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I recently installed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS it works fine but I want to remove the guest account login.

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  • 1
    What made you think that lightdm is not in use in 14.04? (It is.)
    – Gunnar Hjalmarsson
    Apr 20, 2014 at 19:17
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    @Florian Diesch,@Eric Carvalho,@Warren Hill,@Sneetsher,@Mitch,@ Gunnar Hjalmarsson - by that time when i asked this question i searched the web and found Ubuntu 14.04 LTS does not use lightdm to handle logins instead it uses Unity 8 saying its some new feature for ubuntu 14.04 LTS version (found it false later) as i am new to ubuntu that time i dont know about lightdm or login handling. So i posted a new question for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS version.
    – Sudheer
    Jul 2, 2014 at 12:15

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
138

Just press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open Terminal. When it opens, run the command(s) below:

sudo nano /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-ubuntu.conf

Add the following line, save and then close.

allow-guest=false

Reboot, and you're set.

Edit

Thanks to Gunnar Hjalmarsson

Based on Gunnar Hjalmarsson comment "ubuntu-session was last updated in the middle of March. Try sudo apt-get install --reinstall ubuntu-session" when that is done, the Guest session returns.

After some research, this can be done a different way as well.

Open /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf file from your terminal using the following command:

sudo -H gedit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

If the file exists, then just add the following line:

allow-guest=false

Otherwise copy and paste the following into it:

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

Save the file and exit the editor. Reboot your system, and the changes will remain even after an update to ubuntu-session as mentioned by Gunnar Hjalmarsson's comment.

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  • 3
    Thanks you. It worked. I thinks Ubuntu should have a GUI for disable/enable guest user.
    – PhatHV
    May 6, 2014 at 5:02
  • echo "allow-guest=false" |sudo tee -a /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-ubuntu.conf
    – Aquarius Power
    May 29, 2014 at 22:50
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    Editing package files under /usr/share is a bad idea, since such changes get lost at upgrades. (50-ubuntu.conf belongs to package ubuntu-session.) Create a new file instead, as suggested in the answer by mnstalemate.
    – Gunnar Hjalmarsson
    Jun 6, 2014 at 14:13
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    @GunnarHjalmarsson I have edit the file and changes have not been lost, and I've done updated every time they're available.
    – Mitch
    Jun 6, 2014 at 15:31
  • @Mitch: ubuntu-session was last updated in the middle of March. Try sudo apt-get install --reinstall ubuntu-session
    – Gunnar Hjalmarsson
    Jun 6, 2014 at 22:24
38

To remove guest login :

  1. sudo sh -c 'printf "[SeatDefaults]\nallow-guest=false\n" > /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-no-guest.conf'

  2. This will create a new file in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d

  3. To get back guest login again remove 50-no-guest.conf

To remove remote login :

  1. sudo sh -c 'printf "[SeatDefaults]\ngreeter-show-remote-login=false\n" >/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-no-remote-login.conf'

  2. This will create a new file in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d

  3. To get back remote login again remove 50-no-remote-login.conf

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  • 2
    This is the best method and should be the accepted answer.
    – Andrew Ensley
    Aug 29, 2014 at 17:47
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    best answer imho - remind me to scroll down first in the future
    – Cookie
    Sep 4, 2014 at 6:36
  • @Cookie: Or checking the official docs first. ;)
    – Gunnar Hjalmarsson
    Jun 5, 2015 at 18:35
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    This is a good answer, however I would recommend editing the file /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-no-new-guest.conf instead. /usr/share is reserved for files installed with the package manager, /etc is expected to be edited by sysadmins. LightDM configuration in /etc also takes precedence over configuration in /usr.
    – Robert Ancell
    Nov 7, 2015 at 9:21
0

Or just add:

greeter-show-remote-login=false

to /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-ubuntu.conf

along with your disable guest line

No need to overcomplicate a very simple fix by creating additional config files besides default, which will inevidably only confuse the OS at some point when the two files conflict, or the default file is erased and one of your two 'fixes' gets undone because you didn't do them together.

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  • Can you also include the disable guest line?
    – jmunsch
    Jun 22, 2014 at 17:53
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    You are wrong. Creating additional config files is the way to go. Editing a package owned file under /usr/share will only work until next time the package is upgraded.
    – Gunnar Hjalmarsson
    Jul 2, 2014 at 14:04
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    Agree that multiple config files are the way to go, as it is more extensible and causes less conflicts... also easier to automate with devops scripts!
    – Asfand Qazi
    Aug 17, 2014 at 4:31

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