Not getting a User Login password prompt

[harkelyn]

I recently installed Mageia 9 from a DVD onto a Dell laptop. It might be relevant to mention, out of habit I initially selected a two-character user password at the prompt during the install. I'm in this particular routine from already having a Mageia 9 system on a different computer which is safely within my home. The older M9 system always prompts me for the user password to login, and that system never made an issue about the password's lack of complexity. It might also be relevant to mention, that first system began as Mageia 7 installed from a DVD, was subsequently upgraded to M8, then was upgraded to Mageia 9.

So again, out of habit I selected a two-character user password while installing Mageia 9 from DVD onto the second computer. Mageia is the only OS on the drive, all updates have been installed and the system runs fine except, following several reboots and logins, I've noticed that I'm not prompted to enter a user password at the expected place. After the system boots up, I just click on the my user name when it's displayed, then Mageia starts. This means I or anybody else, can get to this Mageia desktop with no requirement to enter a user password. Meanwhile, the root admin password I selected, works as it should.

Although my user password for at-home computing is a weak system security choice, I don't want ZERO system security.

Below are screenshots from what I found while looking around in places I don't usually explore. The password settings seem inconsistent to me; "None" shows as the password in one place, a five-character password is indicated at another place, then an unreasonably long string of password characters appears in another place. Also, I have selected No Automatic Login in two places, nevertheless Auto Login is what I'm getting

Given the oddities of this user account, should I set up a second user, then delete the original user? Should I change the boot configuration from the current Default setting, to User Password? This is unfamiliar ground for me. I don't want to embark on random troubleshooting with the risk of completely locking myself out of access to this computer.

Also, is it possible that a Mageia 9 system which is an upgrade from M7/M8, would be more accepting of weak user passwords compared to Mageia 9 running as a fresh install? I have the impression these two styles of Mageia 9 behave differently in that regard.

User.jpg (44.78 KiB) Viewed 1002 times

Bootloader NoAutoLogin.jpg (75.73 KiB) Viewed 1002 times

Boot Options.jpg (36.85 KiB) Viewed 1002 times

[doktor5000]

"None" shows as the password in one place

That is GDM. Not sure why it shows "None" - can you select anything else there? (arrow to the right seems grayed out)

a five-character password is indicated at another place

That is userdrake: https://doc.mageia.org/mcc/9/en/content ... #userdrake
When editing an existing user, this seems to always show 5 characters, no matter what password you have.

then an unreasonably long string of password characters appears in another place.

That is for the bootloader, for the root user - you set this yourself, by default there is no password configured there. https://doc.mageia.org/mcc/9/en/content ... l#drakboot

[harkelyn]

That is GDM. Not sure why it shows "None" - can you select anything else there? (arrow to the right seems grayed out)

I have access to a screen for changing/adding the user password, however I'm not permitted to confirm my choice of an eight-character string consisting of two words.

Changepw.jpg (18.68 KiB) Viewed 972 times

I did some internet research, which guided to me discover that Mageia supports Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM). What is the procedure to enter shell commands which fit my user password preferences, such as in these examples?

Code: Select all

minlen=2
lcredit=2
ucredit=0
dcredit=0
minclass=0


PAM.jpg (40.77 KiB) Viewed 972 times

[doktor5000]

I did some internet research, which guided to me discover that Mageia supports Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM). What is the procedure to enter shell commands which fit my user password preferences, such as in these examples?

Code: Select all

minlen=2
lcredit=2
ucredit=0
dcredit=0
minclass=0


Every linux distro out there supports/uses PAM.
What you listed are not shell commands, but options for the pam module pam_pwquality. You can put those in /etc/security/pwquality.conf

[harkelyn]

Okay, I see it now. Thank you.