When I need to do this I boot from a live DVD (in my case whatever
Slackware install DVD I can put my hands on first.)
Then mount the "real" root drive on /mnt/hd or something. Then I think
the correct way to do it is with chroot or /usr/bin/passwd -R
Haven't actually tried chroot or passwd -R, but in the future will try
that first. The incorrect/bad way I've been doing it works but could
cause problems.
On 6/24/20 3:57 PM, Moshe M. Katz wrote:
Hi Howard,
I have three possibilities for you:
First, on Ubuntu, it is likely that root has no password at all and all
such access must be done with sudo as the regular user. (At least that's
how every Ubuntu machine I've ever set up has been.) Older versions of
Ubuntu actually did autologin by removing the password (the equivalent
of running `passwd -d`). While "passwordless sudo" is a thing, "sudo by
an account with no password" doesn't work in my testing. If you run
`passwd` as the regular user, does it prompt you for the old password or
just let you enter a new one? If it just prompts you to enter a new
password, enter one and you will then be able to use `sudo`.
The other two only work assuming that the disk is not encrypted.
You can boot into Single User Mode and it is as if you are root. I don't
remember the steps for 14.04 offhand, but this should be helpful:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/132965/how-do-i-boot-into-single-user-mode-from-grub
You can boot the machine from a Live CD or Live USB, become root there,
and then have root access to the local disk as well.
Moshe
--
Moshe Katz
mmk...@umd.edu <mailto:mmk...@umd.edu>
(301) 867-3732
On Wed, Jun 24, 2020 at 3:25 PM <linux-au...@terrier.ampexguy.com
<mailto:linux-au...@terrier.ampexguy.com>> wrote:
I assure you that what follows is legit.
One of my oldest friends died in March (of a massive stroke, not
corona virus). I inherited his three laptops, one of which is an IBM
Thinkpad running Ubuntu 14.04LTS. I can produce a copy of his will,
and, given a day or two to catch up with his executor, a copy of the
death certificate, if needed.
It automagically boots "Authorized User" with no password needed. This
is not the same as root: I opened a terminal window and typed
"adduser," which you have to be root to do, and got my wrists soundly
slapped for my efforts.
So is there a way to determine or at least re-set the root password on
this machine? I'd like to create another user (i.e., me), and set the
password for "Authorized User" to something I know.
If it helps, I'm positive he bought the machine from PC Retro in
Beltsville a few years ago. Do they use the same root password on all
their Linux boxes?
Any suggestions will be most welcome.
Thanks.
Howard Sanner
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milg...@cgpp.com
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