After booting a rescue system, 'sudo su' gets you into root mode, because the rescue system comes with an empty root password. So you are root on the rescue system. At that point, the root password on your hard disk will still be what it was before...
...and unless you have mounted the hard disk already, the file /etc/shadow that you see is the shadow password file of the rescue system. In any case, after booting the rescue system, the contents of /etc are part of the rescue system, as opposed to contents of the HD. And... I may have written something incorrect before: where I wrote to replace the encrypted password with an asterisk, I am now not sure whether that will actually always work. It may be required to just delete the encrypted password, leaving no space between the colons at the beginning and end of the password field. Not sure about that, but one of the two does it. Also note - the method proposed by Slosh, by adding options to the GRUB boot line is easier and quicker, as long as GRUB still loads and works all right. Kind regards, Helmut. On 24/11/2019 08:53, Davin Pearson wrote: > On Sat, 23 Nov 2019 at 16:51, Helmut Walle <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > Not sure what you have on that USB drive, but if it just is a downloaded > image, they usually > come with a blank root password. So to login as root, you just enter > "root" at the username > prompt if there is one at all, and hit Enter if it prompts for a password > at all. If you are > already logged in under a non-root account, use 'sudo su' to get root > access (again with an > empty password). > > So for recovering your root password stored in the system on the HD... > usually recovering that > password would be a lot of work if possible at all, because passwords are > only stored encrypted > these days. It is usually easier to just delete the password. To do that: > > 1. Boot a rescue system of some sort from a USB medium (or CD / DVD if > that's easier). > > > I have created a rescue USB flash drive thanks to Rik Tindall. > > > 2. Log in as root, or 'sudo su' if you are already logged in (see above). > > > Funnily enough, the command "sudo su" puts you into root mode. Is that > because I have deleted my root password (see later on in this email). > Does this mean that I need to amend my documentation for my > installer module from the following: > > su ENTER > <enter the root password here> ENTER > apt-get install bash ENTER > apt-get install dos2uni ENTER > apt-get install grep ENTER > apt-get install make ENTER > apt-get install sed ENTER > exit ENTER > > to what follows: > > sudo su ENTER > apt-get install bash ENTER > apt-get install grep ENTER > apt-get install make ENTER > apt-get install sed ENTER > exit ENTER > > 3. Mount the partition with your system files somewhere (/mnt usually is > already there and can > be used). > 4. Find the shadow password file where the encrypted passwords are stored > (probably /etc/shadow > - so if you have mounted your HD at /mnt , then it would be > /mnt/etc/shadow > > > The file shadow is located at the following location: /etc/shadow > > 2. Log in as root, or 'sudo su' if you are already logged in (see above). > 3. Mount the partition with your system files somewhere (/mnt usually is > already there and can > be used). > 4. Find the shadow password file where the encrypted passwords are stored > (probably /etc/shadow > - so if you have mounted your HD at /mnt , then it would be /mnt/etc/shadow > 5. Make a backup copy of that file in the same folder, just in case. > 6. Open the shadow file in a text editor, and find the line that begins with > "root". The shadow > file contains the passwords and other parameters for all user accounts, one > account per line > (details available via 'man 5 shadow'). The fields separator is a colon. So > all the gibberish > between the colon after "root" and the next colon is your encrypted root > password... > 7. Delete the entire encrypted root password. > 8. Insert an asterisk '*' between the two colons following "root", where the > encrypted password > was before. > 9. Save the file. > 10. Reboot from HD. Your root password should now be void - so to log in as > root, enter "root" > at the username prompt, and then hit Enter at the password prompt. > > Is that what you are looking for? > > Kind regards, > > Helmut. > > > On 24/11/2019 03:24, Davin Pearson wrote: >> After much trying I finally got the BIOS screen >> online. Running the USB drive by deleting >> the Ubuntu partition works well but at no point >> does it ask for the root user password. >> >> What gives? I need the root user account >> for accessing miscellaneous files in GNU/Linux. >> >> Thank you. >> >> >> >> On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 at 02:53, Davin Pearson <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]> >> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>> wrote: >> >> >> >> On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 at 02:48, Davin Pearson <[email protected] >><mailto:[email protected]> >> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>> wrote: >> >> Sorry I have gone and forgotten my root password. >> >> I need to boot from my USB stick drive to >> retrieve it. >> >> Holding down the Esc key while booting >> doesn't help with the matter. Instead, it >> asks me if I want to install Linux or Windows. >> >> >> Actually it asks me if I want to boot under >> Ubuntu or Windows rather than install. >> That was a typo on my part. >> >> >> I can't seem to get access to the BIOS menu. >> >> Thank you in advance for your help. >> >> On Tue, 19 Nov 2019 at 16:02, Rik Tindall <[email protected] >><mailto:[email protected]> >> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>> wrote: >> >> If it's not a clickable link icon on your desktop, you can >>quickly make it so. >> >> Just find / navigate to the appropriate volume in the file >>manager, then click it to >> mount and open it (producing the desktop link). You can then >>right-click for a menu >> to make such a link permanent if it isn't already. >> >> Cheers, Rik >> >> On 2019-11-19 15:14, Davin Pearson wrote: >> >>> I am having some difficulties in accessing my C:\ drive from >>> inside of Linux. Under Lubuntu (my old computer's O.S.) >>> you simply type in: >>> >>> cd /media/www/C1TB >>> >>> And then you can access the C drive using >>> ls etc. >>> >>> What is the way forward? >>> >>> A brief google search did not come up with any useful >>>information. >>> >>> <trim> >>> -- >>> Sincerely and kindest regards, Davin. >>> Davin Pearson http://davin.50webs.com >> _______________________________________________ >> Linux-users mailing list >> [email protected] >><mailto:[email protected]> > <mailto:[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> > Attachments area > Preview attachment pEpkey.asc > [Text] > <https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=d93452af4c&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1650963101673577199&th=16e966319c87daef&view=att&disp=safe> > > > > > > > > /I have removed the crud between the :.*:/ regep > > 5. Make a backup copy of that file in the same folder, just in case. > 6. Open the shadow file in a text editor, and find the line that begins > with "root". The shadow > file contains the passwords and other parameters for all user accounts, > one account per line > (details available via 'man 5 shadow'). The fields separator is a colon. > So all the gibberish > between the colon after "root" and the next colon is your encrypted root > password... > 7. Delete the entire encrypted root password. > 8. Insert an asterisk '*' between the two colons following "root", where > the encrypted password > was before. > 9. Save the file. > 10. Reboot from HD. Your root password should now be void - so to log in > as root, enter "root" > at the username prompt, and then hit Enter at the password prompt. > > Is that what you are looking for? > > Kind regards, > > Helmut. > > > On 24/11/2019 03:24, Davin Pearson wrote: > > After much trying I finally got the BIOS screen > > online. Running the USB drive by deleting > > the Ubuntu partition works well but at no point > > does it ask for the root user password. > > > > What gives? I need the root user account > > for accessing miscellaneous files in GNU/Linux. > > > > Thank you. > > > > > > > > On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 at 02:53, Davin Pearson <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > > <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>> > wrote: > > > > > > > > On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 at 02:48, Davin Pearson <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > > <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>> > wrote: > > > > Sorry I have gone and forgotten my root password. > > > > I need to boot from my USB stick drive to > > retrieve it. > > > > Holding down the Esc key while booting > > doesn't help with the matter. Instead, it > > asks me if I want to install Linux or Windows. > > > > > > Actually it asks me if I want to boot under > > Ubuntu or Windows rather than install. > > That was a typo on my part. > > > > > > I can't seem to get access to the BIOS menu. > > > > Thank you in advance for your help. > > > > On Tue, 19 Nov 2019 at 16:02, Rik Tindall <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > > <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>> > wrote: > > > > If it's not a clickable link icon on your desktop, you can > quickly make it so. > > > > Just find / navigate to the appropriate volume in the file > manager, then click > it to > > mount and open it (producing the desktop link). You can > then right-click for a > menu > > to make such a link permanent if it isn't already. > > > > Cheers, Rik > > > > On 2019-11-19 15:14, Davin Pearson wrote: > > > >> I am having some difficulties in accessing my C:\ drive > from > >> inside of Linux. Under Lubuntu (my old computer's O.S.) > >> you simply type in: > >> > >> cd /media/www/C1TB > >> > >> And then you can access the C drive using > >> ls etc. > >> > >> What is the way forward? > >> > >> A brief google search did not come up with any useful > information. > >> > >> <trim> > >> -- > >> Sincerely and kindest regards, Davin. > >> Davin Pearson http://davin.50webs.com > > _______________________________________________ > > Linux-users mailing list > > [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > <mailto:[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> > > http://lists.canterbury.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/linux-users > > > > > > > > -- > > Sincerely and kindest regards, Davin. > > Davin Pearson http://davin.50webs.com > > > > > > > > -- > > Sincerely and kindest regards, Davin. > > Davin Pearson http://davin.50webs.com > > > > > > > > -- > > Sincerely and kindest regards, Davin. > > Davin Pearson http://davin.50webs.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Linux-users mailing list > > [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > > http://lists.canterbury.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/linux-users > > > _______________________________________________ > Linux-users mailing list > [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > http://lists.canterbury.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/linux-users > > > > -- > Sincerely and kindest regards, Davin. > Davin Pearson http://davin.50webs.com > > _______________________________________________ > Linux-users mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.canterbury.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/linux-users >
pEpkey.asc
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_______________________________________________ Linux-users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.canterbury.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/linux-users
