Filed under: OS, Software, Security
Secure your Mac: Disable automatic login
Most doors have locks on them. Shocking, I know, but they are there for a good reason: to keep people out. It would be nice if we all lived in a Norman Rockwellian world where our doors would never be locked and we would all be busy painting self portraits, but that's not the world we live in.Sadly, in our world your Mac might get stolen. When this happens bad guys have the potential to get their hands on lots of your information. One easy way to thwart them is by disabling automatic login for all accounts on your Mac. This means that when your Mac boots up you will be prompted by a dialog asking for a password (at the very least, you can change the settings on this dialog, but that is a matter for a follow up post). Not the most comprehensive way to Secure your Mac, but it is a start.
Read on to learn how to do this.
This is actually very easy to do:
- Launch System Presences.
- Click on 'Security,' which will offer up a wealth of options available to you. We are only interested in one at the moment.
- Click the checkbox labeled 'Disable automatic login,' which is under 'For all accounts on this computer.'
- There is no step 4!
Sure, it is a little inconvenient to have to enter your password after booting up your Mac, but really how often do you have to reboot?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nick said 4:16PM on 10-09-2007
This 'security enhancement' is only valid for the people who don't know much about OS X. All you need is a OS X install disk to boot the system and reset the password using the password reset utility.
Reply
Benjamin Poole said 4:26PM on 10-09-2007
Yeah but can that disk give you the user account names? you do not have to list your user accounts in the welcome screen that way ou have to type in the admin username then the admin password
Reply
Nick said 4:30PM on 10-09-2007
The password reset utility does infact give you the option of selecting which user account you wish to reset.
Reply
Jt Hollister said 4:32PM on 10-09-2007
"potential to get there hands " ... Dude, I'm disappointed. (needs to be "their")
Reply
turkish said 4:37PM on 10-09-2007
Well, this works as long as the person who stole it is an idiot and doesn't google the solution to this problem. Anyone can reset your password by possessing a system install disc. Boot from the CD, and go to Rest Password. Boom, done. Nobody is thwarted. If you are concerned about protecting your info if your computer is stolen, this 'solution' is worse than nothing—it gives you a false sense of security.
one of a hundreds of pages with the info: http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_reset_my_mac_os_x_admin_root_password.html
Reply
niclet said 4:42PM on 10-09-2007
Yes, I don't understand why Apple set this by default. How many times I had to reset client's password because they only entered it once, when they first create their admin account and didn't note it anywhere.
Apple should disable Automatic login to give people a chance to "practice" their password and let them know they can enable it if they want with a warning to note it down and stash it if they do so.
Reply
Rafe H. said 6:24PM on 10-09-2007
First, resetting the password from the DVD or another admin account will not change the user's Keychain password. To do that, you need to know the Keychain password. So bank accounts will not be exposed.
Second, as Michael Moore showed in Bowling for Columbine, the world Americans live in (locked doors) is quite different from the world others live in (eg. Canadians).
Reply
Ari B. said 7:54PM on 10-09-2007
I set my Macbook to require a password at login a while back.
I tried to undo the setting a few weeks ago, but it still requires a password when I log in.
Weird.
Reply
Dave said 10:47PM on 10-09-2007
@7
I live in Canada. I lock my doors.
Reply
Matthew E said 11:00PM on 10-09-2007
This also really only does you any good if somebody steals your Mac while it is shut down. I guess you could put on a password-protected screensaver, but is there any way to make the computer lock when you put it to sleep? I almost never shut down my laptop.
Reply
Quine said 12:10AM on 10-10-2007
Matthew, look at the checkbox directly above the highlighted one. :)
Reply
mustgroove said 12:21AM on 10-10-2007
What about single user mode, which allows people to bypass the login password without the need for the install disc?
Reply
Sumsa said 1:31AM on 10-10-2007
Well, I´d rather create a managed account called "guest" or something, with nearly everything disabled and NO Password.
Why? Because if anyone logs into that account a login script gets executed which tries to report the IP to me! (And I´m working on it sending me an isight snapshot too)
And as others stated above - there is no real security unless we´re talking about encrypted files like the Keychain or encrypted DMGs (eg File Vault).
Reply
Matthew E said 1:44AM on 10-10-2007
@11 oh, nice. Thanks. :) I turned off automatic log-in in the Accounts pane, so I never saw that option and obviously didn't look at the graphic that closely.
Reply
Yo! said 4:09AM on 10-10-2007
Maybe a look at http://www.nsa.gov/snac/downloads_macX.cfm will help you getting more secure
(Pre-Tiger :-(
Reply
rmpowell77 said 2:31PM on 10-10-2007
What about booting up your macbook pro in harddrive slave mode? Doesn't that completely bypass the security also?
Reply
iman said 11:25AM on 10-14-2007
i disabled automatic login a couple of days ago but now i dont want it to ask for a password everytime i login, is there a way i could enable it?
thanks in advance
Reply