal from X server :0
[+0.57s] DEBUG: Acquired bus name org.freedesktop.DisplayManager
[+0.58s] DEBUG: Registering seat with bus path /org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/S
eat0
[+3.42s] DEBUG: Got signal 10 from process 1116
[+3.42s] DEBUG: Got signal from X server :0
[+3.42s] DEBUG: Stopping Plymouth, X server is ready
[+3.44s] DEBUG: Connecting to XServer :0
[+3.44s] DEBUG: Automatically logging in user psl
[+3.44s] DEBUG: Started session 1208 with service 'lightdm-autologin', username
'psl'
[+3.68s] DEBUG: Session 1208 authentication complete with return value 0: Success
[+3.68s] DEBUG: Autologin user psl authorized
[+3.69s] DEBUG: Autologin using session xubuntu
[+3.70s] DEBUG: Dropping privileges to uid 1000
[+3.70s] DEBUG: Restoring privileges
[+3.71s] DEBUG: Dropping privileges to uid 1000
[+3.71s] DEBUG: Writing /home/psl/.dmrc
[+3.84s] DEBUG: Restoring privileges
[+3.93s] DEBUG: Starting session xubuntu as user psl
[+3.93s] DEBUG: Session 1208 running command /usr/sbin/lightdm-session startxfce4
[+4.02s] DEBUG: New display ready, switching to it
[+4.02s] DEBUG: Activating VT 7
[+4.03s] DEBUG: Registering session with bus path /org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Session0
[+4.70s] DEBUG: Session 1208 exited with return value 0
[+4.70s] DEBUG: User session quit
[+4.70s] DEBUG: Stopping display
[+4.70s] DEBUG: Sending signal 15 to process 1116
[+5.01s] DEBUG: Process 1116 exited with return value 0
[+5.01s] DEBUG: X server stopped
[+5.01s] DEBUG: Removing X server authority /var/run/lightdm/root/:0
[+5.02s] DEBUG: Releasing VT 7
[+5.02s] DEBUG: Display server stopped
[+5.02s] DEBUG: Display stopped
[+5.02s] DEBUG: Active display stopped, switching to greeter
[+5.02s] DEBUG: Switching to greeter
[+5.02s] DEBUG: Starting new display for greeter
[+5.02s] DEBUG: Starting local X display
[+5.02s] DEBUG: Using VT 7
[+5.02s] DEBUG: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/x-0.log
[+5.02s] DEBUG: Writing X server authority to /var/run/lightdm/root/:0

[JStMartin (jrstmartin)]

I can confirm that autologin failure in Xubuntu 12.04.3 (32bit or 64bit) is due to home directory encryption. If you DO NOT encrypt your home directory on installation and your /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf looks like the following, autologin WILL work. You DO NOT have to do anything else, such as the disabling of asking for a password on login in System > Users and Groups.

[SeatDefaults]
autologin-user=yourusernamehere
autologin-user-timeout=0
user-session=xubuntu
greeter-session=lightdm-gtk-greeter
allow-guest=false

[Jonathan Brian Francoeur (goedible)]

So how can I enable auto login if my home directory is encrpted? Do I have to reinstall Ubuntu?

[Robert Ancell (robert-ancell)]

You cannot auto login with an encrypted home directory. To decrypt the directory you need the password, i.e. you need to prompt the user to login.