Passwords not working

[cazub]

Trying to use sudo stopped working after my last 3 reboots so everytime i'd have to

"sudo passwd root"

every time. NOW I can't even login as a user since ITS password has somehow been changed after a reboot. SO basicaly i'm looking at a reinstall which will be just awful. Anybody have an idea as to how to set my passwords so i can at least login and try and fix some things? Is there a default password or guest account or something i can try to login with? Can i use a live CD somehow to change my passwords and if so how?

[sky]

Re: Passwords not working

Hi,

You should be able to do it like this :
Boot from the install cd, or a live cd.
When you're logged in as root (from any install cd, press <Ctrl>+<Alt>+<F1> or <F2> til 7).
So when you're logged (usually just type enter is enough),
go to /tmp (cd /tmp)
create a directory (mkdir test)
mount your / on /tmp/test (sudo /dev/... /tmp/test) replace ... by the name of your device, usually hda1, sda1 something like this
edit the file /etc/shadow (vi /tmp/test/etc/shadow)
find your login and replace the password (second field) and replace it by this :
$1$pXzlJ3/P$yM6d81iWfteX5K1khoiDo1
("x" to delete a character, i to prepare insert)
Save the file. (<escape>)
Reboot, try "toto" as password, it should work.

Hope it helps

[cazub]

Re: Passwords not working

thanks buddy,

yah i had to mount my harddrive from a live CD and then had to try a
chroot /bin/bash .........THEN a sudo passwd root , THEN a sudo passwd user

That made it so i could reboot and use those passwords to login. but now i rebooted since then...........POW , passwords are gone once i login. I can't su, i can't sudo , i can't even login with my username again. Any idea why this would KEEP changing I dont' hae the patience to put a live cd in and repeat the above proccess every time i want to reboot.

[cazub]

Re: Passwords not working

wow........... take a look at this

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/index.php?topic=9243.0

Guy had the same problem and had to replace a CMOS battery.

[sky]

Re: Passwords not working

Yeah strange, but I guess it's true, I had something odd like this once...

Hope it will fix