How can I set up a passwordless non-privileged account?

Chris H

11/5/23, 4:04 PM

On my Xubuntu 20.04 system there are two users - me (strong password, with sudo) and my daughter (no sudo access).

Her account can be set to log in without a password, but that's not much use when the screensaver kicks in as it then demands the password to unlock (that I was forced to set but no one can remember because it's never used - and of course she doesn't have access to my password manager). And if I try to set a blank password the account won't enable.

Note that there are several related questions, but all refer to remote login or sole/privileged users, and giving a passwordless user root access dominates the answers. I also don't want to recreate the old guest login that doesn't have a permanent home folder. So how can I have a kid's account without a password?

1 + 1

xubuntu

password

20.04

David

11/5/23, 4:06 PM

Do not set the OS to ask for a password when coming back from screen saver.

Score:1

Ubuntu

kanehekili

11/5/23, 4:56 PM

If open the powermanager in your settings (or click on the power icon on your panel -> select "PowerManager settings..") make sure to disable the "Lock screen .." checkbox:

Then open the "screensaver" and disable the lock screen:

Enable lock screen needs to be turned off.

Update

To disable the password on login (terminal):

sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

and add below the "Seat" section:

[Seat:*]
autologin-guest=false
autologin-user=<user>
autologin-user-timeout=0

and replace <user> with the user name

+ 2

Chris H

11/5/23, 9:02 PM

I would rather the account actually didn't have a password, as opposed to having one that didn't get used, but this does seem to be the easiest way

kanehekili

11/6/23, 5:53 PM

See my updated answer on how to "disable" the password

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