Password Prompt

[jeremy1701]

I just installed 11.04. When I was first prompted to enter my password to install software, there was an option to save that password. Unfortunately, I hadn't disabled touch taps, and I not only selected that, but entered the wrong password. Now, I'm stuck without a prompt, but also have the wrong password! How can I either reset that password, or get my prompt back?

Note: Not the password to login, but the kde password for software installation

[GreyGeek]

Re: Password Prompt

I've been using Kubuntu for two years. The login password for the original account is the SAME as the password to install applications using KPackageKit, Synaptic, Muon or what ever. There is no "2 password" situation. So, you just modified you account password. Can you even login to your account?

If not, hold the ESC key down during the reboot until the grub menu appears. Chose the second option, which is the recovery option. When the red and blue console screen appears arrow down to the last option, "root with network connection", or something like that. Then tab to the "Ok" key and press "Enter". The next prompt you see will be a true root prompt, where you can reset any account password.
Enter
passwd youaccountname
You will be prompted for a new password. Enter it and press "Enter". A second prompt will appear, asking you to enter again what you entered the first time, just to make sure you got it right. After you change your password and get the prompt back issue
reboot
Now use that new password to enter into your account, AND, to authorize installation of new packages.

[claydoh]

Re: Password Prompt

if it were an incorrect password, even if you saved it, it would prompt you for the correct one if what you entered is incorrect or didn't work.

but to the original question, if you run:

kdesudo -s

this is supposed to forget any stored kdesudo passwords. I am not sure if this works with policykit (which is actually the part asking for the password). But even so, the 'saved password' is still temporary iirc, so a logout or reboot should clear it out as well

[GreyGeek]

Re: Password Prompt

That's interesting, Claydoh.

Which passwords does it forget? Certainly not the account password. FireFox web site passwords? Wallet?

[claydoh]

Re: Password Prompt

sorry, I wasn'rt specific enough -- its specific to kdesudo (from its manpage), I don't seem to be able to find out how to 'clear' these sort of stored passwords, though I do remember doing so a very long time ago. I don't believe these are stored in kwallet, either.

[kubicle]

Re: Password Prompt

Which passwords does it forget?

If sudo (and kdesudo) is configured (in /etc/sudoers) to remember password authentication for a certain amount of time once entered (and not ask the password again during the password timeout period), 'kdesudo -s' (or 'sudo -k') will "clear" the remembered password (so next time either is used, you have to type the password again).

However, I don't think the OPs issue lies with kdesudo, because:
1. kdesudo password dialog doesn't have an option to "remember password"
2. A wrong password won't be stored

I think this is a policykit issue (some apps use policykit instead of kdesudo), as policykit password offers an option to remember password (permanently or for session only). I still think it's odd if policykit will store a wrong password permanently, though.

If the issue is indeed a policykit issue, the solution should be revoking the policy. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the systemsettings module for policykit configuration (policykit-kde) in a while...has it been dropped? and is there a CLI tool to handle policies available?

I can't tell where policykit stores it's policies (my Oneiric system doesn't seem to store them at all, so I can't test it either), possible locations could be /etc/polkit-1 or /var/lib/polkit-1, but that's just guessing.

[jeremy1701]

Re: Password Prompt

Thanks for the replies everyone. As a follow up, I've attached a screenshot here of the dialog. The password is the same password for logon, however, I'm prompted to re-enter for installation of a program.

As an FYI, entering the wrong password does *not* prompt you for the correct one. As I mention in the original post, it simply saves the wrong password and fails authentication every time without a prompt. Seems like that may be a bug? The 'remember' box is always ticked by default. How can I turn that off?

kdesudo -s

didn't work.

I finally got it to re-prompt for the correct password by logging out and then logging back in.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Password Prompt

That dialog is asking for your account password, since yours is the first account created during the install its password is what is always asked for by system dialogs such as the one you've attached, or if you use kdesudo or sudo in a Konsole. However, I'd never check the "Remember this password", only the "This session" option.

If the wrong password is entered the installation should fail because only "root" has access to the system directories and files. Then, you'd rerun the app and enter the right password.

[kubicle]

Re: Password Prompt

kdesudo -s

didn't work.

Like I mentioned, this is not a kdesudo (sudo) issue, so resetting kdesudo timeout won't help.

The dialog you took the screenshot of is the policykit dialog (the "remember authorization" and "for this session only" are the giveaways, kdesudo doesn't have them)...and policykit is separate from kdesudo.

Seems like that may be a bug?

Yes. If policykit "can't handle" a wrong password, it's a bug.

[jeremy1701]

Re: Password Prompt

Seems like that may be a bug?

Yes. If policykit "can't handle" a wrong password, it's a bug.

I'll investigate further and file a bug report. It may have been operator error....

[GreyGeek]

Re: Password Prompt

Been there, done that.

Sometimes, my keyboard and mouse just don't want to do what I tell them to do.