By default, users are required to enter their credentials before they are granted access to the system. This is an important security precaution because it prevents anyone who has physical access to your computer from examining your personal details, files, email and whatnots.
However, there are a few reasons why you might want to set up automatic login on your computer. Perhaps your computer is physically secure, and you don’t like entering your password all the time, or maybe your disk is encrypted and you don’t like having to enter two passwords on boot.
Here are the steps to take if you want to bypass the login screen in Ubuntu.
Unity
1. Launch the settings app and go to User Accounts.
2. Click the Unlock option at the top-right side and type in your password.
3. Click on the user you want to set up auto-login for.
4. Toggle the Automatic Login switch to the On setting.
5. Click Lock to save the changes.
Once you restart your computer, you will be booted straight to your desktop without having to type in a password.
Nonetheless, your password will still be required after suspend and resume. If you want to turn that off too, go to “Settings -> Brightness & Lock.” Uncheck “Require my password when waking from suspend,” and toggle the Lock option off.
GNOME
For GNOME users, the process is pretty much the same, but it’s not worth the effort, as you are required to unlock your password keyring on startup rendering auto-login meaningless.
MATE
MATE users can achieve the same by adding the following text to the “/usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/60-lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf” file. You need root privileges to do this.
[SeatDefaults] greeter-session=lightdm-gtk-greeter autologin-user=username
Remember to replace the value of autologin-user with your username.
A second option is to go to “System -> Administration -> Users and Groups” on the top panel. Click on the user you want to set up auto-login for and click “change” on the Password field.
Finally, tick “Don’t ask for password on login.”
KDE Plasma
In KDE Plasma you can go to “System Settings -> Account Details -> User Manager” and toggle “Automatic login” on.
That’s it!
If you have a question or if you want to share how to set up automatic login on other desktop environments, please leave a comment below.
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Ayo Isaiah
Ayo Isaiah is a freelance writer from Lagos who loves everything technology with a particular interest in open-source software. Follow him on Twitter.
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