No password required after powering on Macbook Pro?!

[wirewick]

Hello MacRumors.
I come to you following a somewhat concerning event with my Macbook Pro.
The computer was powered off and plugged in to the charger. I pressed the power button and waited for the normal startup sequence. Black screen with the Apple logo and status bar progressing, and then....

It takes me right to my desktop! No password pages. This is very concerning to me. I have never experienced this before. I recently updated to High Sierra after the daily constant reminded notifications... I suspect that the new OS has something to do with this glitch.

Has anyone experienced this? Im familiar with the "root" hack people were using to crack into user accounts but this issue seems completely different.

 

[mj_]

Check your system preferences under Users & Groups - Login Options whether or not automatic login is enabled.

 

[gfcipriani]

Apple watch on your arm? If wearing near your mbp, then this will unlock your machine.

 

[wirewick]

Check your system preferences under Users & Groups - Login Options whether or not automatic login is enabled.

Okay, automatic login is enabled. But does that mean I should be able to restart the computer and operate under the admin User without submitting a password? I thought automatic login just means that my user is the default on the system log in page.

Does this have something to do with how much time passes between restarts? When I woke up this morning, the computer was sleeping. I woke it up and was asked for my password as usual. Then as a test I shut down the computer and when it powered back on it cycled right into my desktop without asking for any password. This must be a bug. It makes no sense to me. If I shut down my computer, I should be required to submit a password after powering on for security.

Apple watch on your arm? If wearing near your mbp, then this will unlock your machine.

I don't own an Apple Watch.

 

[mj_]

It's not a bug, it's a feature. And it works exactly as intended. Shutting down or restarting your computer is not the same as putting it to sleep and locking the screen. Those are two completely different things and consequently two completely different settings.

Automatic login does exactly what it says: it logs in a predetermined user automatically without any sort of user interaction. Otherwise it wouldn't be automatic, would it? Putting the computer to sleep and/or locking the screen, on the other hand, means that at least one user has already been logged in at one point, whether automatic or not. Accordingly, settings for password requirements on wake-up after standby or screen lock can be found in Security & Privacy.

 

[wirewick]

It's not a bug, it's a feature. And it works exactly as intended. Shutting down or restarting your computer is not the same as putting it to sleep and locking the screen. Those are two completely different things and consequently two completely different settings.

Automatic login does exactly what it says: it logs in a predetermined user automatically without any sort of user interaction. Otherwise it wouldn't be automatic, would it? Putting the computer to sleep and/or locking the screen, on the other hand, means that at least one user has already been logged in at one point, whether automatic or not. Accordingly, settings for password requirements on wake-up after standby or screen lock can be found in Security & Privacy.

So with automatic login I am never required to use my password, regardless of how much time has elapsed between powering off and on? That's strange.

I think this feature must have been turned on somehow when I updated to High Sierra the other day. I remember always having to use my password for login after reboots.

Under general security settings I have it selected to "require password immediately after sleep or screen saver." Allowing this setting in conjunction with automatic login seems to be an oversight, in my opinion. If a user wants to require a password immediately its unlikely they want to be logged in automatically. The two settings should be on the same page within system preferences. In any case, thanks for pointing this out to me. While browsing through settings I also noticed my firewall was turned off (oops). Time to tighten things up.

As an experiment what I am going to try now is: log off, then restart, and see if automatic login still applies in that scenario.
[doublepost=1514500816][/doublepost]Okay, now I am convinced this is a complete oversight by Apple and possibly a bug.

Why the heck would I chose to have a password on my user account that is immediately required after putting the computer to sleep, if someone could come along and simply RESTART my computer in order to log right in? This is ridiculous. "Require Password" checkbox should be greyed out if Automatic Login is enabled. One completely defeats the other and giving the user the impression of password protection is absolutely misleading. I am seriously blown away by this.

And I am certain that Automatic Login was never a setting I selected, and came about only after updating to High Sierra.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"Okay, now I am convinced this is a complete oversight by Apple and possibly a bug."

It's NOT "a bug".
It's the way it works.

If you don't want to be bothered by this, go to the users & groups pane and set your account to require a password at bootup. It's as simple as that.

...that is all...

 

[OriginalAppleGuy]

Apple watch on your arm? If wearing near your mbp, then this will unlock your machine.

The watch will not unlock your Mac after a power cycle or reboot. It requires you to enter your password once. Return from sleep, now that's the beauty of the watch. Nice feature.
[doublepost=1514566724][/doublepost]

Why the heck would I chose to have a password on my user account that is immediately required after putting the computer to sleep, if someone could come along and simply RESTART my computer in order to log right in?

The password requirement is used for many things. Including software installations or when software wants to modify your system in some way. Whatever happened to make the change on your Mac just ensure your settings are they way you want them and be done with it.