How to login to your ubuntu account automatically in background?

Question

I was wondering whether we could login into ubuntu account automatically but stay password protected. In my case, I want my torrent to automatically start when computer boots up. So I need to be logged in automatically. This is fine, I can change "Automatic login" option under User Accounts settings. But I do not want my account to be exposed to others without a password.

Sriram Kannan · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-23T02:55:55.250

4

Well, after long search and scratching my head, I found a way to do it.

First head to User Accounts and switch on the "Automatic Login" option. By doing this, you will be automatically logged in at boot, but your account and files will be exposed to anyone near the computer.

Now, open Startup Applications. Click Add and enter details as shown below

under "Command:" field, enter the following (also shown in the screenshot)

dm-tool switch-to-greeter

Now, what it does is, it automatically logs you in and then quickly switches user. Thus you will be logged in in the background.

If you want to start your torrent download automatically then just add your "transmission" or "qbittorrent" command to the Startup Applications as well.

edited Dec 23 '16 at 02:55

answered Jul 05 '14 at 12:32

Sriram Kannan

379

1

Please update your answer with screenshots uploaded to imgur (default setup for Ask Ubuntu) instead of using dropbox (aka crapbox). – Anwar Nov 19 '16 at 13:00
@Anwar done :-) Thanks for the heads up. I will use dropbox no more. – Sriram Kannan Dec 23 '16 at 02:57

How to login to your ubuntu account automatically in background?

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