System password retrieval help

[roxie148]

I forgot what my password was when Linux/Ubuntu was installed. I cannot update or install my printer without it. Please help me retrieve my password.

[rubberman]

Effectively, not possible! Linux/Unix passwords are encrypted with (at the minimum) with 56-bit DES encryption, and they are one-way encrypted (no way to determine plain-text from encrypted version). My suggestion is to boot with a recovery CD/DVD/USB drive, mount your root file system, and set the user password to blank in /etc/shadow. Then boot, login (no password needed) and reset the password.

[roxie148]

Hi. Where do I get the CD. I am not that savvy in the computer world. What does it meand to mount your root file system?

[rubberman]

You can download a recovery and/or live CD/DVD from the distribution web site for your version. When you boot from the CD/DVD, login as root. Then you will create a mount point (directory) for the system / directory, such as: mkdir /mnt/rootfs

Finally, you will mount the root file system, assuming it is the 3rd partition on the system drive, as: mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/rootfs - at this point you can access your shadow password file (a text file) which would be /mnt/rootfs/etc/shadow

In any case, get the recovery/live CD/DVD, get to where you can boot up and logged in as the root user. Then we can help walk you through the process in detail.

[roxie148]

What distribution center? Ubuntu, Linux or GNU?

[roxie148]

Or shall I say "Web site". I looked through GNU and I didn't see any recovery anything.

[rubberman]

Ubuntu is good. They have what is called a Live CD and/or DVD which you can use to boot your system for recovery purposes.

[roxie148]

Hi rubberman: Just wanted to let you know that my neighbor fixed my computer. He uninstalled UBUNTU for me. Much better now. Thank you so much for your time and effort in trying to help me. Much appreciated.