How do I enable auto-login in LightDM?

Question

I want user foo to auto-login using LightDM (which has been used by Ubuntu since version 11.10). How would I do that?

Answer 1

You can do this without editing configuration files: go to System Settings > User accounts, click "Unlock" and enter your password, then click the button next to "Automatic login":

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Answer 2

An alternative to Alin's answer is to create a file /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf and add the following content:

[SeatDefaults]
autologin-user=<YOUR USER>
autologin-user-timeout=0
user-session=ubuntu
# Uncomment the following, if running Unity
#greeter-session=unity-greeter

Next time you start, auto-login should work like expected.

Answer 3

For Ubuntu 14.04 create the file:

/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/12-autologin.conf

and add:

[SeatDefaults]
autologin-user=youruser

Answer 4

You can easily do this with lightdm-set-defaults if you'd rather not edit lightdm.conf manually:

sudo /usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-set-defaults --autologin "$USER"

It will not set the autologin timeout, but the default for that is 0 in the code anyway, so you don't need to set it.

Answer 5

gksu gedit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

add lines:

autologin-user=username
autologin-user-timeout=0

example:

[SeatDefaults]

user-session=ubuntu

greeter-session=unity-greeter

autologin-user=alan

autologin-user-timeout=0

Answer 6

Open settings, select 'user accounts'. Click the unlock button, then change the Automatic Login switch to "On"

Answer 7

Search for "User Accounts" application. Select the account you want to autologin Toggle the Automatic Login switch to On

That should do the work.

Answer 8

I can confirm that this works for 16.04.
Using your favourite editor, amend /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/60-lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf.
Add autologin-user=xxxx to the file, for example:

[Seat:*]
greeter-session=lightdm-gtk-greeter
autologin-user=wmurphy

Remember to also set the Not asked to login option under Users and Groups.

Answer 9

I have 12.10 xubuntu. In users and groups choose your user, and click word "Change..." next to "Password:" (it does not look like a button, what might be a bit misleading). There you can change password, or at the bottom mark "Don't ask for password on login" box.

Hope it works.

Answer 10

I just discovered that, I need to have ubuntu-desktop to be install before lightdm could function. This solved my issue when trying to get lightdm to actually login in without going in loop.

The reason for the system to go in loop may be because lightdm needs the ubuntu desktop before it may work.

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

Answer 11

I had the same problem, I solved it with the following steps:

1. login as root: sudo su

2. enter the file:

   sudo nano /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/60-lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf
   

3. at the bottom add:

   autologin-user=xxxx
   

4. save the content of the file then exit and reboot.

This should definitely work.