Hello world,
I know that this is a common gripe from those who transition from Windows to Linux. I know the Linux/Unix design philosophy is heavily focused on security and why things are set up the way that they are. I know that any response to this post is likely to be prefaced with ‘you shouldn’t want to do things like that’, but…
Having to type out my user password numerous times every session to achieve the most mundane of tasks like installing applications is… carefully choosing my words… beyond frustrating.
When I install Windows on a machine the very first thing I do on first boot is turn UAC (user account control) to it’s lowest possible setting as being prompted ‘Is this okay?’ every time you issue a command is in my opinion, excessive.
“Hey, you know the thing you just asked me to do?”
“Yeah?..”
“Should I do it?”
“Yes, that’s why I asked you to do it… Why do you always make me repeat myself?”
Windows saving grace is that at least 1) UAC settings can be changed so that it will no longer prompt you or 2) If UAC settings are left at their default level at least it is only a matter of clicking the ‘okay’ button; where as here we have to type out our entire password each and every time.
So, to get to the question: can anything be done about this? Can I edit my user credentials/privileges to a higher level permanently or even just use a command in the terminal to raise privileges until reboot so that I will no longer be prompted for a password every time I want to scratch my butt?
I know that wanting to circumvent the Linux security design philosophy makes me a bad person. What can I say, I’m a Windows plebian; but my user philosophy is that I’d rather break things and learn from mistakes than be wrapped in cotton wool.
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You can set sudo to not prompt for a password every time.
sudo visudo
Add this line, changing user_name with your username and saving the file.
user_name ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL
You'd have to check that this also works for GUI style apps.
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Doing some research apparently the way to run GUI apps as root is with the command ‘gksudo’. So I figured I could create a shortcut for Gnome-Software (the app store) on the desktop, right click go to properties and add gksudo to the start of the command field. I tried this but it errored so then I tried the same thing from the terminal and the error message was “Command ‘gksudo’ not found”.
I found the information about gksudo on an Ubuntu forum. I know that Zorin is based on Ubuntu so I thought it was probably relevant but I do realize the two OS will differ.
Gksudo was removed after Ubuntu 16.04 and replaced with ‘pkexec’.
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That did the job. Thank you muchly.
For anyone else who comes here looking for answers:
- open the Zorin menu >> click System Tools >> right click Software and add to desktop
- right click the desktop shortcut and select properties
- in the box labelled 'command' add 'pkexec ' before 'gnome-software %U'
Now when you install apps from the app store you won't be prompted for a password. I assume this will work similarly for other apps. It is still prompting for a password to uninstall apps... but I'll leave that problem for another day.
The command filed is not found!
Also I opened the .desktop file and added pkexec nothing worked!.
As a temporary fix, I created a small .sh script and put the shortcut in desktop, once I clicked, it will copy my long passoword to clipboard. Now all i need to do is Ctrl+V when prompting for a password.
Additionally I run a cron tab for that .sh file, so at every reboot my password will be copied to clipbard automacally.
It's not a solution, but I'm sick and tierd of searching for the method to disable passoword prompts. For anyone who is new and got mad like me, try this method.
Go to Home in your Files (File explorer)
Right click on an empty place and create a new file with .sh extension. Eg: pcopy.sh
put the following code in it.
#!/bin/bash
xsel -ib <<< 'your1longPasswordThatmakesyouDisturbed'
Now your password will be copied to the clipboard!
Note:
If your pcopy.sh file is not runnning when you double click on it, but opened in a text editor, then click menu icon of the file explorer and select
Preferences > Behaviour tab > Executable Text Files> Select Run them
Additionally to create a crontab at every boot:
Refer this answer