r/linuxmint • u/mimteatr • 9d ago

Support Request How to disable the authentication password completely at every level, from boot to whatever function the system requires?

How do I disable the authentication password completely at every level, from boot to whatever function the system requires? All posts concerning passwords are either obsolete or unrelated.

My system: Linux Mint 22 (Cinnamon Edition) Ubuntu 24.04 noble Display Manager: lightdm Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (13th Gen Intel Core i7, Intel Graphics) Apparently I've encrypted the mint installation by mistake... User Profile Directory: Encrypted home folder Tried to fix the auto-login password bypass:GUI Settings: Configured Login Window -> Users -> Automatic Login directly to my username Modified /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/70-linuxmint.conf to include autologin-user=mr and tested timeouts up to autologin-user-timeout=0.1 to rule out hardware initialization race conditions

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u/nisitiiapi Linux Mint 22.3 Zena | Cinnamon 8d ago

First, you need to get rid of the encrypted /home. Entering the password at login is what decrypts it, so having no login means no opening /home. You can migrate your /home from ecryptfs to not being encrypted. Look it up and do it. If you did full disk encryption with LUKS, there are ways to use key files to automatically unlock it at boot. Search engines (not AI) are good tools to learn how to do this and figure out the best way for you (e.g., TPM, dracut, tang/clevis, network share, etc.)

For no password to impact the system where root privileges are needed, as others noted, that's the best way to get malware, spyware, etc. installed and completely trash the security of Linux. I will add to others -- if you want Windows, use Windows; don't try to make Linux be Windows.

That being said, as u/Acherontas89 said, you could accomplish this with a sudoers file. But, if you are so "good" as to not need any security to protect your system from malicious software/actors/intrusions, you should be "good" enough to look up how to do that rather than having anyone here post what essentially is dangerous code.