Shutdown/reboot from console-based login screen

Melab · 2017-06-20 22:18:05

My Arch Linux setup does not have a GUI installed nor do I wish to install one. I'd like to be able to shutdown/reboot my computer from the login screen. There was some thread on this site that was similar to my question and one (suggested?) solution was to setup user accounts like "poweroff" and "reboot" whose login shells corresponded to the paths of those executables. I can't find the thread and the solution was not explained very clearly. I tried making a reboot accounts, removed its password in /etc/shadow (so I could login to it without a password), set its UID to 900, added it to sudo, and changed its login shell to /usr/bin/reboot. I trued logging into so my computer would reboot, but the login screen kept saying it couldnt login ("wrong password" it said?). How do I do this right?

Trilby · 2017-06-20 22:37:12

Melab wrote:

removed its password in /etc/shadow

That was completely the wrong way of doing that. You use `passwd` to set the password. You can set it to an empty string, but that is different from not having a password - and even more different from breaking /etc/shadow by manually editting it.

There are tools to fix the /etc/{passwd,shadow,gshadow}{,-} files, but the easiest solution at this point would probably be to remove that user (properly with userdel) and start again.

ewaller · 2017-06-21 02:06:12

Would not running passwd shutdown (or whatever the user was called) as root repair the problem?

Trilby · 2017-06-21 10:31:44

Would it? I'm not sure. Usually once one manually breaks one of the user/password related files in /etc/ it's a bit more of a hassle. Although given that the password is the only problem passwd may fix it - it's worth a shot.

R00KIE · 2017-06-21 13:26:48

After fixing the password issue wouldn't it be easier to set the shell to bash and then use ~/.bash_profile to call shutdown/reboot? It would ensure systemd would do its magic and there would be a session running so there would be no need to mess with sudo/polkit/whatever or give special privileges to the accounts. Obviously this assumes a local login, for remote logins you might have to tweak polkit not to ask for the password (I don't know what it will do if there is no password or the password is empty).

Arch Linux

#1 2017-06-20 22:18:05

Shutdown/reboot from console-based login screen

#2 2017-06-20 22:37:12

Re: Shutdown/reboot from console-based login screen

#3 2017-06-21 02:06:12

Re: Shutdown/reboot from console-based login screen

#4 2017-06-21 10:31:44

Re: Shutdown/reboot from console-based login screen

#5 2017-06-21 13:26:48

Re: Shutdown/reboot from console-based login screen

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