Questions tagged [guest-session]

Ubuntu comes with a “Guest Session” account, which anyone can log into from the login screen – no password required. This guest account is locked down and changes to it don’t persist between sessions – everyone that logs in gets a fresh desktop.

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Small Non-Persistent CLI LTS Ubuntus, or Small Current Ubuntu VM (not iso) distributions

I have a (numerical CLI shell) program I want to distribute for installation into a fresh ubuntu VM. My potential users don't know much about linux, nor do they want to know. I want them to follow ...
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Guest user on Ubuntu 20.04 will not launch Firefox

I have installed a basic ubuntu 22.04. Whenever, i launch a Guest session, a new user with a random suffix is created. When the session is launched, Firerfox silently fails to start on the GUI. ...
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Safe guest account in RAM (please review)

The Issue: Sometimes you need to inspect the contents of USB devices from family or friends, but you don't know whether it is really a safe device, even though it most likely is safe. You want to do ...
David's user avatar
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unknown guest account with password created

i am using ubuntu 20.04 i want guest session for students so i enabled it by following How to enable Guest session on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa Linux 30 April 2020 by Lubos Rendek terminal commands 1....
Stone's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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Firefox can't create temp dir for guest user in lightdm [closed]

I've setup latest Ubuntu 22.04 (jammy) to use lightdm, and enabled the guest account via a lightdm config. This seems to work fine, and can login with an ephemeral guest account that gets removed on ...
Snappawapa's user avatar
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1 answer
2k views

LUbuntu 20.04 and tmporary user like guest?

How can I enable a restricted user where everything is reset after logout? Note: User is used for web-browsing so security is definitely a topic for me. In case user accesses maicious sites everything ...
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How to make Pulseaudio work with MPD via network when using the client in Guest session?

mpc status shows the playback is on, but "ERROR: Failed to open audio output". If I log in as special purpose user, playback works fine. I have remote mpd server, but the audio should play ...
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2 votes
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Run two gnome sessions simultaneously on a single desktop, isolating one from another

This is to expand on Is it possible to have different desktop sessions each with different settings? First off I know how to run two desktops by running something like xinit /usr/bin/xfce4-session -- :...
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How do I remove extra Guest accounts in Ubuntu MATE? / How do I get my guest account to work?

I'm having a problem with guest sessions in Ubuntu MATE; every time I tried to log in, it tells me that I can't access the .ICEauthority file (can't remember its location), boots me out, and creates a ...
Paradox174's user avatar
1 vote
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How do I disable the guest user without lightdm? [duplicate]

In versions of ubuntu above 16.04 the default display manager is gdm3. I am attempting to remove the guest user from an ubuntu VM but I don't know how to do it without lightdm. How do I do this? I ...
hufflegamer123's user avatar
2 votes
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Re-launch Chrome from a guest account

Chrome crashed while I had a few tabs open, on a guest account with Ubuntu 16.04. I want to re-launch Chrome before signing out of this guest account, so that I can get my tabs back, before signing ...
user1271772's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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Unable to logout from guest session on Xubuntu 20.04

I have Xubuntu 20.04 installed on a couple of my AMD64 machines, and in each case I've edited: /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-disable-guest.conf do that it now contains: [Seat:*] allow-guest=...
user657366's user avatar
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1 answer
1k views

To access another user from a remote desktop while admin is logged in Linux in host machine

Suppose I am logging in as a admin and I want to login as a guest user which is present in the same machine using another remote desktop using any of the services??.I don't want shell using ssh but ...
Georgely joe Santino's user avatar
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215 views

login and guest session

I'm using Ubuntu 16.04. I have an issue where I can't log in to the guest session, and it does not even appear after booting into my machine. clicking on "switch accounts" does nothing. And when I log ...
Dyrexion Carter's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
503 views

running appimage from guest session

I enabled guest sessions to allow students use ubuntu and have: fresh new session after logout avoid having them changing anything, installing new software, etc everything works great, but I cannot ...
Raul Nieves Pardo's user avatar
1 vote
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149 views

How do gain permissions to access a usb formatted as ext4 in guest session?

I formatted a usb as ext4 with gparted but when i try to access it in guest session in ubuntu 16.04, it says "you don't have the permissions necessary to access the contents of this drive"
leon7's user avatar
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18 votes
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How to enable guest sessions on Ubuntu 18.04 or later?

