Introduction: Make Raspberry Pi a Multi-User Desktop
Introduction
I want my daughter to use the Raspberry Pi for her school work and learn programming. I could buy her a Raspberry Pi or I could share my Raspberry Pi with her. I chose to share the Raspberry Pi with her. After completing this instructable, you may be interested in my instructable on modifying the login screen.
Problem
We cannot use the same account (i.e. as user "pi")
Scope
This instructable will show:
How to show login screen to greet user
How to lock screen for privacy
Prerequisite
A raspberry pi running Raspbian OS
Step 1: Enable and Test Login Screen
Open terminal emulator
cd /etc/lightdm
vi lightdm.conf
Disable auto login:
#auto-login-user=pi
Show list of user(s) in login screen
greet-hide-users=false
Save the file
Reboot
sudo reboot
Raspberry Pi will display a login screen
Step 2: Implement and Test Screen Lock
Open terminal emulator in Raspberry Pi
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xscreensaver
Click on Start Button -> Preferences -> Screensaver
If there is a dialog box asking to start the daemon, click on Yes button
If not, click on menu File -> Restart Daemon
In terminal emulator:
Navigate to lxpanel system-wide configuration
cd /etc/xdg/lxpanel/profile/LXDE/panels
Edit panel file as shown in the screenshot by adding or modifying the last plugin to what is shown in the screenshot
sudo vi panel
Modify screen lock desktop file to be the same as the one in the screenshot
cd /usr/share/applications
sudo vi lxde-screenlock.desktop
Modify logout desktop file to be the same as the one in the screenshot
cd /usr/share/applications
sudo vi lxde-logout.desktop
Reboot Raspberry Pi
Login by entering user id and password into login greeter box
A screen lock icon should be seen in the bottom right of the screen as shown in the screenshot.
Click on the lock icon. (Warning: Before doing this, make sure you know the password)
Raspberry Pi display a screensaver in the background and a login screen in the foreground as shown in the screenshot, effectively locking the screen.
Step 3: Add User and Test Login Screen
Open terminal emulator in Raspberry Pi
sudo useradd -m daughter
sudo passwd daughter
Enable new user to watch video by adding user to audio and video group
sudo usermod -a -G video,audio daughter
Reboot
sudo reboot
Display manager will show a list of users with daughter being one of them
Step 4: Give Shutdown and Reboot Privileges to User(s)
Complete the steps in "Give User Shutdown and Reboot Privileges" instructable.
8 Comments
2 years ago
Hi, It worked for me the first time round in raspbian, but not a second, as I couldn't remember what I did to the "greet-hide-users=false" that doesn't actually exist in my file.
There is a "greeter-hide-users=false" but I don't know if t was meant to have the # or not, or to be set to true. Whatever I did did't work.
I finally found a far easier solution that worked for me: In the terminal just type
sudo raspi-config
then go through the options (I think mine was the first (system), then the boot options and finally I chose boot into desktop asking for password. That was all that was needed.
When I later added the other users, they appeared on the login dialogue.
7 years ago
Hi, I don't seem to be able to edit the lightdm.config file. Can anyone enlighten me. Thanks
Reply 2 years ago
5 years later... To edit the lightdm.config file I had to use:
sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
Another option I found was
sudo -H gedit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
but this option didn't work for me.
2 years ago
I'm not sure if the original poster wanted more than me, but working on raspbian 10 (buster) on a pi 400 in march 2021, just the first step got me a start up option for already established different users.
Tip 2 years ago
Wow!
6 years ago
Hello nice and easy to follow
up date
cd /etc/xdg/lxpanel/profile/LXDE-pi/panels
7 years ago
Shaun, you need to edit lightdm.conf as root (use sudo)
I was unable to add shutdown and reboot privileges using these steps, but found instructions elsewhere that now allows all users to shut down, reboot, and exit to the login screen:
At the prompt: sudo visudo
At the end of the file, add the line: ALL ALL=NOPASSWD: /sbin/shutdown, /sbin/reboot, /usr/bin/pkill
But thanks for the instructions! They got me most of the way there for setting up my Pi 3 as a multi-user basic desktop!
8 years ago on Introduction
Hi
I have added "Give user shutdown and reboot privileges" step for a better user experience when working in Raspberry Pi.