HowTo: Create a Passwordless / Guest Login (Simple Method)

[sisco311]

i have 3 users (accounts) on my pc if i make the password blank on one of them at the login screen when it asks for the username and password i should just type in the username i hit enter leave password box blank right or this only works on pcs with one user on them

Hmmm, this is an old thread. If you want to allow a user to log in without a password, add it to the nopasswdlogin group.

Either via the GUI (System -> Administration -> Users and Groups -> select the user -> Password... Change... -> and select Don't ask for password on login) or open a terminal and run:

sudo gpasswd -a username nopasswdlogin

replace username with the login name of the user

Users who are not members of the nopasswdlogin group will still require to enter their password for logging in.

[vase070]

does this work for ubuntu (edubuntu) 7.04 feisty fawn

[sisco311]

does this work for ubuntu (edubuntu) 7.04 feisty fawn

Nope, not by default. In Hardy and earlier versions you have to edit /etc/pam.d/gdm to look like this:

#%PAM-1.0
auth    requisite       pam_nologin.so
auth    required        pam_env.so readenv=1
auth    required        pam_env.so readenv=1 envfile=/etc/default/locale
auth    sufficient      pam_succeed_if.so user ingroup nopasswdlogin
...

and create the nopasswdlogin group:

sudo addgroup --system nopasswdlogin

EDIT: If you want to use aysiu's method, then instead of manually editing the shadow file, you could use usermod to change the user's password:

sudo usermod -p 'U6aMy0wojraho' guest

where guest is the login name of the user.

[vase070]

Nope, not by default. In Hardy and earlier versions you have to edit /etc/pam.d/gdm to look like this:

#%PAM-1.0
auth    requisite       pam_nologin.so
auth    required        pam_env.so readenv=1
auth    required        pam_env.so readenv=1 envfile=/etc/default/locale
auth    sufficient      pam_succeed_if.so user ingroup nopasswdlogin
...

and create the nopasswdlogin group:

sudo addgroup --system nopasswdlogin

EDIT: If you want to use aysiu's method, then instead of manually editing the shadow file, you could use usermod to change the user's password:

sudo usermod -p 'U6aMy0wojraho' guest

where guest is the login name of the user.

well that is what i mean i was asking if aysiu's method of making a user passwordless works on ubuntu 7.04 yo know by configuring the shadow file and all that other stuff that is what i was asking Tnx anyway

[sisco311]

well that is what i mean i was asking if aysiu's method of making a user passwordless works on ubuntu 7.04 yo know by configuring the shadow file and all that other stuff that is what i was asking Tnx anyway

D'oh! Yes, aysiu's method should work in any version of Ubuntu and in most Linux and Unix distributions.

[vase070]

with the help of aysiu's method and this video you can hack any ubuntu-linux (gnome) pc system you just have to know what you are doing have fun and thanks i learned a lot about ubuntu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkENY...layer_embedded

[shvahabi]

The same task via graphical method.
This short tutorial may be useful for those who prefer to use a GUI. I successfully tested it for Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu LTS 10.04):

1. Main_Menu>>System>>Administration>>Users_and_Group s
2. Click on "Add" button to create a new user
3. Select the newly created user shown on left pane
4. Click on the "Change..." button opposite to password
5. Check the "Don't ask for password on login" option on the just appeared dialog box.

[sieve]

Thanks, this worked perfectly


*Open /etc/shadow: gksudo gedit /etc/shadow
*Find the line that starts with the user you just made. Notice the line has multiple fields separated by colons.
*Change the second field to: U6aMy0wojraho. In my case:
name:$6$m4CpcgBw$i9XLGaUNToClOJ1X5Grug/COUjlkhoPv1:15048:0:99999:7:::
becomes:
name:U6aMy0wojraho:15048:0:99999:7:::
*Save the file, log out, and try your new password-less account.

The origin of this method is from the Ubuntu livecd. The default user (ubuntu) requires no login password. If you look at /etc/shadow on the livecd, U6aMy0wojraho is the encrypted form of the magic password used.

[conradin]

I Thought for sure that would break my system but it worked! I'm very happy with this insight!

[rountrey]

Does this only work with systems that have a GUI? I have an old HP thin client that has command line only on it (10.04) and I can't get it to work. I've tried editing the shadow, tried using passwd, even deleted the password and it still asks for a password. I am doing this through ssh because I don't have a monitor or keyboard hooked up it.

Thanks.

NEVER MIND, i forgot to allow blank passwords in sshd_config