Is there any way you could revive Guest Sessions in a future LTS distro? Guest sessions are good security - they give me just enough power to do what I need to do on a daily basis without risking my ...
Olliver K's user avatar
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How to enable guest account on Lubuntu 18.10 [SDDM]

It has been a default setting on most of Ubuntu flavors and it's fairly easy to do on LightDM, but I wonder if SDDM also has this option. If not, is it worth to completely purge SDDM in favour of ...
A. Non's user avatar
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1 answer
924 views

Temporary guest session warning on user login

Ever since upgrading from 14.04 to 16.04 (uneventfully), I am getting a warning popup on login titled: Temporary Guest Session with the message: All data created during this guest session will ...
Cosmo's user avatar
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1 answer
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No password account Ubuntu 18.04 [duplicate]

Is there any way to create a guest user account (without password) in ubuntu 18.04?
berto77's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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Guest on Ubuntu 18.04

I'm trying to enable the guest session even if it's disabled by default on Ubuntu 18.04. My lightdm --show-congif gives me this: [Seat:*] A allow-guest=true C greeter-wrapper=/usr/lib/lightdm/...
Matteo M.'s user avatar
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1 answer
846 views

Can't add guest session in Ubuntu 18.10 [duplicate]

So I just installed Ubuntu 18.10, but I can't add a guest account. there aren't any buttons for it.
PickleJar05's user avatar
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1 answer
377 views

Can you use guest account on system with full disk encryption?

I read somewhere that encrypted home directory using encryptfs is not offered as option anymore with latest release. Can I use a guest account on system with full disk encryption?
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3 votes
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1k views

How can I have a guest session in Ubuntu MATE 18.04? [duplicate]

I know the guest session from the Unity Ubuntu, but I use Ubuntu MATE and I would like to have the guest session activated. What I mainly want is for all the data in the home folder to be ...
michael's user avatar
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2 answers
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Guest account generated all of sudden [duplicate]

guest-kpjg0a:x:999:999:Guest:/tmp/guest-kpjg0a:/bin/bash I have checked /etc/passwd, then here it is. Am I hacked? Yes, I am hacked.
Smile's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
348 views

How to increase allowed disk space for Guest account

Is it possible to increase the amount of disk space allowed to Guest account? EDIT df -h gives the following output: guest-S9srd9@embsys:~/Desktop$ df -h df: ‘/run/user/1000/gvfs’: Permission ...
yildizabdullah's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
480 views

How to disable guest session or login in Ubuntu 17.10

In Ubuntu 17.10, the LightDM method to disable guest session or login does not work anymore. Is there any new method?
user3581960's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
140 views

Gnome Metacity and GuestSession

I would like a guest session to use by default Gnome Metacity instead of the default Ubuntu window manager (I use Ubuntu 16.04). Where are the configuration files ?
Philippe Gaucher's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
143 views

Ubuntu 17.10: prevent power off/restart for a user

How can i prevent a user that i created for my kids to be able to power off or restart the computer? I'm on Ubuntu 17.10 running Gnome. Thanks in advance.
Gonçalo Marrafa's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
1k views

Guest Mode Ubuntu 17.04

I upgraded today from Ubuntu 16.04 to Ubuntu 17.04 because my Guest Mode on 16.04 was first giving no internet connection and then later shutting me out from the Guest Mode. Ubuntu 17.04 provides no ...
jam's user avatar
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X forwarding over SSH not working from remote hosts in Ubuntu guest session

I'm currently visiting a research institute and logging into a computer using the guest session option (that saves no data) in Ubuntu 16.04.3. I'm trying to SSH into the machines I usually work from ...
Warrick's user avatar
  • 161
1 vote
1 answer
2k views

start a guest session in Ubuntu 17.10 / cinnamon

In Ubuntu 16.10 with Unity I could launch a guest session as follows: Now I use Ubuntu 17.10 with cinnamon. The correspoding menu looks like and does not allow me to start a guest session. Also I ...
mnagel's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
527 views

Add Guest user to Persistent flash drive

Persistent flash drives made using the leading boot drive creators such as mkusb, Unetbootin, Rufus, YUMI, etc do not come with a Guest user, as does a normal desktop install or Full install to ...
C.S.Cameron's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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Kiosk mode guest session under gdm3

