HOWTO: Autologin and Autostart XFCE (just pushing power button)

[peekpt]

Are you tired off typing logins? Don't want to load heavy/waste of time login managers?

This guide let's you have autologin and autostart for your XFCE:

Let's open a console and then create the file autologin.c

sudo nano autologin.c

and paste this code inside (middle mouse button will paste the text you underline):

int main() {
     execlp( "login", "login", "-f", "your_user_here", 0);
 }

replace the string: your_user_here with the user you want to autologin. (ctrl+X to save) btw, use your prefered editor.

Let's compile.. you will need to have gcc installed:

sudo gcc -o autologin autologin.c

copy the compiled autologin file into /usr/local/sbin

sudo cp autologin /usr/local/sbin

now we need to edit the file /etc/inittab

sudo nano /etc/inittab

search for this:

1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1

put a # to comment this line and add this new line:

1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty -n -l /usr/local/sbin/autologin 38400 tty1

it will look like this:

#1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1
1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty -n -l /usr/local/sbin/autologin 38400 tty1
2:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty2
3:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty3
4:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty4
5:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty5

this will make the autologin stuff...



let's make the autostart:

nano .bash_profile

put this code on the bottom and save it

if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ] && [ $(tty) == /dev/tty1 ]; then
    startxfce4
fi

then you just have to remove your login manager :

sudo apt-get remove gdm xdm kdm

reboot your machine

I used this page as guide:

http://www.dicas-l.unicamp.br/dicas-l/20030129.shtml

[abowman]

All I did was install Xfce with synaptic and then opened up the Login Screen Setup which can be found under Settings and clicked on Auto Login and selected a user.

[anggarda]

abowman, I think you missread the title of his thread.

His howto is the *efficient way of loading xfce on a light system.

The various, login managers, utilise memory in the background.

Salut.

[telmo]

I'll try it... But if i screw my Ubuntu... I'LL KICK YOUR ***!!! (gently!)
Just kidding!

[peekpt]

Originally Posted by telmo I'll try it... But if i screw my Ubuntu... I'LL KICK YOUR ***!!! (gently!) Just kidding!

I just did this because it's no need to load gdm (lloading extra libs) when you are the only user on the system... I have the autologin running on my laptop with a customized kernel. It boots fast and with the autologin faster.
xfce rox...

[wirjo]

Originally Posted by peekpt I just did this because it's no need to load gdm (lloading extra libs) when you are the only user on the system... I have the autologin running on my laptop with a customized kernel. It boots fast and with the autologin faster. xfce rox...

How do you bring back the login manager that you deleted?

[ChrisNiemy]

Works even better when you uses "startx" instead of "startxfce4" in the ~/.bash_profile

Otherwise I got problems with font savings etc.

Looks like this (compared with first post here):

if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ] && [ $(tty) == /dev/tty1 ]; then
    startx
fi

Thanks so much for this! Just great! Couldn`t think of this would work. So cool

[conor]

This is a great idea! I have a few problems though. When I turn on the computer the autologin works and then xfce4 will begin to load. After a few milliseconds though it boots me out to the command line again and I have to type "sudo startx". Then everything runs as root. What did I do wrong?

Nevermind, I was wrong. It works now.

[Haegin]

If you are using a newer version of ubuntu you will need to

sudo apt-get install gcc-3.4

then replace

sudo gcc -o autologin autologin.c

with

sudo gcc-3.4 -o autologin autologin.c

so it compiles correctly

[peschkaj]

Wouldn't it also be possible to use something like sysv-rc-conf to remove gdm from the boot order and still use the method you described?