reset ubuntu passwords

[compnet]

This one is killing me.. I've tried everything google has to offer to no avail..

I've tried;

booting to recovery = doesn't work because it has root password
booting to single user (replace ro with rw and add init=/bin/bash on kernel line) = Authentication token manipulation after passwd command and password is unchanged

so reading up on the token error, I tried mount -o, remount, rw / (also added -n) = same token error

Then tried booting from the live cd, and doing chown, and I'm getting the same token error..


The only thing I haven't tried is some googling mention comparing /etc/password and /etc/shadow, but the don't go into any detail of what to compare or how to actually do it..

I'm mostly a linux noob, about to throw in the towel..

[rjframe]

Boot a livecd or slave the drive to another PC. Find and open /etc/shadow (make a copy first). It will have a list of entries that look something like this:

username:$6$QR3drPrQ$JLolPKyiVuXvea1F2IpbPx9F9PEV0 s/IGcNCpm6ZrBA6AFDvwHPQG7EsTQHuUqxfCvlsuKRb.O7w5RLPy j8nS/:15129:0:99999:7:::

The random-looking text between the first and second colons are your password. Find the user you want, then delete the password:

username::15129:0:99999:7:::

Reboot the PC.

[iisjman07]

Originally Posted by rjframe

Boot a livecd or slave the drive to another PC. Find and open /etc/shadow (make a copy first). It will have a list of entries that look something like this:

username:$6$QR3drPrQ$JLolPKyiVuXvea1F2IpbPx9F9PEV0 s/IGcNCpm6ZrBA6AFDvwHPQG7EsTQHuUqxfCvlsuKRb.O7w5RLPy j8nS/:15129:0:99999:7:::

The random-looking text between the first and second colons are your password. Find the user you want, then delete the password:

username::15129:0:99999:7:::

Reboot the PC.

Nice tip, thanks for sharing

[compnet]

Finally got back around to this one. there are 2 partitions, one has all the system files, the other has all the username folders. on the system partition there is no shadow folder or password folder in the /etc folder.

I'm just gonna give the computer back. I think the user either took measures to prevent normal password resetting procedures from working, or the install is somehow corrupt.. I've spent way too much time on this already.

[codegreen]

Originally Posted by compnet

Finally got back around to this one. there are 2 partitions, one has all the system files, the other has all the username folders. on the system partition there is no shadow folder or password folder in the /etc folder.

/etc/passwd (note the spelling) and /etc/shadow are not folders; they are text files. How did you look for the files? Did you boot from a livecd? If so, did you remember to mount the hard drive and look for the files there?

[compnet]

Originally Posted by codegreen

/etc/passwd (note the spelling) and /etc/shadow are not folders; they are text files. How did you look for the files? Did you boot from a livecd? If so, did you remember to mount the hard drive and look for the files there?

:facepalm:

Next problem, I don't have permissions to open the shadow file... Also, what would I open them with on an ubuntu live cd?? open office?


edit:
typing mount in terminal give me this for the partition I'm looking at

/dev/sda6 on /media/(hash) type ext2 ( rw,nosuid, no dev,uhelper=udisks)