Sometimes, conveniency is the problem. So, the question is how do I disable automatic login for Linux Mint 13? When I tried to disable automatic login for Linux Mint 13 through graphical user interface and it failed to do just that. I scratched my head. Looked around the web and some Linux users suggested that I could totally edit the mdm.conf file. This was what I did and it worked. Here is how:
- Open up a terminal
- Do [sudo -i] and type in your sudo password (i.e., a user who has the authorization to become administrator through sudo command). By the way, do not use the square brackets in your command line as they’re there for clarity only.
- Type in the command [cp -p -a /etc/mdm/mdm.conf /etc/mdm/mdm.conf-old]. What this command does is to create a copy of the file you about to edit. By doing this, you can recover the file when you completely mess up the original file. It’s a security measure that all Linux users should practice when editing an important file.
- Type in the command [vim.tiny /etc/mdm/mdm.conf].
- Hit letter [i] on the keyboard to enter editing mode.
- Find the line which says AutomaticLoginEnable=true, and change the true part to false. It should look like this AutomaticLoginEnable=false. Make sure you know how to use vim.tiny OK? If not, try to edit the mdm.conf file with nano editor instead.
- Also, find the line which says TimedLoginEnable=true, and change the true part to false. It should look like this afterward, TimedLoginEnable=false.
- As you’re using vim.tiny editor, to save the new change of mdm.conf file, you must hit [Esc] key first, type in a colon second (i.e., [:]), type in [wq] right after the colon, and then hit enter key to save and exit the mdm.conf file. It should look like this [:wq].
- Type [exit] and hit enter key in the terminal to exit root.
- Type [exit] and hit the enter key again to exit the terminal altogether.
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