Lots of password nagging - is this Vista reincarnated?

chroma601 · Post by **chroma601** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 9:34 pm

Every time I open a web browser, I need to enter my password to unlock something. Most every admin task requires it. I am the only one using the computer, and there is nothing of value on it (at this time, anyway). When I upgrade to 16, is there a way to avoid so much password entry. or is that simply to be expected with Linux?

WharfRat · Post by **WharfRat** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 10:35 pm

You can bypass the sudo password by changing one line in /etc/sudoers to

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%sudo	ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

You must use visudo or nano to edit this file. I use nano.

Backup the original before making the change as if it's done incorrectly you'll have problems.

Also, just in case, set a root password so you can su to root in case you break sudo

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sudo passwd root

Don't forget the root password.

Good luck

chroma601 · Post by **chroma601** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 7:44 am

Thanks, will give it a try!

mtflo · Post by **mtflo** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 6:28 pm

Does not work in Mint 17.3 Any other ideas on how to get rid of the terrible password nagging?
Thanks for your help.

Post by **karlchen** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 6:36 pm

Hello, mtflo.

It is generally not a smart idea to append a question / comment / complaint to a thread which has not received any updates for more than 2 years. Information given in such old threads might be outdated.
Nonetheless, in this case the instructions given for an older Linux Mint release should still work on Linux Mint 17.3 as well.
Conclusion: you might be doing something incorrectly.
You should bother to tell in more details what you do and what the result of each step is. Else it might be hard to give any more precise answer.

Regards,
Karl

Penn · Post by **Penn** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 7:45 pm

Not only is Karlchen right that you should start a thread or find a more recent one but the exact message when it asks for a password may be necessary. If it has to do with "keyring" I think I saw a solution not too long ago and it is fixable.

mtflo · Post by **mtflo** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 7:47 pm

Visudo or nano are not present on my distribution. Therefore it is not possible to use them.
Sorry about posting to an old post but I get yelled at for starting a new thread also.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Habitual · Post by **Habitual** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 7:53 pm

mtflo wrote:Sorry about posting to an old post but I get yelled at for starting a new thread also.

How's that? You only have 2 posts.

LinuxJim · Post by **LinuxJim** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 8:09 pm

mtflo wrote:Visudo or nano are not present on my distribution. Therefore it is not possible to use them.

??? Then why don't you install them?

In any case, you can use the text editor of your choice. Surely you have at least one available.

mtflo · Post by **mtflo** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 9:53 pm

I did try to open it with the included textediter, it could not open it.
This is a question in the Newbie section.
I had no idea what Visudo or Nano were (this is the newbie section)

There are no such things as "stupid" questions. However if you think your question is a bit stupid, then this is the right place for you to post it.

I read the documentation that came with Mint. No reference to my issue that I could find.

I searched the forms to try to find the answer.

Then some techie pricks decided that they needed to teach this newbie a lesson on who knows the most. (This is the newbie section)

I know this won't get posted.

LinuxJim · Post by **LinuxJim** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 10:31 pm

To edit the file in question requires root privileges. Simply clicking on it as a normal user doesn't work.

To edit the file with root privileges, type this in a terminal:

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gksudo gedit /etc/sudoers

Be aware, however, that you are playing with fire here - modifying system files like this is not a newbie activity. I strongly suggest a little reading and research first to understand WHY you want to do this and WHAT are the consequences. If you can't be bothered, then Linux is not for you.

The question is not stupid. The attitude is.

Website · Post by **Moem** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 2:38 am

mtflo wrote:I know this won't get posted.

I think you'll have a better experience here if you give us a little more credit. We are generally friendly to newbies (I should know, I'm a newbie too). The only exception is newbies who come in pretending they know it all.
Starting your own thread is expected behaviour and won't get you yelled at. Welcome to Mint, to Linux and to the forums.

ZeckeSZ · Post by **ZeckeSZ** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 5:16 am

LinuxJim wrote:
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gksudo gedit /etc/sudoers

Never edit this file with a normal text editor, always use the visudo command instead:

visudo parses the sudoers file after the edit and will not save the changes if there is a syntax error

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man visudo

Cosmo. · Post by **Cosmo.** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 5:26 am

ZeckeSZ wrote:Never edit this file with a normal text editor, always use the visudo command instead

Absolutely.

Regarding visudo and nano not being there:
Open a terminal and enter

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nano

If nano does not start, marke the complete content of the terminal and paste it here.

gold_finger · Post by **gold_finger** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 6:08 am

mtflo wrote:Visudo or nano are not present on my distribution.

They are present, but since you're new to using Linux you just don't know where they are. They are not gui applications that show up somewhere in the Menu, which can lead you to think they're not installed. Both are invoked from the terminal rather than from the applications menu. So, WharfRat's original instructions from 2 years ago are still valid but they assumed a certain amount of knowledge on the user's part. To edit /etc/sudoers file using either visudo or nano means you have to do it with either of these two commands in a terminal:

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visudo /etc/sudoers

Or

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sudo nano /etc/sudoers

Having said that, as ZeckeSZ pointed out, the safest/preferred/best way to edit that file is to use visudo for reason quoted.

Lastly, I'd strongly urge you to not change default settings for entering passwords until you are at least a bit more experienced with Linux and fully understand potential consequences of doing things like that.

Pjotr · Post by **Pjotr** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 6:21 am

LinuxJim wrote:Be aware, however, that you are playing with fire here - modifying system files like this is not a newbie activity. I strongly suggest a little reading and research first to understand WHY you want to do this and WHAT are the consequences. If you can't be bothered, then Linux is not for you.

The question is not stupid. The attitude is.

Well put, sir!

No offense meant towards my forum colleagues, but teaching a newbie how to do this, is like teaching a toddler how to fire a shotgun...

gold_finger · Post by **gold_finger** » Fri Feb 05, 2016 11:49 pm

Pjotr wrote:No offense meant towards my forum colleagues, but teaching a newbie how to do this, is like teaching a toddler how to fire a shotgun...

I agree ... to a point.

Normally I would post a stern warning first and explain why it's not a good idea. Inevitably, many others would also post the same warnings. Then, in vast majority of cases, OP would realize that it's not a good idea and decide to forget about the idea and that's usually the end of it. (I'd guess this happens around 95% of the time.)

Three reasons why I didn't withold answer from the get go this time:

Answer was already provided and I was just clarifying it.
I suspected this poster is same person as in this thread, but under different name. Same bad attitude and still insisting on getting an answer despite multiple prior warnings on both threads.
It's not my/our job to "save" the people from themselves if they absolutely refuse to heed warnings. If person ends up breaking his/her system, it's his/her own fault.

The answer was legitimate. There is nothing malicious about the commands. The poster knows that it's not recommended at all to run the system that way, but has decided to do it anyway.

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