From: chris@internal.net   
      
   On 24/10/2025 at 16:33, s|b wrote:   
   > On Fri, 24 Oct 2025 14:54:46 +0100, Chris Elvidge wrote:   
   >   
   >> You're installing Mint, right?   
   >   
   > Yes, Linux Mint 22.2 Cinnamon 64-bit.   
   >   
   >> You specify your username during the install. As it happens this will   
   >> make a directory under /home with your username as its name. E.g. I   
   >> specify 'chris' as my username and get a directory /home/chris as my   
   >> home directory. You also have a user root with home directory /root.   
   >> This is standard. That's your user without root access and your user   
   >> with root access.   
   >>   
   >> As an added 'bonus' Mint will also allow your user (chris) access to   
   >> root via sudo. Any users added after that will not have sudo access   
   >> until and unless you provide it (see visudo) but this is not usual   
   >> unless you are envisaging a multiuser system.   
   >>   
   >> You can use user chris for autologin, it you want to.   
   >   
   > But this user can access root via sudo you just said. Isn't it wise then   
   > to autologin with an added user that doesn't have sudo access? If such a   
   > thing is possible.   
   >   
   >> According to your original post your boss, logged in as root, changed   
   >> the directory name under /home from (e.g.) chris to Chris - linux is   
   >> case sensitive, unlike Windows, so chris and Chris are different. Also   
   >> changing the name of a home directory does not change the username. So,   
   >> as I explained above, you cannot log in as Chris and expect anything to   
   >> work - bad password - as user Chris is not in the password file, and   
   >> /home/Chris is also not in the password file, so logging in as chris   
   >> will not find a home directory, and will default to /, where you can't   
   >> do anything remotely useful.   
   >   
   > I've understood that now. In Windows, messing with c:\users\* will cause   
   > problems as well.   
   >   
   >> So log in as chris and use sudo (superuser do) to get access to the root   
   >> user's account, if necessary.   
   >>   
   >> The answer: don't use user root unless you know what you're doing - it   
   >> will break something.   
   >   
   > We've learned that the hard way. But it's not an answer to my question:   
   >   
   > Can I install, create a user with root access with no autologin, then   
   > create a user with no root access with autologin? If so and I want to   
   > access the root account, how? Autologin (no root), then sign off and   
   > switch user? Or are there other ways   
   >   
   > I can test this myself now, but I'd rather ask instead of breaking   
   > something again.   
   >   
      
   You've already got a user root, and a user with root access via sudo.   
   Just create another user. (See:   
   https://livingthelinuxlifestyle.wordpress.com/2021/04/24/how-to-   
   dd-and-remove-users-in-linux-mint/   
   for example). By default it will have no sudo access (like I said   
   above). Change the autologin user to the new user. I don't have a new   
   Mint installation to check how to do it to hand, but it will depend on   
   your login manager's configuration file. Check /etc/ for a config file   
   with autologin and username (hint: grep).   
      
   E.g. sddm.conf (for my login manager)   
   [Autologin]   
   Relogin=true   
   Session=xfce   
   User=chris   
      
   --   
   Chris Elvidge, England   
   ORGAN TRANSPLANTS ARE BEST LEFT TO THE PROFESSIONALS   
   Bart Simpson on chalkboard in episode 1F15   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)