Guest account

[Fma55]

Hi,

a) What's the easiest way to create a non persistent guest account in Kubuntu 15.10?

b) How can I configure this account to let it connect to my WiFi automatically without asking for the password every time?

TIA

[GreyGeek]

I haven't checked 16.04 but here are the instructions for 14.04:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CustomizeGuestSession

[Fma55]

Thanks a lot for your quick reply. However, the CustomizeGuestSession instructions only show how to customize an existing (Ubuntu) guest account. I have not been able to find one in Kubuntu 15.10, so I don't know *what* to customize. The Ubuntu docs say "A guest session can be launched .... from the login screen" - but I don't see one at the Kubuntu login screen.

[GreyGeek]

The instructions for adding a guest account to Ubuntu 16.04 do not work on Kubuntu 16.04 because the Unity desktop has buttons related to guest accounts that Plasma5 does not have. Also, Ubuntu has subdirectories in /etc related to guest accounts that do not exist in Kubuntu.

So, I experimented with adding a guest account and found that this works:

1) Install kuser
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kuser

2) Run kuser in a Konsole. (You will not find it in the menu system unless you add it. You can find it at /usr/bin/kuser)
kdesudo kuser

3) add user guest with full name Guest
a. Replace /home/guest with /tmp/guest, which will get deleted on every reboot, but not between user switches. Leaving the home account as /home/guest will make a persistent guest account.
b. uncheck "Account Disabled" checkbox
c. give guest a password of guest, because an empty password will not be accepted and most people would try "guest" as a password anyway.

The auto login feature of previous releases has not been added to 16.04 yet, and even if it is I wouldn't use it. The login screen will default to the last user.

I like the fact that a listing of user accounts under /home does not show /home/guest, and that after a cold boot or restart the /tmp/guest directory in initially empty. Therefore, the first time someone uses the guest account after a cold boot or reboot the account recreates itself in /tmp/guest and it takes about twice as long to reach the desktop compared with just switching users.

[Fma55]

Thanks again for your effort. While I haven't tried it yet, this points at least to a new promising path. What about my second issue - I'm afraid that the guest will be asked for the WiFi password after each and every log on?

[GreyGeek]

Thanks again for your effort. While I haven't tried it yet, this points at least to a new promising path. What about my second issue - I'm afraid that the guest will be asked for the WiFi password after each and every log on?

I forgot about that niggle, BUT, while I was in the guest account I fired up FireFox and browsed the internet for a while just to check it out. The wifi and ethernet cable connect in the guest user account because when I set up my "greygeek" connection I checked the two options on the General Tab (first one on the left) which automatically connects using "greygeek" settings AND allows ALL users to use the connection. So, guest gets a free ride!

[Fma55]

Just wanted to report that indeed everything worked as you described it, and in my case, even an empty password was accepted. Thanks again for helping me out.