Guest account

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hi everybody.

I’m trying to set up a guest account in openSuSE 11, like Windows Guest account. But simply I can’t.

If i add an account, YaST ask me for a password. If I try using console:

passwd -d guest

then the password is cleared, but openSuSE don’t allow me to login with that user! Access Failed!

What else can I try? I’m trying to setup a very limited account for my family.

2

You just setup a user account. If the settings there are not sufficient to be able to configure it the way you want.
Manually edit the settings for that user later from Yast.

I’m not sure there is any such thing as a guest account in Linux.

3

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

First, all accounts in *nix are, by default, very limited. They can
only manipulate files in their home directory (/home/username) and
possibly in /tmp. Only the ‘root’ account is privileged at all and it
is the superuser. This design focusing on security means that everybody
is a nobody and is fairly safe on the box, except for ‘root’ whose
credentials and abilities you guard as much as possible.

Regarding the password-less user… I’m guessing it can be done though
I’m not sure how. Quick Google with ‘null password’ terms gave me the
following:

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/misc/26641-how-make-passwd-accept-blank-passwords.html

Good luck.

eduararley wrote:
> Hi everybody.
>
> I’m trying to set up a guest account in openSuSE 11, like Windows Guest
> account. But simply I can’t.
>
> If i add an account, YaST ask me for a password. If I try using
> console:
>
> passwd -d guest
>
> then the password is cleared, but openSuSE don’t allow me to login with
> that user! Access Failed!
>
> What else can I try? I’m trying to setup a very limited account for my
> family.
>
>
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Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iD8DBQFJLN+Z3s42bA80+9kRAjqCAJ9MH+Z2g2pCDpAQNicTxUDUp2F5cQCfX9ZP
+gZNa8hymnRrxZkwnbOAzq4=
=zRFl
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4

On Tue November 25 2008 11:33 pm, ab@novell.com wrote:

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> First, all accounts in *nix are, by default, very limited. They can
> only manipulate files in their home directory (/home/username) and
> possibly in /tmp. Only the ‘root’ account is privileged at all and it
> is the superuser. This design focusing on security means that everybody
> is a nobody and is fairly safe on the box, except for ‘root’ whose
> credentials and abilities you guard as much as possible.
>
> Regarding the password-less user… I’m guessing it can be done though
> I’m not sure how. Quick Google with ‘null password’ terms gave me the
> following:
>
>
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/misc/26641-how-make-passwd-accept-blank-passwords.html
>
> Good luck.
>
>
>
>
>
> eduararley wrote:
>> Hi everybody.
>>
>> I’m trying to set up a guest account in openSuSE 11, like Windows Guest
>> account. But simply I can’t.
>>
>> If i add an account, YaST ask me for a password. If I try using
>> console:
>>
>> passwd -d guest
>>
>> then the password is cleared, but openSuSE don’t allow me to login with
>> that user! Access Failed!
>>
>> What else can I try? I’m trying to setup a very limited account for my
>> family.
>>
>>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux)
> Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
>
> iD8DBQFJLN+Z3s42bA80+9kRAjqCAJ9MH+Z2g2pCDpAQNicTxUDUp2F5cQCfX9ZP
> +gZNa8hymnRrxZkwnbOAzq4=
> =zRFl
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
eduararley;

I tried your challenge with OpenSuse 10.2 this worked.

  1. Use YAST to create a user who can logon. Give any password you like.
  2. In a terminal window su to root, and issue the command:
    passwd <usercreatedinYAST>
  3. When it prompts for a password enter <return>; you will get a complaint
    about to short a password, ignore this and go on. It will prompt for you to
    confirm the password, again enter <return>.

You now have a passwordless account. (Is passwordless a real English word?)

–
P. V.
Is this on the test?

5

And you’ll find it interesting to go to Yast → security & users → user and group management → check out the button “Expert Options” → login settings. You can have a “passwordless login” or you can have “auto login”. The first is another take on PV’s advice. The second is also an option in that no login is required. I guess if you really wanted to be very like windows 95, have both for the same account.

6

Thanks to everybody! I could resolve my problem using “Local security” on YaST. With this toll, is far easy to set up permissions to a minimum, and still be able to login a user without a password.

Thanks!