We believe that your issue has been closed by the upload of
Version 0.9.48 of grml-autoconfig from Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org>.
The explanation is attached below

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Hash: SHA1

Format: 1.8
Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:49:25 +0100
Source: grml-autoconfig
Binary: grml-autoconfig
Architecture: source all
Version: 0.9.48
Distribution: grml-testing
Urgency: low
Maintainer: Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org>
Changed-By: Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org>
Description: 
 grml-autoconfig - main bootup process of a Grml (based) system
Changes: 
 grml-autoconfig (0.9.48) grml-testing; urgency=low
 .
   [ Kidelo ]
   * [9adf167] correct service startup and password management for non-
     default-user [Closes: issue1133]
Checksums-Sha1: 
 147d237676d5123ac8f5622f598c3aa4ec98c1ec 1021 grml-autoconfig_0.9.48.dsc
 19d48063288938225ebaee77b9a6907bc4d40694 68161 grml-autoconfig_0.9.48.tar.gz
 6b106e2a136bbe9f9f65ba1799ed87d5f8528b54 87388 grml-autoconfig_0.9.48_all.deb
Checksums-Sha256: 
 b3094480f6a0da8d69f87f2b518c724d3dfbf5b6f047d9a70c55180a080f8d26 1021 grml-autoconfig_0.9.48.dsc
 b7d1fe133a2219591336d5473d8ec23136c030b42aee6896ef44f607c7ee626f 68161 grml-autoconfig_0.9.48.tar.gz
 d7e0fc57b42f68ef8d4b47c471812c899cf8be1b5af0ea30c1ce9edb5a3be5b0 87388 grml-autoconfig_0.9.48_all.deb
Files: 
 b35dee13f39c43cad14dddd8060de97f 1021 grml optional grml-autoconfig_0.9.48.dsc
 817ea7a93008a6061e1169fc78403b40 68161 grml optional grml-autoconfig_0.9.48.tar.gz
 ebadedb8fbe58822846923bbf94ba6e7 87388 grml optional grml-autoconfig_0.9.48_all.deb

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Hi!

Excellent catch and analysis, the patch looks good too. I'll review in detail
and apply it to master soon. I'm marking this issue as release-stopper so it
gets fixed for the soon to be released new stable release.

Thanks!

regards,
-mika-

The boot options: ssh, fstab and and vnc server setup work only correctly when
the standard user grml is used. In addition the fstab entries uses default
strings from target:/etc/grml/autoconfig without check.

-- 1ST. PROBLEM ------------------------------------------------------
see from boot log:

-> * Bootoption ssh found, trying to set password for user grml.
-> chpasswd: line 1 user 'grml' does not exists
-> chpasswd: error detected changes ignored

-- 2ND. PROBLEM ------------------------------------------------------
press x to start local x server

-> Running Command su grml -c grml-x
-> Unkown id: grml

X-Server does not start up, :-(

-- 3RD. PROBLEM ------------------------------------------------------
VNC Server setup uses hard coded 'grml' user -> found by code inspection

-- 4TH. ADVICE -------------------------------------------------------
fstab ownership should be configured as follows:
a.) /etc/autoconfig:$CONFIG_FSTAB_USER ( multi user system )
b.) standard user with id:1000         ( for single user system )
c.) standard user with name=grml       ( for single user system )
d.) fallback to root, to avoid bad fstab

-- USED CONFIG -----------------------------------------------------

[ grml-live.local ]:
OUTPUT="/opt/develop/grml/grml-live"
CLASSES="GRMLBASE,GRML_FULL,AMD64"
DEFAULT_BOOTOPTIONS="ssh=grml-ssh-secret startx vnc=grml-vnc-secret"
USERNAME=myuser

[ ISO-Setup ]:
grml-live [0.17.3]: check your configuration (or use -F to force execution):

  FAI classes:       GRMLBASE,GRML_FULL,AMD64
  Configuration:     /etc/grml/grml-live.local
  Config directory:  /etc/grml/fai
  main directory:    /opt/develop/grml/grml-live
  Chroot target:     /opt/develop/grml/grml-live/grml_chroot
  Build target:      /opt/develop/grml/grml-live/grml_cd
  ISO target:        /opt/develop/grml/grml-live/grml_isos
  Grml name:         grml
  Release name:      grml rocks
  Build date:        2012-01-12
  Grml version:      0.0-1
  Debian suite:      testing
  Architecture:      amd64
  Boot method:       isolinux
  Hybrid method:     isohybrid
  Template files:    /usr/share/grml-live/templates
  Boot identifier:   grml-mybootid
  Adding default bootoptions: "ssh=grml-ssh-secret, persistent"
  Using SQUASHFS_OPTIONS -b 256k

see appended file for git-patch: