Stop asking for authentication to mount USB stick

Question

My Ubuntu 14.04 is asking for my password to mount or unmount an USB stick. How can I change it, so that the mount is automatic and no password input is required ?

This is about mounting arbitrary USB sticks in /media, there is no entry in /etc/fstab. My user is in the 'plugdev' group, but the password prompt is pupping up anyway.

Solution 1

Try this. Just press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open Terminal. When it opens, run the command(s) below:

sudo gedit /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.udisks2.policy

When it opens look for

<action id="org.freedesktop.udisks2.filesystem-unmount-others">
<defaults>
      <allow_any>auth_admin</allow_any>
      <allow_inactive>auth_admin</allow_inactive>
      <allow_active>auth_admin_keep</allow_active>
</defaults>

And change it to

<action id="org.freedesktop.udisks2.filesystem-unmount-others">
<defaults>
      <allow_any>yes</allow_any>
      <allow_inactive>yes</allow_inactive>
      <allow_active>yes</allow_active>
</defaults>

Solution 2

I had the same problem with mounting on one of my systems. I tried using @Mitch approach above which didn't work for me (Although it may work great if you have the unmounting issue) . I took a similar approach to begin with and

sudo gedit /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.udisks2.policy

but changed this section

<defaults>
      <allow_any>auth_admin</allow_any>
      <allow_inactive>auth_admin</allow_inactive>
      <allow_active>yes</allow_active>
    </defaults>

of

<action id="org.freedesktop.udisks2.filesystem-mount">

to

 <defaults>
      <allow_any>no</allow_any>
      <allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
      <allow_active>yes</allow_active>
    </defaults>

matching content found in the old

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

Sources: @Mitch answer above

     `/usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.udisks.policy`

     https://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=112092

Testing

Solution 3

I had the same problem today; "all of a sudden" my 14.04 wanted my password for "everything"; including (un)mount of USB sticks.

I figured that I installed openssh-server in the morning. After removing it, everything is back to normal; I can insert a USB stick; and it is mounted without asking for a password. Strange. Just tried to repro; installed openssh-server again; and no ... no such effect this time.

Comments

[GhostCat]

Follow up question: I see that this string <allow_active>... shows up 29 times in that files - do you recommend to replace them all; if not; which section is the correct one to update?

[Sanjay Manohar]

Thanks. Please could someone advise if there is a way to edit this in a user-friendly manner? The XML seems to be designed to have a front-end, doesn't it?

[Sanjay Manohar]

Also, does anyone know what "attached to another seat means"? I had this problem suddenly. Could it be that ubuntu thinks my drive is in a different "seat"?

[lepe]

When the dialog (for password) is shown, see at "details". It should show something like: "org.freedesktop.udisks2.filesystem-mount". That is the rule you need to change. I had "yes" in "allow_active", so I set "yes" also in the other two (allow_any and allow_inactive). Now the dialog is not shown. BTW, I checked the udisk documentation and found no interface for those options. I agree... there must be one.

[lepe]

I'm almost sure, that you could add such rule in /etc/polkit-1/... (see this link: forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=112092)

[Elder Geek]

This did not work for me at all. Perhaps if you could clarify by following up on Jägermeister comment and edit this answer it would be useful to many of us. As it is, not so much. Is a reboot required?

[Mitch]

@ElderGeek Answer updated, hope it helps.

[Elder Geek]

It did help me figure out how to solve the mount side of the problem. Thanks! ;-)

[Ángel]

Just changing <allow_active>auth_admin_keep</allow_active> to <allow_active>yes</allow_active>would be enough, since you are (un)mounting from the active session.

[Emiter]

What is the point of editing files in /usr ? It will be overriden on next update. I guess proper way of doing it is editing something in /etc. But I don't know exactly what and where

[Admin]

udisks* -> UDisks* on some distros.