(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Puppy by default boots straight into the root account without any intervention from this user. If for some reason you want Puppy to stop require a login and password, this very simple (simplistic?) post shows you how to do it.

Here is the default /etc/inittab file:
Here is the modified /etc/inittab file, changes on line 2 only:
After changing inittab, on the next boot, Puppy will stop and require a login. Login as root :)

Then it asks for the password, if no password has been set, just hit the enter key. If a password has been set, enter the password, then hit the enter key.

To set and change the password, on the command line do this:

# passwd root

Then follow the on screen instructions.

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This should be a reasonable deterent to prevent casual booting of your Puppy, especially for people not familiar with Linux.

Combined with other measures and techniques, Puppy can be hard to access for even fairly adept users.

Bruce B wrote:This should be a reasonable deterent to prevent causal booting of your Puppy, especially for people not familiar with Linux.

Combined with other measures and techniques, ...

i couldn't agree more. here is some info i gleaned off the forum and put into a post.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=18639

Bruce B wrote:Puppy can be hard to access for even fairly adept users.

that made me chuckle as sometimes i still have trouble booting myself and i've been here 2+ years. it's great to be able to help fix it.

After I set up xlock, I just put /usr/sbin/xlock into /.xinitrc before the exec currentwm line.
When I don't want to use it, I just comment it out.

This is pretty modest protection. About as good as a BIOs password. However it does not protect your data, especially in the case where you are booting off an easily-stealable or -losable flash drive. For that you need an encrypted pupsave, and for data off the pupsave you need truecrypt or something of that nature. I suppose you could use the same programs used for encrypting a pupsave to make another encrypted volume as well.

I don't agree with Lobster's contention on that other thread, that encryption (even "heavy" encryption) slows your computer. I haven't noticed it. Maybe in some situations, like heavy compiling work, it might be noticed, but not for the usual web surfing and email...

trapster wrote:After I set up xlock, I just put /usr/sbin/xlock into /.initrc before the exec currentwm line.
When I don't want to use it, I just comment it out.

I tried this in 3.01 Retro but it did not work. Is there an updated solution for the latest Puppy? (Bruce B's option above does still work.)

Thanks!
-PHIL

PaulBx1 wrote:I don't agree with Lobster's contention on that other thread, that encryption (even "heavy" encryption) slows your computer. I haven't noticed it. Maybe in some situations, like heavy compiling work, it might be noticed, but not for the usual web surfing and email...

That is good news.

I just had an idea
It should be relatively easy to boot up into the screen saver?
that has a password . . .

(click top right on lock icon to see screen saver password options)

Cli wizards might tell you how to do that - or maybe you can figure it and tell us

Vettephil -

I am currently using the xlock in puppy300 retro with no issues. It works with jwm and icewm.

I just had an idea
It should be relatively easy to boot up into the screen saver?
that has a password . . .

This is how I use a password to keep the "kids" off it.
see my post above.

This is how I use a password to keep the "kids" off it.
see my post above.

What a great idea I almost had
and you implemented . . .

The default password for 'root' in Puppy 3.01 is 'woofwoof'.
I don't know what it is in earlier puppies.

in earlier puppies there is no password
I use CTRL-ALT-F2 a lot if X locks up
I was a bit thrown with 3.01 but remembered it from your blog on printers(?)

This could do with being a bit more visible.

well i have a silly request
i have puppy 4.2.1 on pen drive(8gb). pup save file is 512mb. ram 1gb. p4 3ghz.
Puppy displays "puppypc login:" (changed the inittab --> tty1::respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1 ). i want to change this login prompt so that another user will not know that the sys is asking for username /pass.ie i want to change the words "puppypc login:" and "password" to something else like say a funny one liner, idiotic philosophy, puzzle, etc that is totally unrelated to login. i have no serious reasons to do this other than to amuse myself. ( i find this playing around to be a better way to learn )
i tried pfind, grep and murga-linux.com to locate the file containing these words but no sucess. I am new to the internal working of unix but eventually googled to /etc/inittab, getty, /etc/issue, issue escapes, /bin/login etcetra. (i couldnt open /bin/login file in geany). learnt related things other than the one originally intended.

