HOWTO: Change your forgotten password

[majikstreet]

It's not about Unix, this works in every OS, also Windows.
If you need to secure your data against people who have physical access to it, encryption is your friend.


Btw, "reboot" is shorter than "shutdown -r now". Just for the people who are really lazy.

I know that reboot is shorter.. For some reason I felt like putting shutdown -r now

dvarsam thanks

A lesson to all: if you have valuble data on your machine, always encrypt and physically secure your machine. That is all.

[dvarsam]

A lesson to all: if you have valuble data on your machine, always encrypt and physically secure your machine. That is all.

Dear "majikstreet"

What you said above is THE most important advice to the Ubuntu Community:

1. To Encrypt your Work

2. To Physically secure your Machine.


I agree with you Totally !!!


Let me explain why:


Case 1: To Encrypt your Work

It is NOT good for ANYBODY that knows your username, to be able to change YOUR Username's Password & access all YOUR files with YOUR user rights.

It would be better, if Ubuntu FORCED you to Boot as Root (in such a case).

Result:
So, if you are concerned with Security it is good to create a Root account.

This way, if somebody wants to break in YOUR PC:

1. They need to know your root Password,

OR:

2. They need to Boot from CD & change your Root Password from there


In the 2nd case, you MUST Restrict Ubuntu to Boot from a CD.
So, enter the BIOS & do NOT let Ubuntu Boot from a CD.
Then secure your BIOS with a password...

Result:
So somebody who wants to see your Stuff, needs to know YOUR BIOS password...

But then, make sure you do NOT forget your BIOS password!

But, even in such a case, there is a way to overcome that lock:

1. They can Flash your BIOS & (voilla !!!) there is NO BIOS password!

OR:

2. Physically remove YOUR Hard Drive from your PC & plug it in a different PC to
sneak into your work...

But if your Encrypt your Files with a Password?

Then, they would have to "crack" your Password or find another way to SEE your files.

That means:
Whoever tries to SEE your stuff, MUST be a good "Hacker"!


Case 2: To Physically secure your Machine.

IF somebody breaks-in your house & steals YOUR Hard Drive, you' ve lost it ALL !!!

However, that does NOT mean that he will know how to SEE your files unless he is an Expert...

Result:
...in the end (if they are willing SO much), they WILL find a way to see your stuff, in any way...

Word of Advice:

Anything that is "Locked" can be "Unlocked"....

... and it is a matter of "How much Time" is needed for somebody to Break-in your Ubuntu...

So, all you can do is to "Slow them down" a little...

Have fun !!!

[engla]

Adapting The HOWTO for PPC (yaboot) users

That's right, us on PPC machines can't use GRUB, we use something called yaboot instead. Should be no problem though, just replace step 1 and 2 with this:

1. Reboot your PPC machine. If you have dual-boot or cdboot or such configured, the first you will see is a menu to choose either linux, macosx or cd-boot. You want linux of course; press 'L'.
2. Now, you are sent to the second yaboot screen. If you type tab you get a list of the different kernels you can boot to, but normally you just want to use the one called "Linux". To boot to single user mode you have to follow your desired kernel with 'single', so at this stage we type

Linux single

Make sure it's exactly like "Linux single", caps matters.
The rest is just the same.

[Thetha]

Thanks a lot... I was about to reinstall ubuntu

[Hellene Atheist]

Thanks, majikstreet. That was very easy.
I've been looking for an easy way to change my password.=D>

[GoBrandiRanger]

Thank you so much! I'd been neglecting updates for about 8 months now, due to my lost password. lol

[andorthekid]

it doesnt work

[andorthekid]

iam stuck at step one

[steeldriver]

Hello and welcome

This is a very old thread and some things have changed - please follow these instructions instead

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/resetpassword

[sisco311]

Thread moved to Outdated Tutorials & Tips.