How can we create a kiosk mode guest session under gdm3 going forward from Ubuntu 17.10?
TheWickerman666's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
13k views

Removing Guest Login Feature on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS [duplicate]

I just installed Ubuntu Linux (16.04 LTS) last night. This is the first copy of Linux I've installed. I did use Linux for maybe a few weeks over 10 years ago, but I was very young at the time and didn'...
N. Scribner's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
431 views

How to login under root in ubuntu-dektop on Ubuntu server 14.04

I am complete newbie to Ubuntu and Servers installation/tuning. But I faced with the necessity to get the VPN server for my python script. I have chosen vultr.com as the provider and bought the VPN ...
Aidos's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
531 views

Guest account - stopping autostart applications

In Ubuntu 17.04 I've re-enabled the Guest account. When the Guest account comes up, it launches some autostart applications that I don't want. I've looked in /etc/skel and /etc/guest-session/skel and ...
heynnema's user avatar
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155 views

Cannot Use mysql from Guest Account Ubuntu 14.04

I have to install ubuntu in a school's computer lab. I am using an Administrator Account for Admin purposes and enabling guest account for students so that no student can make permanent changes. ...
vat69's user avatar
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21 votes
1 answer
6k views

Guest session stopped working on Ubuntu versions later than 16.04

After a recent package update, the guest session feature is no longer available on Ubuntu 16.10 and 17.04. What happened?
Gunnar Hjalmarsson's user avatar
-10 votes
1 answer
423 views

How to delete activity log being guest user . so that root user cant track activity

i use an Ubuntu laptop as guest user , i think the root user is spying on me. so how can i delete activity log being guest for my session or how to enable Ubuntu to not show my acttivity log in ...
AADARSH's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
47 views

I only have a guest account [duplicate]

I just got a brand new dell XPS 13 and I went to set it up. I typed in the wifi password and realized I got it wrong. So I ended up hitting a button in the bottom right corner. For some reason it ...
Dylan Phillips's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
629 views

Lightdm can't start guest session

Something weird happened to my lightdm after removing the Gnome shell. The input fields has become white instead of the standard transparent, and, most importantly, I am unable to start guest sessions....
tjespe's user avatar
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12 votes
1 answer
6k views

Allow a guest session wifi access with no users logged in

In 16.04 Ubuntu a guest session can't get wifi access unless a user is logged in. Is there any way around this nonsense? Note that in 14.04 it's automatically enabled, in upcoming 17.04 the guest ...
doug's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
2k views

Guest account to Root account [closed]

I have a Dell with Ubuntu 14.04, with no root account enabled, only guest (in the terminal). There is no account and no passwd. I can't create a passwd. I can't unlock guest or root account. sudo ...
Marcelo Flores's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
206 views

Login only as guest, after have modified ~/.profile file

Yesterday I have modified the file .profile, adding a new PATH at the end of it. After this change I can only login as guest user. Could these two things be connected? How could I solve this problem? ...
Simone's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
63 views

How to setup guest session to be able to run MythTV Frontend and LIRC

I made a guest-prefs account to setup guest session like advised in related Ubuntu document. However, LIRC and MythTV Frontend do not work in guest session then, but work in guest-prefs account. When ...
jarno's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
1k views

How to Customize the Temporary Guest Account (Ubuntu 16.04)

I configured Ubuntu to load the temporary guest account on start and would like to customize the desktop of the the temporary guest user account. How can I customize desktop of the temporary guest ...
Mike Perez's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
886 views

How do I allow read access to the guest user for a NTFS secondary drive?

I am trying to allow anyone to log in as a guest and watch movies on my secondary hard drive. It used to be a Windows computer so the file format is NTFS. As I don't have a backup drive big enough to ...
Jared Ryan's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
1k views

May I install temporarily programs during guest session

I want to try Ubuntu with my students only in guest session. It is possible to temporarily install programs (e.g. Bluefish) in this session? Thank you.
svo's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
541 views

Guest Session rename [duplicate]

I need a way to rename Guest Session in login screen and make it Students, or create a guest account whit the same behavior, somebody can help me?
Mike Altimer's user avatar