How to Reset Forgotten Password in Linux

Easily access your Linux device by changing your password with this simple guide

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Last Updated: August 24, 2022

So you forgot your Linux/Ubuntu/Unix password? No worries, this article will guide you how to reset your Linux password in minutes.

Steps

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1
Boot into recovery mode. While your computer is booting, from the boot menu select the "recovery mode" option.
- Press F8 key in case boot menu doesn't appear.
After the computer boots in to recovery mode, from the Recovery menu select the option 'Drop to root shell prompt'

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To change the password type the command 'passwd username' and follow the instruction below.
There is a possibility that you may get an 'Authentication token manipulations error' as Filesystem state could be 'Read only'. To fix it, type the following command before the first command. mount -rw -o remount

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Question

What do I do if the computer won't accept commands after selecting the "Drop to root shell prompt' option?

Haxalicious

Community Answer

You need to mount the filesystem as read-write (rw). Do step 4 and type "mount -rw -o remount". You can also go into the recovery menu first, select "fsck" which will mount your filesystem as rw (and it will also check the disk for errors too) and after that you can use the root shell.

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Question

Will it lose my memory?

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If you are referring to data in your hard disk, there is no data to lose. You are just modifying the file /etc/passwd file by the above-mentioned step.

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How do I protect my computer from this attack?

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Inside a terminal, type sudo nano /etc/default/grub. After finding #GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true", uncomment that line. Then, exit the nano text editor (make sure to save changes).

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