How do I disable the guest session?

Question

How do I disable the guest session in Ubuntu 11.10 or higher? I don't want people to be able to use my computer without using a password to log in!

Answer 1

If you're using the default LightDM, edit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf so that it looks like this:

[SeatDefaults]
greeter-session=unity-greeter
user-session=ubuntu
allow-guest=false

If you're using GDM (which was the default in previous Ubuntu releases), uninstall gdm-guest-session.

Answer 2

Type this in the terminal

gksu gedit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

You will see the following:

[SeatDefaults]
greeter-session=unity-greeter
user-session=ubuntu

Add allow-guest=false to the end so your final result should look like:

[SeatDefaults]
greeter-session=unity-greeter
user-session=ubuntu
allow-guest=false

Save the document and quit the text editor.

Back in the Terminal, restart the display manager. (This will end the graphical login session, immediately quitting all programs running in it, so make sure your work--like any open documents--is saved first!)

sudo restart lightdm

With the graphical login session ended, you're returned to the login screen, where you'll notice that guest acount is disabled.

That's it--the guest account is no longer usable.

Answer 3

Simplest method.

Just run this (once) at terminal:

sudo /usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-set-defaults -l false

You will no longer have 'Guest' as login option, on your next login.

• This simply appends allow-guest=false to /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.

• Confirm works on Ubuntu 12.04; should work for 11.10 and upwards (since those versions use LightDM as well).

To undo (restore Guest option):

sudo /usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-set-defaults -l true

Answer 4

Just run

gksudo gedit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

Add the following line

allow-guest=false

Then (this will immediately log you out, quitting any programs running in your graphical session, so save your work first):

sudo restart lightdm

Answer 5

Change allow-guest=trueto 'false' in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

You can then either reboot or restart the service in the terminal: sudo restart lightdm

This is assuming you are using lightdm which is standard in 11.10.

Answer 6

Install ubuntu-tweak, get to the tweak tab, turn off the guest button and reboot. That's it!

One may find the terminal easier, but in case the need to turn on the guest account arises then one would have to visit this page again and see the instructions (or rather undo). That's the advantage of the GUI thing... one remembers it easily.