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Why does Ubuntu forcese my to create a password?!

Eyal
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I installed Ubuntu (about 6 months ago) I've set a password and everything worked great, yesterday I've disabled the password because I decided that I don't need a password and it was very annoying to type a password every time I want to install software. besides, I don't have any reason to be afraid from other people accessing my computer. now I can't install anything from the software center :( . I've reinstalled the OS (and I used a backup, so I didn't lose any important files) and now it still forcing me to create a password! Why?!

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There is probably a way around this, but it's bad practice. linux is not like windows in the way that it is designed from the ground up to be a multi-user OS. Not having a root password or running as root makes you vulnerable, just like not using user accound control or running as admin all the time on windows. If you DO get hacked or get a virus, its game over since the attacker will have the same permissions over the systemm as you do. With Ubuntu, yes it's less likely but still a bad idea.

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If it was a notebook that I take with me, yes it's a bad idea. But it's a desktop, and physically I'm the only one who has access to, did you mean that without a password on Linux the apps installed on the device will have the control just as much as I do?

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did you mean that without a password on Linux the apps installed on the device will have the control just as much as I do

Of course they would, they always do. They are run under your user with your permissions. This is why damage can be mitigated by running as a non root/admin with a password when some piece of software is exploited.

There are a few ways around this, such as configuring sudo to not require a password for a specific user or group. I'm not very familiar with ubuntu but as I understand it, the first user is the admin/root user so this is probably the way it works, but as I've mentioned: bad idea.

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Well azeotrope, you have a good point. d1g1tald3ath thanks a lot!

Now I'm not only capable of disable the password, I can make an educated decision risk Vs comfort... Hopefully I'll not regret it later on.

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