Howto: Start X without manual login or DM.

teckk · 2014-06-13 14:00:07

For anyone who is interested.
I've got an Arch home entertainment center that I wanted the kids to turn on, have it boot up, launch X, start the window mgr, and display a menu that I made, with out ever having to log in or touch the keyboard-mouse.

This will do it.

Add to a users ~/.bash_profile

[[ -z $DISPLAY && $XDG_VTNR -eq 1 ]] && exec startx

Then

mkdir /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d
touch /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/autologin.conf

<UserName> is the user you wish to log in as.

echo -e "[Service] \nExecStart=\nExecStart=-/usr/bin/agetty --autologin <UserName> --noclear %I 38400 linux" > /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/autologin.conf

Or in case that confuses a newer user, that would be
/etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/autologin.conf

[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=-/usr/bin/agetty --autologin <UserName> --noclear %I 38400 linux

The machine will boot to window mgr without any intervention.

This would be for a machine that security is not a concern, like a home theater.
Edit: Fixed an error.

Last edited by teckk (2014-06-13 14:10:24)

karol · 2014-06-13 14:16:01

Is it different from https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Au … al_console + https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Start_X_at_Login ?

teckk · 2014-06-13 14:30:21

Maybe I should also add, if you have a display mgr installed you'll probably need to disable it. I had XDM on that box and I did

mv ~/.xsessions ~/.XXXxsessions

Karol
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Start_X_at_Login
That will allow X to auto start but the user still has to login first.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Au … al_console
This auto logs you into shell I think.

I've seen this question asked before on the forum, how to turn the machine on and have it ready with no more user input. That's what I came up with after doing some searching. Combine 1 and 2.

karol · 2014-06-13 14:40:44

teckk wrote:

I've seen this question asked before on the forum, how to turn the machine on and have it ready with no more user input. That's what I came up with after doing some searching. Combine 1 and 2.

That's what I'm asking about: how is what you wrote here different from the info that's in the wiki?

jasonwryan · 2014-06-13 20:20:32

The wiki is the appropriate place for this sort of thing; if in doubt, create the page in your namespace and then ask here for feedback and suggestions before creating a new page, adding a significant section or major change to an existing page.

Closing

Arch Linux

#1 2014-06-13 14:00:07

Howto: Start X without manual login or DM.

#2 2014-06-13 14:16:01

Re: Howto: Start X without manual login or DM.

#3 2014-06-13 14:30:21

Re: Howto: Start X without manual login or DM.

#4 2014-06-13 14:40:44

Re: Howto: Start X without manual login or DM.

#5 2014-06-13 20:20:32

Re: Howto: Start X without manual login or DM.

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