Chapter 4. Locking Down the Desktop: Disabling GNOME Desktop Features

27

4.7.6.1. Using the Login Screen Setup Tool

To enable automatic login using the graphical Login Screen Setup tool, start the application by either

typing the command

gdmsetup

or via the menus through

Applications (the main menu on the panel) => System Settings => Login Screen.

After typing in the administrative password, the Login Screen Setup tool will appear on your screen.

To enable automatic login, check the box labelled "Login a user automatically on first bootup"

and enter a valid system user name in the Automatic login username text entry box. Figure 4 15

demonstrates this configuration for a fictional user named "sam".

Figure 4 15. Enabling Automatic Login with the Login Screen Setup Tool

4.7.6.2. Editing the

gdm.conf

Configuration File

To enable automatic login, add (or change) the following directives to

/etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf

:

AutomaticLoginEnable=true

AutomaticLogin=

<

valid_username

>

where

is a valid user on the system.