Score:0

Disable password for physical direct login only

gb flag

I am wondering if it is possible to disable password for the login screen, while keeping it for everything else (e.g. for sudo, for ssh etc).

Idea being that if someone has access to my physical machine, I am already fairly screwed. They can just start another OS, or physically remove the hard-drive. I am not entirely convinced this holds, but I am wondering if it is technically possible.

I am using Ubuntu 21.04, currently with GNOME

guiverc avatar
cn flag
You've not provided OS & release details, but you can have your box auto-login and still have passwords.. It's a QA-test case we use (quality assurance) for Lubuntu...
Lyndon White avatar
gb flag
Edited that in.
nobody avatar
gh flag
For gdm3 https://help.gnome.org/admin/system-admin-guide/stable/login-automatic.html.en I hope it is not outdated.
Score:0
gb flag

You can enable this in the Gnome settings, under Users.

It is the setting called "Automatic Login"
You need to unlock to be able to enable/disable it.

If with that enabled it still requires a password, you are likely being hit by an issue related to the login screen using Wayland rather than Xorg.
See this QA about how to fix that. (This issue remains a problem as of Ubuntu 20, in 2021)

screenshot of user settings page, automatic login and unlock are circled

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