On 08/07/2009 08:39 AM, Tim wrote:
> I set my son up a laptop with xubuntu on it and the password I choose for root
> was not the normal one I use (because he knows that one). Now the problem is I
> can't rememebr what it was either. I want to add a couple of program and update
> etc. and I can't now, my son is not setup as a sudoer user so that not an
> option.
>
> Can anybody point me in the direction of a set of instructions for password
> recovery that work, I have googled but there are many but I don't want to end
> up damaging the install trying to reset the password so I am looking for
> instruction that other have used without a problem.
>
> Thanks
>
> Tim
>
Disclaimer.. I don't run xubuntu but I assume it is a fairly recent
Linux distro and hence uses grub?
If so then the steps are:
Boot laptop
When grub screen appears press a key to enter the grub menu
The default kernel boot should be highlighted
Press 'e' to edit
Select the line with "kernel" on it
Press 'e' again to edit
Append the word "single" to the end of the line
Press enter
Press 'b' to boot the kernel.
Now hopefully you will be booted into single user mode without prompting
for the password and you can use passwd to change the root password.
That is certainly "safe", but you might have grub configured to be
secured so that you cannot boot into linux single without the root
password. In which case you can get instructions from here about how to
reset:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/howto-recovering-grub-boot-loader-password.html
No idea of those work, I've used the instructions above before but I've
never had a secured grub to deal with.
