Xubuntu 6.06.1 desktop i386

[Peter Nearing]

Justin,

	Well, yes and no, you don't get the original password, but you do get to change the password to something else.  There is a way to have linux ask for the root password when booting to single user mode, though I forget exactly how.  Though in Ubuntu you would have to set the root password to something known, either through sudo or through the process I described earlier.  Oh and Ubuntu calls booting into single user mode "Recovery mode".  As well to get single user mode, even if you remove the option from grub, you pass the switch -s to the kernel when booting.

Peter N.

-----Original Message-----

From:  "Justin Wong" <stryderjzw at gmail.com>
Subj:  Re: Xubuntu 6.06.1 desktop i386
Date:  Wed Dec 20, 2006 6:08 pm
Size:  4K
To:  "The Canadian Ubuntu Users Community" <ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com>

That seems a little scary. Is it really that easy to get passwords?

Justin

On 12/20/06, Peter Nearing <pnearing at gmail.com > wrote:Don,

It is possible to get login name from the computer with out reinstalling the OS.What you would have to do is reboot into single user mode, Ubuntu calls it something else, like safe mode or something, however what that will do is give you a text mode root prompt.From there you would cat the /etc/passwd file, cat /etc/passwd.This will list all the users on the system, there will be a bunch of them, but you are looking for a username with a user ID of 1000 (the first regular user on a default install). 

Once you have the username there is no really easy way to recover the original password, but you can change it with out knowing it, since you are the super user.That would be done by passwd usernameIt will prompt you to enter the new password twice, just make sure you type it the same way both times, and you should be golden.Then logging out should return you to your regular graphical login screen. 

I know this works in the default Ubuntu install and I would expect that it will work in the Xubuntu distro as well.Just be careful, when you are root, you have the ability to make changes that will cause your system to be unbootable.I hope this helps. 

Peter N.

-----Original Message-----

From:Don and/or Mila Trombley <donmila at shaw.ca>
Subj:Re: Xubuntu 6.06.1 desktop i386
Date:Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:08 am 
Size:3K
To:The Canadian Ubuntu Users Community <ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com>


 Tee Jay Rosene wrote:
 Yeah, it might take a little bit of time. I have an older IBM thinkpad Laptop (that Im writing on now!) with 4 gig hard drive, 64 Megs of RAM, and A Celeron chip, and it took a couple of hours to install Ubuntu. When I installed Xubuntu on it, if I remember correctly, the installation time was a little shorter, so thats something to look forward to;) Kubuntu, on the other hand, takes centuries to install on legacy software! 
 Youll have to type a bunch of information while installing, where you live, time zone, language, etc. and then the installation will just go for a while. About half/three quarters of the way into the installation, you might be prompted to click the screen resolutions you want to include with the installations. Basically Ubuntu will already have detected what your system can support, so you should only have to click enter. Nonetheless, if you leave your machine over night, go to bed, and are super excited to see your new system in the morning, youll still have to click enter in the morning. At this point youre not that far from rebooting your new machine. 
 After that, its smooth sailing; youll need to reboot your machine and everything should be a go.
 This is where the fun really begins...Customization, playing around, etc.


Gee, Thank You very much for pointing me to this one!!! Already I am 
 installing the software (having done the selections. Now comes the fun
 part (twiddling my thumbs, and .......)
 The problem of RSDP resurfaced, and I tried to type in the command:
 ACPI=OFF, not knowing the proper Function Key to press for the command, 
 without any success.Boot= (whatever ) comes up, and when I tried
 deleting the command after the "=" and gotten as far as ACPI= before
 being able to type in OFF", the system kicked in, and started loading 
 the rest of the software. Now, I assume that this will take all night to
 install itself onto the HD?
 Don. 9;00 a.m. Finished the loading, now time to reboot. Hooray! It woiked...oh, shoot! forgot the login information. Lesson learned: Write down critical information. So, have to start all over again! 
 BTW: if ever I forget, or, lose the login info, is there any way for me to get that info w/o reloading all that stuff, and losing any critical info?
 Also, how do I make a floppy reboot disk for emergency?

 

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