How do I login ubuntu-desktop user without a password ?

June 16, 2008 by msverman

I use ubuntu 8.04 Desktop at my home.I faced a situvation to leek my password to other family members & friend who would like to work in my computer.

So I created a new user and password for other family members & friend to work,I normally forget the password and try to create a new password, everytime when they ask for the password.

I love people to work in ubuntu desktop but I regred to leek my password.

To avoid this situvation I found a solution to login my ubuntu-desktop without a password for my family members and friends.

Now how to do that?

Create a user, say “friends”.

open a terminal

verman@verman-desktop:~$
sudo adduser friends
[sudo] password for verman:(enter the admin password)
Adding user `friends’ …
Adding new group `friends’ (1005) …
Adding new user `friends’ (1005) with group `friends’ …
Creating home directory `/home/friends’ …
Copying files from `/etc/skel’ …
Enter new UNIX password:******
Retype new UNIX password: ******
passwd: password updated successfully
Changing the user information for friends
Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default
Full Name []:
Room Number []:
Work Phone []:
Home Phone []:
Other []:
Is the information correct? [y/N] y

verman@verman-desktop:~$

Now new user “friends ” has been created

Now remove the password for the user “friends”

verman@verman-desktop:~$ sudo passwd -d friends
Password changed.

Now follow the 2 steps to Authorize login in gdm & pam

1. Authorize login with no passwords in gdm

verman@verman-desktop:~$ sudo sed -i ’s/#PasswordRequired=false/PasswordRequired=false/’ /etc/gdm/gdm.conf

2. Authorize login with no passwords in pam

verman@verman-desktop:~$ sudo sed -i ’s/nullok_secure/nullok/’ /etc/pam.d/common-auth

You can now log in with your “friends” user with no password.

To Know more on ’sed’, Continue reading Command : $sed.

Posted in Linux | 12 Comments

12 Responses

on October 10, 2008 at 1:25 am | Reply Redy

Thanks you for this guide…
on November 29, 2008 at 12:37 pm | Reply un known

Just Stopped by to say hi, Thanks
on March 6, 2009 at 8:11 pm | Reply Daniel E. Renfer

This solved my problem perfectly.

Thanks for the write up.
on May 9, 2009 at 8:56 pm | Reply dude

Works great with Ubuntu 9.04 , solved my problem with the user accounts for the kids.
on May 13, 2009 at 10:43 am | Reply abePdIta

Thank you! =) Easy and effective!
on June 8, 2009 at 11:13 am | Reply Heyhey

Really good, thanks!
on June 11, 2009 at 6:44 pm | Reply William Purcell

Is there anyway to do this for an ssh session. I want to create a user that people can scp stuff off my server without needing a password. I have followed your instructions but I still get Permission denied, please try again when I leave the password blank.
- on June 12, 2009 at 2:22 am | Reply msverman
  
  Check this link,I feel this will solve your problem.
  Accelerator Guide: Disable Password Authentication for SSH Logins
on June 23, 2009 at 3:07 pm | Reply DavidEF

I tried this with an existing guest account I created previously, but it doesn’t let me get by the login screen in gdm without a password. When I try, it says “Incorrect username or password. Letters must be typed in the correct case.” and returns to asking for the username again. The only commands I used from this tutorial are the one to remove the password from the account, and the two sed commands to change gdm and pam to not require passwords. Is there something else I need?
- on June 24, 2009 at 2:11 am | Reply msverman
  
  Have you removed the password of the GUEST user i.e,
  
  ————————————————————
  Now remove the password for the user “friends”
  
  verman@verman-desktop:~$ sudo passwd -d friends
  Password changed.
  ————————————————————
  
  likewise remove the password of guest
  
  $ sudo passwd -d guest
  
  then authorize login with no passwords in gdm
  
  $ sudo sed -i ’s/#PasswordRequired=false/PasswordRequired=false/’ /etc/gdm/gdm.conf
on July 29, 2009 at 9:54 am | Reply Amol

any idea how to do same thing in RHEL?
- on July 30, 2009 at 6:44 am | Reply verman
  
  sorry ! I have not tried in RHEL.