User and password issue on Start-up

[*old-guy*]

Usually, if I have my Thinking Head on, I put the laptop to sleep rather than turning it off. However, sometimes my mind is elsewhere and I revert to my Windows days and shut down the laptop. On those occasions, when I switch the laptop on, I am met with the option of signing in as the Main User or Other. When I click on Main User I am met with another screen asking for the Main User password. Once I enter the password I eventually get to the desktop.
Instead of all that, what I really want to do is press the Power switch, wait 30 seconds and be presented with the desktop screen.
No choice of user.
No password entering.
Is that too much to ask?

 

[hughvane]

I asked a similar question on a different forum about 2 years ago, but it's disappeared off the radar. Depending on a fickle memory, the answer went along the lines of (with dire warnings not to do it) ...
"Reboot from your Installer Disk 1 and reset Accounts and Login details. When asked for the Password, leave the field blank".
In the end I decided not to change anything and so still need to login whenever I start or restart my G4 eMac.

My G3 with Panther starts up with no need for a login password. I've checked how that's been done. It goes like this:
System Preferences > Accounts > Login Options (click the little house symbol). I have Automatically log in as xxxx (user name) checked. See if that works for you.

 

[hughvane]

I also found this on another forum ...

"you could set up your admin account all over again and opt for no password, which will not stop OS X from asking you to verify but will enable you to simply click "Enter" without entering anything."

It then goes on to say "bear in mind that password verification is an important built-in security aspect of UNIX that cannot be messed with, because it should not be messed with".

So, usual disclaimer ... use at your own risk etc.

 

[*old-guy*]

Hi again,
I can easily see the point of having start-up passwords in some circumstances. The obvious being where there are many people with access to an office where your computer is. On the flip side of the coin, I can also see where a start-up password is just a waste of time. Take me, for example. Why would I need a password on a computer that only myself and my wife have access to? And yet I can't disable the password feature. Why is that, do you think?

 

[Reflow]

Hi again,
I can easily see the point of having start-up passwords in some circumstances. The obvious being where there are many people with access to an office where your computer is. On the flip side of the coin, I can also see where a start-up password is just a waste of time. Take me, for example. Why would I need a password on a computer that only myself and my wife have access to? And yet I can't disable the password feature. Why is that, do you think?

Are you the administrator on the machine? If you are you can disable the password feature. It's in your system preference under accounts

 

[*old-guy*]

I AM the admin so that's something else to try.
Many thanks.

 

[johto]

I AM the admin so that's something else to try.
Many thanks.

I dont know what OS version you are running, but at least there's been for some time this feature in the user preferences called "automatic login"