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Under "User Accounts", there's a toggle option labeled Automatic Login:

screenshot

What does that do if it's tabbed to "on"?

I haven't tried the function yet and I'd like advice from an expert.

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    Well... It does what it says. It logs you in automatically on the login screen. What is it you don't understand from that? Please edit your question to add this.
    – gertvdijk
    Jul 3, 2013 at 22:25
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    @gertvdijk That's not what it does. Once you get to the login screen (say, by logging out), it's still fully functional, and will not automatically log anyone in again (until you reboot or restart the display manager). This is a reasonable question, and many users are reasonably uncomfortable experimenting with administrative settings to find out exactly what they do (for example, many people have just one computer and use it every day for their work). I don't see what's wrong with this question.
    – Eliah Kagan
    Jul 4, 2013 at 3:38

2 Answers 2

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"Automatic Login" Inside of each User's options on the User Accounts dialog (remember that you can have several users in the same computer), just means that the user won't be prompted for his/her user password in order to start his/her session.

enter image description here

You can have only one "Automatic Login" even if this seems to appear in each user. But even if you allow a user to boot without authenticating (signing in), the user may need to unlock his/her keyring for administrative purposes and will always be in need to authenticate each time he/she's in need to run a command with sudo or gksudo from a terminal.

If you need further information don't hesitate to drop a comment in order to continue the support and edit this answer if needed.

As mentioned by @Eliah Kagan in a comment to this answer:

If you log out to get to the login screen, and want to log back in, you still need to enter a password, even if automatic login is enabled. This is the case on every Ubuntu system on which I've ever used automatic login (which includes 13.04).

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    Any idea what config file or setting on system this option actually changes to enable automatic login?
    – Flint
    Jul 4, 2013 at 2:13
  • @Flint I am sorry, I think I couldn't understand what you ask in your comment. Do you mind to try again? Sorry.
    – Geppettvs D'Constanzo
    Jul 4, 2013 at 16:01
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    It's okay. I've found the answer to what I was asking. The automatic login option in the picture above adds autologin-user line in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
    – Flint
    Jul 8, 2013 at 10:58
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the automatic log in means that the user will be logged in automatically and wont have to enter password and username at the log in screen.

That's it.

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