commands/password

[zizzyzix]

no matter what command i enter in the command line and am asked for my password i can not enter it. i type it (just 2 letters) but nothing shows up on the CLI. would sure appreciate some help--- thank you

[opie]

Re: commands/password

We really need more specifics to be able to help you.

Are you in a terminal window(konsole window) loaded within the graphical interface and, if so, what command are you trying to use?
Or do you mean that your computer is booting to a command prompt and you can't get it to boot normally or respond?

Also did you simply create a user account password or did you try to activate the root account?

[Rog131]

Re: commands/password

You can't see black dots ?

Like here:

[dibl]

Re: commands/password

i type it (just 2 letters) but nothing shows up on the CLI. would sure appreciate some help--- thank you

This is actually the expected behavior -- you do not see anything on the "real" CLI when you type your password. Rog131 has shown what you see if you use the "GUI CLI" which is opened from the Kubuntu desktop with Alt-F2.

From the true console (i.e. Konsole or the terminal obtained by pressing Ctrl-Alt-F1), if you enter your password correctly, followed by using the "Enter" key, the command proceeds to execute. Try it -- if it fails to execute, then there is some futher problem.

Try

kdesu kate

, then enter your password when requested, then press "Enter".

[zizzyzix]

Re: commands/password

thank you opie,Rog 131 and dibl for your time.
ok-- i am in the shell Konsole and i put in bash$ sudo apt-get install build-essential-( just about any command does the same) and press enter and when i am asked for my password i type but nothing happens--no letters no dots.
ientered Kdesu Kate and the konsole window opened and showed "failed to open" but the run command window opened and when i entered my password the fle Kate opened
hopes this helps and thanks again

[dibl]

Re: commands/password

i put in bash$ sudo apt-get install build-essential-( just about any command does the same) and press enter and when i am asked for my password i type but nothing happens--no letters no dots.

Correct - that is expected! I guess I didn't say it clearly -- let me try again.

When using the Alt-F2 command line, or when opening an administrative app such as Adept Manager, you will see ******** when you enter your password. Or perhaps in your case, just **

When using Konsole or the tty consoles F1 - F6, which are true Command Line Interfaces (i.e. bash shell sessions), you will NOT see anything when you enter your password. But, it is recorded when you enter it, and when you press "Enter" your command will be executed if you entered the correct password.

HTH.

[zizzyzix]

Re: commands/password

ah that is the problem when i press enter-- nothing happens---

[Snowhog]

Re: commands/password

Are you litterally typing the following:

bash$ sudo apt-get install build-essential

from the command line, including the bash$

When you open a konsole shell, this is what you should type:

sudo apt-get install build-essential

[opie]

Re: commands/password

If you type the following in a console window:

sudo lshw

do you get some kind of output after entering your password and hitting enter?

If so then show us, on a separate line here, exactly what command you are typing into the console window. show on that line only what you are typing in.

[zizzyzix]

Re: commands/password

thank you snowhog and opie.
snowhog-- no i am not typing "bash"-- i type sudo apt-get install build-essential-- then i hit "enter"-- password comes up and i type my password and hit "enter"-- nothing happens.
opie i typed in -- sudo lshw-- hit "enter" and the password comes up. i type in my password ans hit"enter and i get a complete description of my machines components along with some "usr" files

[Snowhog]

Re: commands/password

I'm taking a stab here, but after a bit of Googling on ubuntu minimum password length, I found a link where the question on how to "change linux password policy settings" was asked, and answered. This led me to view the *ubuntu file that manages this: common-password located in /etc/pam.d

I've pasted mine below, the pertinent line is highlighted in blue. There is a minimum length requirement, which is set at 4. I'm not sure how you were able to establish a user password that was less than four characters. The fact that you apparently can issue some sudo commands and not others is puzzling. Can you open Adept Manager with your password? If 'yes,' I'd try installing the package that way.

xxxx@xxxx-xxxxxxx-xxxxxx:~$ pg /etc/pam.d/common-password
#
# /etc/pam.d/common-password - password-related modules common to all services
#
# This file is included from other service-specific PAM config files,
# and should contain a list of modules that define the services to be
#used to change user passwords. The default is pam_unix

# The "nullok" option allows users to change an empty password, else
# empty passwords are treated as locked accounts.
#
# (Add `md5' after the module name to enable MD5 passwords)
#
# The "obscure" option replaces the old `OBSCURE_CHECKS_ENAB' option in
# login.defs. Also the "min" and "max" options enforce the length of the
# new password.

password required pam_unix.so nullok obscure min=4 max=8 md5

# Alternate strength checking for password. Note that this
# requires the libpam-cracklib package to be installed.
# You will need to comment out the password line above and
# uncomment the next two in order to use this.
# (Replaces the `OBSCURE_CHECKS_ENAB', `CRACKLIB_DICTPATH')
#
# password required pam_cracklib.so retry=3 minlen=6 difok=3
# password required pam_unix.so use_authtok nullok md5

[kubicle]

Re: commands/password

I'm not sure how you were able to establish a user password that was less than four characters.

The restrictions only affect normal users changing their own passwords. As root (or with sudo) you can set/change the passwords of users as you wish

As for the original problem, any error messages when sudo password won't work?
If sudo doesn't accept the password, it should print out 'Sorry, try again', and prompt for the password again (You can test by just hitting enter when prompted for a password). If you don't get this, I'd assume sudo accepts the password just fine, and the issue is somewhere else.

[zizzyzix]

Re: commands/password

snowhog and kubicle-- thank you for your time and consideration.
snowhog-- my password works just about everywhere except in a few instances like this.i shall try with Adept Manager.
kubicle-- no error message-- just sets there-- i know its not a good practice-- but i hit every d--n key on the keyboard but nothing
i have only been trying to work with Kubuntu for a couple weeks and i suppose i have done something wrong.
thanks again