Guest can log in only once, because of password?

Indeed this is on my list of things to fix for this spec.

This is also an issue if the guest user locks the screen. (Though I'm not sure that doing so should even be allowed?)

I have reported also bug #274296 which is related.
It's also a problem when you suspend your laptop because then a password is asked for user 'Guest'.
This can be really annoying when you close the lid and it automatically suspends.

Fix uploaded, waiting in RM queue.

This bug was fixed in the package gdm-guest-session - 0.3

---------------
gdm-guest-session (0.3) intrepid; urgency=low

  * gdm/guest-session-setup.sh: Disable screensaver startup, so that user
    switching, suspend, etc. does not trigger the screensaver lock. guest has
    no password, and g-screensaver isn't (and can't be) clever enough to
    detect that. (LP: #262228)

 -- Martin Pitt <email address hidden> Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:24:20 +0200

I'm still having this bug. But I also got 2 Guest accounts delivered with intrepid: "Guest session" and "Guest". Guest prompts for a password and is inaccessibe, "Guest session" works. Don't know if this is intended behavior but I think it's confusing to have two Guest-accounts.

I updated to Intepid from a Hardy-minimal installation.

zorpox: please see bug #281971.

I'm running 10.10 and have this problem...
   is this supposed to be fixed?

@Krister
I'm not able to reproduce the behavior of the bug description. Can you please let us know exactly which steps you take, which meny options you use for various user switches etc., that make you say that the problem persists in 10.10?

I'm sorry, I misread the bug description...
  maybe you know of this quite similar bug?

1) log on to normal account.
2) switch to guest account.
3) log out of guest account so that (the locked original session appears)
4) choose switch user to get to the gdm menu.

now there is no way to log in as a guest.

That's true, but it's by design and not a bug. You don't log in as a guest; you launch a guest session from within the session of a regular user. Accordingly you can't launch a guest session from the login screen in the case you describe either.
http://packages.ubuntu.com/natty/gdm-guest-session

So if a guest logs out of their session for whatever reason, they cannot use the computer again until someone with a password shows up!?!?!?!?!?

That's correct, and I think it's due to an intentional design decision. There are other views on this topic though; see for instance bug 264835.

Admirable logic, but it presented me with a problem. I wanted to try Ubuntu on a friends computer. I ran the live cd, and it said it needed to install additional drivers for the wifi card to work. I set the instillation process working. When it was done prepping the drivers, it required a restart to activate the drivers. Problem: It's a live session. A restart will simply remove the downloaded drivers. So I thought 'log out and in again -- perfect!'. Problem: It wanted a log in password, where none exists. End result? No Ubuntu!

So, defective by design? Why not provide some means of relogging into a guest session once a session has already been started?

bryncoles,

what you describe isn't a guest session, but the live session. You can log in as "ubuntu", it has an empty password (i. e. just press enter at the password prompt). An empty (but enabled) password is not the same as a disabled password, which we use for the guest session.