So my question:
How do i hide/camouflage the login prompt. It could be anything from funny to something that totally freaks out the unsuspecting user.Any pre-existing standard/classical pranks too are welcome. just show me the direction i will catch on.

ll l ll lll ll l ll wrote:well i have a silly request
i have puppy 4.2.1 on pen drive(8gb). pup save file is 512mb. ram 1gb. p4 3ghz.
Puppy displays "puppypc login:" (changed the inittab --> tty1::respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1 ). i want to change this login prompt so that another user will not know that the sys is asking for username /pass.ie i want to change the words "puppypc login:" and "password" to something else like say a funny one liner, idiotic philosophy, puzzle, etc that is totally unrelated to login. i have no serious reasons to do this other than to amuse myself. ( i find this playing around to be a better way to learn )
i tried pfind, grep and murga-linux.com to locate the file containing these words but no sucess. I am new to the internal working of unix but eventually googled to /etc/inittab, getty, /etc/issue, issue escapes, /bin/login etcetra. (i couldnt open /bin/login file in geany). learnt related things other than the one originally intended.

So my question:
How do i hide/camouflage the login prompt. It could be anything from funny to something that totally freaks out the unsuspecting user.Any pre-existing standard/classical pranks too are welcome. just show me the direction i will catch on.

You mean like that?? I could have write there anything Puppy is not complaining..






Obviously you have not tried to search inside of the puppy first otherwise you would have find it in no time...


NO wonder nobody could be bothered to answer at something so obvious...

Well, it took me 5 minutes to find it and everyone around here knows that i am not a Linux native so to speak...

I recently came from Windows..

The file you need to modify is right under your nose.. you do not even have to ctrl +h to find it..


Lemme know if you found it ...If not i will just post the answer...

Cheers!

re: passwords at bootup...

Do you keep your CDs in the same room as your computer?
If so, they can be found and used, particularly the Puppy CD.
Boot from that and you can likely run any of the Puppy progs on your HD.

Do your potential intruders have access to other Live CDs?
If so, they can bring one of their own and boot right past your password to snoop through your files.

However... you can password-protect or encrypt a deliberately misnamed file containing all your web-activity login infos.
Or... email it to yourself at a place like Yahoo Mail or Hotmail.
Login there, open the message, use the info, and close the website when finished.
When you shut down it will disappear.

You can also keep only your system files on the HD and keep all others containing any sensitive stuff on a flash drive or portable HD.

If your info is where someone can find it, it's vulnerable.

Having a password on boot isn't secure in and of itself. The only way to have any real amount of security is having an encrypted file system that is password protected. Anyone with any reasonable amount of technological know how can get access to your data, if they have access to your physical computer.

This does come in handy, if you have small children who are just learning computers. This kind of protection would probably work to keep technophobes off your computer as well.

A simple password at boot would also keep your system fairly secure, if you had the physical machine locked in a cabinet or case of some kind. (Make sure the cabinet/case has plenty of ventilation.)

shadower_sc wrote:A simple password at boot would also keep your system fairly secure, if you had the physical machine locked in a cabinet or case of some kind. (Make sure the cabinet/case has plenty of ventilation.)

That's along the lines of what it would take to protect a computer from
knowledgeable and untrustworthy people who have physical access.

Remove the physical access.

~

Obviously /etc/inittab has changed since the original solution was posted.

Thanks,
Bob

netfrog77 wrote:Obviously /etc/inittab has changed since the
original solution was posted.

Thanks,
Bob

I made the original post a little less then four years ago. Things
change, but case, its the same with Lupu 5.20 as it was with
whatever version I was using back then.

Change this line:

tty1::respawn:/sbin/getty -n -l /bin/autologinroot 38400 tty1

To:

tty1::respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1

After the change, the boot process with stop and have you login and
provide the password.

~

Hi,

Thanks for responding; but I'm still not certain what to do.

Here are the tty lines in the current initab:

# Run gettys in standard runlevels
1respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1
2respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty2
3respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty3
4respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty4
5respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty5
6respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty6

There is no 'autologin' option that would be removed by replacing the line.
Do you know if this is a customized version of 'mingetty' that does the autologin?

Thanks,
Bob

netfrog77 wrote: # Run gettys in standard runlevels
1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1
2:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty2
3:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty3
4:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty4
5:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty5
6:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty6

That's for an operating system with run levels. I didn't know any Puppy
used run levels. Which version are you using?

~

Thanks Bruce B.

Your latest post clued me in to my error.
I mistakenly looked at the etc/inittab file in the file system that appears in Roxfiler when you click on the mounted partition where Puppy is installed.
Since it has been a while since I installed Puppy, I had forgotten it was installed in the file system of another Linux version and did not realize that Roxfiler was not displaying the Puppy file system.