This simple tutorial shows how to enable passwordless login for a specific user on a Linux PC. Therefore, the user does not have to remember the password, only a single click will allow it.
It’s easy to enable automatic login, even with a few seconds of delay. But for multiple accounts (e.g. guest account or user for kids), removing password authentication might be a better option.
This tutorial is tested and works on Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Fedora 36, Manjaro GNOME and Linux Mint 20/21
Requirements
:
To enable this feature, you must log in with a user account that has the ability to edit the system configuration file (also known as an administrator).
Additionally, the new user account must be logged on for the first time to generate the user’s home folder. Do not enable password login
for a specific user:
1. First of all, open the terminal by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard (works on Ubuntu / Linux Mint), or by searching from the start menu or the “Activities” overview.
2. When the terminal opens, run the following
command to edit the configuration file: sudo gedit /etc/pam.d/gdm-password Tip 1: For Ubuntu 22.10+ and Fedora 36 replace gedit with gnome-text-editor, so the command will be: sudo gnome-text-editor /etc/pam.d/gdm-password Tip 2: This is only for GNOME, another desktop may have another configuration file in the “/etc/pam.d” directory, like “/etc/pam.d/lightdm” for Mint. Tip 3: Linux Mint user DON’T has to edit any configuration file. Simply run the bottom command to add the user to the ‘nopasswdlogin’ group.
3. When the configuration file opens, add the rule to the first line:
auth enough pam_succeed_if.so user =
merilyn
Replace merilyn with the desired username and save the file
!
That’s
it! After saving the file, restart the computer and click on the username on the login screen to see the magic.
Passwordless logon
for a user group: In addition
to typing multiple lines into the configuration file above, you can add users to a certain group and configure it to allow all users in that group to log on without a password
.
1. First, open the terminal and run the command to create the “nopasswdlogin” group.
sudo groupadd nopasswdlogin
. Then edit the configuration file using the command
: sudo gedit /etc/pam.d/gdm-password
Replace gedit with your system’s text editor, such as gnome-text-editor for Fedora 36 / Ubuntu22.10.
Add the line below and save it
:
auth sufficient pam_succeed_if.so user ingroup
nopasswdlogin NOTE: Linux Mint only needs to do the last command in step 3 since the ‘nopasswdlogin’ group already exists and is well configured.
3. Finally, add (or remove) any user in/from that group (nopasswdlogin) to enable (or disable) passwordless login. For example,
add the user ‘merilyn’ to the group via the command: sudo gpasswd -add merilyn nopasswdlogin replace –
add with -delete will remove the user from the group
Restart your machine to apply the changes and voila!
Summary:
The thing is quite easy in summary. Simply edit the configuration file in the “/etc/pam.d” directory. Next, add a rule to allow a certain user or all users in a group to log on without password authentication. Linux Mint has a ‘nopasswdlogin’ group set up for these things out of the box, so simply adding a user to that group can do the trick!
