How do I stop Ubuntu from asking for my password every time I install something?

Question

Whenever I try to install a program I get a password authentication prompt asking me to punch in my password. I would like to know how to disable this.

I tried to google it and most of the stuff I find related to the login password, which isn't an issue for me as I disabled it at startup.

What I need to get rid of is the password prompt for installing and uninstalling stuff.

You really do not want to do this. This is the way Windows is and then opens system to potential for virus or hackers to access system. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RootSudo and (but this has never worked for me): http://xkcd.com/149/ — oldfred, Nov 23 '16 at 05:13
@oldfred Actually password-less sudo does not significantly weaken security. Once an attacker gains the ability to run programs as the unprivileged user, that attacker can install a key-logger to record the password at the next invocation of sudo and thereafter gain root privileges. You have to keep viruses/crackers out of the system entirely anyways, whether you use password-less sudo or not. — DepressedDaniel, Nov 23 '16 at 06:31
@DepressedDaniel Suggesting sudo isn't essential concerning security is false information. — Jacob Vlijm, Nov 23 '16 at 07:04
@JacobVlijm It depends on the context. For a typical Ubuntu desktop user, it adds very little security to have a sudo password, in other contexts it may be more relevant. — DepressedDaniel, Nov 23 '16 at 07:09
These questions give better answers for modern GUI apps using polkit instead of sudo https://askubuntu.com/q/98006/897087 https://askubuntu.com/q/3/897087 — Konstantin Pelepelin, Feb 18 '22 at 21:40

score 16 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 23 '16 at 04:01

16

sudo nano -w /etc/sudoers

(and enter your password one last time). Then use the editor to change the line that says:

%sudo  ALL=(ALL) ALL

into:

%sudo  ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL

or even:

%sudo  ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL

(to allow assuming any group as well as any user).

answered Nov 23 '16 at 04:01

DepressedDaniel

631

3

So I changed it to "%sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" and restarted. But when I opened the app store and tried to install an app... it still asked me for a password. – Gabbos Ironfist Nov 23 '16 at 04:19
Type groups and check if your user is in the sudo group. If not, change %sudo into your user name and try again. If that doesn't work, then the prompt might not be related to sudo ... – DepressedDaniel Nov 23 '16 at 04:25
1

Sudu is in groups. I tried to add my username, but the appstore still asks for a password. – Gabbos Ironfist Nov 23 '16 at 04:37
Then I suspect the steps you took to disable the login password could've broken something. – DepressedDaniel Nov 23 '16 at 04:42
Its possible, I'm an absolute novice. Heres a screenshot of my edits, does something look broken? – Gabbos Ironfist Nov 23 '16 at 04:55
http://imgur.com/ZYm49qx – Gabbos Ironfist Nov 23 '16 at 04:55
What happens when you do, e.g., sudo ls from the command line? Does it ask for a password? – DepressedDaniel Nov 23 '16 at 04:56
It does not ask for a password. – Gabbos Ironfist Nov 23 '16 at 04:58
Hmm, does the same happen using gksudo ls? (gksudo should just be sudo, but with a password dialog rather than a command prompt) – Adam Luchjenbroers Nov 23 '16 at 05:37
No requested password for gksudo ls either. It acts identically to sudo ls. – Gabbos Ironfist Nov 23 '16 at 05:42
if you want to open the file with gedit sudo gedit -w /etc/sudoers – Yousuf Azad Apr 06 '20 at 11:45
Editing sudoers also did not help me. Does anyone have a solution? – anton1980 Apr 13 '21 at 02:07

score 12 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 23 '16 at 04:10

Type sudo visudo and this screen appears:

#
# This file MUST be edited with the 'visudo' command as root.
#
# Please consider adding local content in /etc/sudoers.d/ instead of
# directly modifying this file.
#
# See the man page for details on how to write a sudoers file.
#
Defaults        env_reset, timestamp_timeout=120
Defaults        mail_badpass
Defaults        secure_path="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:$

# Host alias specification

# User alias specification

# Cmnd alias specification

# User privilege specification

The first command Defaults env_reset, timestamp_timeout=120 has been modified with a timeout of 120 minutes between having to enter sudo password. The normal default is 5 minutes. Although you can change this to a very large number you will still have to enter it once per boot.

Thank you! This worked. I wish I could disable it completely, but this is good too. — anton1980, Apr 13 '21 at 02:11

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 30 '19 at 16:06

3

sudo nano -w /etc/sudoers

add NOPASSWD entry for your user:

yourusername ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

edited Oct 30 '19 at 16:06

damadam

2,833

answered Oct 30 '19 at 08:59

Arun VC

31

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 23 '16 at 05:09

1

By default ubuntu logs you in as a non root user for the O/S safety. It's there for a reason so that anybody who is new cannot mess up with the O/S itself accidently. In case you don't want to be prompted for password there is another way

sudo su

now you are root. But be very careful in terms of anything you are doing.

answered Nov 23 '16 at 05:09

Ashu

3,966

Thanks but that didn't stop the ubuntu software store from still asking for a password when I try to install something. – Gabbos Ironfist Nov 23 '16 at 05:14
Helpful tip, but doesn't directly answer the user's question. – J. Scott Elblein Mar 26 '24 at 03:13

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 25 '23 at 06:32

0

Just type this command

echo "$USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" | sudo tee -a /etc/sudoers

answered Aug 25 '23 at 06:32

Ahmad Moghazi

123

1

I realize that this is a duplicate answer, but it's worth saving because it's easier to understand than the original. – karel Aug 25 '23 at 07:26

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Mar 28 '24 at 09:21

0

The password is required because it's using sudo to run the actual installation as root.

You may be able to address this by modifying:

/etc/sudoers

to allow it to run apt-get and dpkg without a password.

See:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Sudoers

Run apt-get without sudo).

edited Mar 28 '24 at 09:21

J. Scott Elblein

212

answered Nov 23 '16 at 03:59

Adam Luchjenbroers

119

1

editing the sudoers file seems to remove the password prompts for everything except the appstore. When I try to install something via appstore it still asks me for a password. – Gabbos Ironfist Nov 23 '16 at 05:04

How do I stop Ubuntu from asking for my password every time I install something?

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