Disable Sudo Password Prompt or Extend Timeout in Linux

Disable Per Session

This command below will prompt you for your sudo password once and never again until you log out and in again.

sudo -i

Extend Inactivity Timeout

The default inactivity timeout is usually 5 minutes before Linux will prompt for your sudo password again. You can extend this timeout by editing the sudoers file. The visudo command opens an editor and points it to the sudoers file (Ubuntu defaults to nano, other systems use Vi)

sudo visudo

Look for the line Defaults env_reset

Add to the end of it ,timestamp_timeout=60  (where 60 is the amount of minutes).

Defaults env_reset,timestamp_timeout=60

Save changes and close (In nano, press CTRL + X and then press y and ENTER)

Disable Permanently

You can disable this sudo password prompt permanently using the sudoers file. However, it is not recommended that you do this for security reasons. Unauthorised commands could be run by someone or a malicious script in your absence. If you understand the implications, run visudo to open the sudoers file (Ubuntu defaults to nano, other systems use Vi)

sudo visudo

At the bottom of the file, paste in the following, replacing username with your own.

username ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL

Save changes and close (In nano, press CTRL + X and then press y and ENTER)

Let me know if this helped. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, or 🍊 buy me a smoothie.

p.s. I increased my AdSense revenue by 200% using AI 🤖. Read my Ezoic review to find out how.