Disabling root password for shutdown/reboot

[madsmh]

I just upgraded to F17, and if I switch user and then try to shut down or reboot (in GDM) I'm prompted for the root password. The computer in question is in an environment where this is bad, can it be disabled?

[secipolla]

Disclaimer: I don't use GNOME.

Just a guess: if you open the users app (in System Settings) can't you add that second user as an admin or something like that?

[madsmh]

The thing is I would like other people who does not have an account to be able reboot the system and boot into windows - I'm the only one that uses linux, but sometimes leave the screen locked. It would be nice if the others would be able to be able to reboot cleanly without the admin password.

[hadrons123]

MY f17 can reboot in user mode, in gnome-terminal.

[sea]

Maybe there was an 'issue' with some PAM settings (dont recall what it stands for).
Have you installed pm-utils which provides pm-shutdown, pm-suspend and simliar?

Dont know if that even matters, but hope it helps.

[DBelton]

Is more than one user logged in? (If you "switch user" then more than one user is logged in according to the system)

Fedora usually allows a user to shutdown/reboot the system unless another user is also logged in at the same time.

Even root logged in a virtual console would cause it to prompt for the root password when a user tries to shut down.

This is so that one user can't reboot the system while another is using it, causing big problems.

[madsmh]

well if it's a matter of loosing unsaved work for the user that's logged in, then that's not a bigge - in F16 after switching users the system could be rebooted with no problems with a user still logged in - is there anyway to make it like that again?

[DBelton]

I haven't really looked close, but these 2 files may be what you need to pursue farther to accomplish what you need.

/etc/dbus-1/system.d/org.freedesktop.login1.conf

/usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.login1.policy

Those 2 seem to be what it looks at when it decides if the user is authorized to shutdown/reboot the system.

There is probably a way to add a paragraph to the /etc/dbus-1/system.d/org.freedesktop.login1.conf to tell it that a useris authorized to shutdown/reboot with multiple users, but I haven't looked at it much.

Edit:

Just a warning if you go mucking about with these files...

Back up the originals, and have a live boot cd handy that you can boot from and restore the original files.

You could easily render your system unusable if you mess these files up.