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-   -   Undo Login Setting from Console (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/undo-login-setting-from-console-852474/)

codepoetchris 12-26-2010 12:33 PM
Undo Login Setting from Console
 
Hi, I'm brand new to ubuntu and very green when it comes to Linux in general. I have recently installed Ubuntu Desktop version 10.10 for my media pc (a friend of mine showed me xbmc, awesome!). I modified my install so that I don't have to enter a password when turning it on. The problem seems to be that when I did the install I chose to encrypt my home directory. Now, since I don't enter a password, the machine spews a few errors and does nothing. I finally got it to boot to a console window however I don't know how to undo what I did from the gui. I'm basically trying to get to System > Admin > Login Window > Security without the gui and "check the box" to require a password on login. Any clue as to which config file this setting is stored in?

markush 12-26-2010 03:22 PM
Hello codepoetchris, welcome to LQ,

if I understood your question correctly you don't have a password for your useraccount, but you need one. In order to assign a new password to a user you can (as root) use the command
Code:
passwd username
With Ubuntu you will have to use the sudo command instead since you cannot login as root
Code:
sudo passwd username
where you have to substitute the word username by the real loginname of the user.

Markus

codepoetchris 12-26-2010 03:35 PM
My account actually has a password which is required if you want to encrypt your home directory. While logged in I checked the box so that the password is not required upon login. So, when I click on my login id from the login menu it attempts to login without a password which causes my login to bomb and the system behaves as if it's frozen.

markush 12-26-2010 03:48 PM
Well, I understood that the password would be needed to decrypt the data, and if you login without a password, you can login but without decrypting your data.

Look at the manpage of "shadow"
Code:
man 5 shadow
there you learn how you can change your configuration in order to use a password again. The /etc/shadow file includes the passwords for the users or an empty field if there is no password necessary.

Markus

harry edwards 12-26-2010 04:17 PM
As root, edit /etc/gdm/gdm.schemas and make your changes in this section:

Code:
      <schema>
      <key>daemon/TimedLoginEnable</key>
      <signature>b</signature>
      <default>true</default>        <====change to false
    </schema>
    <schema>
      <key>daemon/TimedLogin</key>
      <signature>s</signature>
      <default>yourusername</default>
    </schema>
    <schema>
      <key>daemon/TimedLoginDelay</key>
      <signature>i</signature>
      <default>10</default>
    </schema>
Then save and restart.

codepoetchris 12-27-2010 08:37 AM
Thank you Harry and Markush. I will keep these in mind if the issue comes up again. I ended up getting impatient and just reinstalling the OS. I didn't have much setup yet so it wasn't a big deal. I wasn't even able to login period. Note-to-self, if you install your OS and encrypt your home directory do not check the box to not require a password on login.


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