Persistent live install, stop auto login SDDM

[Shoshi]

Please tell me if this is in the wrong section. I also do not want to do a full install if possible.

I have a persistent live install using a casper-rw partition of Kubuntu 16.04. It is running very well, but I would like to disable the live user from logging in automatically. I made a new user account but no matter what settings I set (disable auto login, change auto login) it starts up and just appears to bypass the desktop manager and logs right in to the live user. I have done a lot of searching and have not found a way around this. There is no sddm folder and editing sddm.conf and removing all of the auto login entries does not help. Trying other login managers does not seem to help either. I tried Lightdm and it just goes blank, slim loads but I cannot login to my account with it. I had similar issues with 15.10 as well... Any help would be appreciated!

[Snowhog]

To be clear, are you running 16.04 from a USB stick containing a persistent data partition or something else?

[Shoshi]

Yes. a 16 gig usb stick. it has two ext4 partitions. one around 1.8 gigs for the extracted iso image and the remaining an ext4 partition labeled casper-rw. I have around 12 gigs or so of space I can use. I want to basically use this as a frugal install. People have done similar with other flavors but I have found nothing with Kubuntu.

[Snowhog]

Written for 14.04, but it should still be pertinent for 16.04: How to Install The Real Ubuntu System on USB Flash Drive

From what you have described, and from how I'm 'reading it', it doesn't sound as if you actually installed Kubuntu to the USB stick, but rather, created a Live USB with a persistent data partition. IF that is the case, there is no "user" other than the 'special user' that all Live CD/DVD/USB *buntu's use.

[Shoshi]

Written for 14.04, but it should still be pertinent for 16.04: How to Install The Real Ubuntu System on USB Flash Drive

From what you have described, and from how I'm 'reading it', it doesn't sound as if you actually installed Kubuntu to the USB stick, but rather, created a Live USB with a persistent data partition. IF that is the case, there is no "user" other than the 'special user' that all Live CD/DVD/USB *buntu's use.

I do not mean to be rude but I know what I am talking about. As I stated I do not want to do a full traditional install as it takes up over 6 gigs of space vs a persistent live install. You can make additional users on live persistent installs. In essence this is a kludged frugal install. I am not asking to do something that cannot be done. I am not trying to make Kubuntu function any different. People do persistent 'installs' all the time its a feature that has been around for years. Software like unetbootin and even Ubuntus own startup disk creator offer the ability. In a persistent live install, the apps and data you download and install stays. All I am asking for is to disable the autologin of the default live user. People have done this on other flavors of Ubuntu such as Lubuntu but I want to do it on Kubuntu.

[claydoh]

You would have to go into and modify one of the image files to do this -persistence allows for some user data to be saved, but not system-level things.

A very brief search brings me this:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/57975...-not-autologin

[Shoshi]

You would have to go into and modify one of the image files to do this -persistence allows for some user data to be saved, but not system-level things.

A very brief search brings me this:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/57975...-not-autologin

I have actually tried that and I get some sort of kernel panick... I know that others have done what I wanted to do on other flavors without having to edit the initial ram disk.

[GreyGeek]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb/persistent

[Shoshi]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb/persistent

I know how to make a persistent usb... I really am not trying to be mean. I am trying to prevent both of our times being wasted. I have a working persistent live usb with a casper-rw partition. It works great and I need no help with it. I want to prevent the default live user from auto logging in so I can log in with the new account that I created. This has be done by others on Lubuntu and Zorin apparently. I want to do it with Kubuntu.

[GreyGeek]

Never done that. Can't help you.

[Shoshi]

If it helps I think sddm is using systemd for the auto login...

[claydoh]

I know how to make a persistent usb... I really am not trying to be mean. I am trying to prevent both of our times being wasted. I have a working persistent live usb with a casper-rw partition. It works great and I need no help with it. I want to prevent the default live user from auto logging in so I can log in with the new account that I created. This has be done by others on Lubuntu and Zorin apparently. I want to do it with Kubuntu.

So what specific tools or methods do they use to do this? Whnich versions of Lubuntu? What version is Zorin based on? Perhps there are differences in how the images are produced in the last few *buntu versions - the stock (k)ubuntu usb-creator was broken until 16.04 because of this.

Every setting that needs to be modified is something that is contained oin the compressed, read-only file system. I wonder,as the iso is a hybrid, that the method used to create the disk might be a factor? Some tools create a drive that is seen as a cd-rom (iso9660) and write to the MBR, others basically copy files and use gpt and the efi folder to boot from.

checking some things out to try and do this myself, but work may slow me down.

[GreyGeek]

...
checking some things out to try and do this myself, but work may slow me down.

Me too, out or curiosity. I used UNetbootin in the repository to create a LiveUSB with persistence. I took an 8GB USB stick and formatted it using KParted to make it a FAT32 partition, sdb1. I mounted sdb1 to /mnt and then ran UNetbootin, using the DiskImage option at the bottom to select my Xenial ISO and gave it 6GB for persistence. It saays it would use the maximum amount available if you set the amount to more than what is available. When it was over I had 4GB devoted to Xenial and 2GB as a persistence space.

What I was thinking of doing, after I booted into it. is to create me as a user with my own password and a root account with its own password, perhaps disabling the sudo capability as well.

[Shoshi]

To answer a few questions. I use unetbootin. I preformatted the usb drive. Basically 2 ext4 partitions. One around 2 gigs for the iso data and another the remaining size of the usb. The second partition must be labeled casper-rw. It works perfectly.

It seems like the versions that people got to work was Lubuntu 14.04 and Zorin is based on 14.04 as well. I just tried it it with Lubuntu 16.04 and it also works. I can add a new user and edit the Lightdm configuration file and no more auto login. This does not work with Kubuntu even if I edit the sddm config. I then installed the full Kubuntu desktop on top of Lubuntu (except sddm) and it works. However this is a very clunky way of doing this and it takes around 500 MB extra space. Still a lot smaller than a full install.

I have tried the other way. Using Kubuntu then installing Lightdm and removing sddm and it just does not work. :/

[GreyGeek]

To answer a few questions. I use unetbootin. I preformatted the usb drive. Basically 2 ext4 partitions. One around 2 gigs for the iso data and another the remaining size of the usb. The second partition must be labeled casper-rw. It works perfectly.

It seems like the versions that people got to work was Lubuntu 14.04 and Zorin is based on 14.04 as well. I just tried it it with Lubuntu 16.04 and it also works. I can add a new user and edit the Lightdm configuration file and no more auto login. This does not work with Kubuntu even if I edit the sddm config. I then installed the full Kubuntu desktop on top of Lubuntu (except sddm) and it works. However this is a very clunky way of doing this and it takes around 500 MB extra space. Still a lot smaller than a full install.

I have tried the other way. Using Kubuntu then installing Lightdm and removing sddm and it just does not work. :/

Using Kubuntu with UNetbootin did not work for mr either. It hung on the boot. A non-persistent LiveUSB of Kubuntu 16.04 booted fine.

My first try using UNetbootin with 2 FAT32 portions didn't work either. Everything was in one partition. I wasn't aware of the need to use "casper-rw" as a label. Thanks for the tip. Having to use Lubuntu and then installing Kubuntu suggests that a USB stick larger than 8GB would be better. I'm going to get a 32GB USB and go your route.