recovering admin's password

[Robbyx]

The person who sold me an old Dell GX620 had put Ubuntu 12.10, but ommitted to give me the password.

I have set up a new password using the method at http://naveenubuntu.blogspot.co.uk/2...untu-1204.html

which in effect explains how to change the password by the root in the recovery mode.

It all went well and I was able to set up a new password for the main admin user, and yet when I get into the desktop and try to login with the new password it is not recognised.

Does anyone know what I should do next?

[grier-devon]

The issue I see with the guide you posted is people are calling him out for syntax error's and claiming it does not work. Here is the official documentation and you should always try to use the official Ubuntu Documentation where possible.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LostPassword

EDIT: I just noticed you said it has 12.10 installed. You are not using a supported version of Ubuntu right now anyway so I would consider downloading and installing 14.04 as this is a LTS and will give you five years of support and then you can set a new password in the installer.

[Robbyx]

I have looked at your referal and it is what I did. Did you notice that I successfully changed the password at the root but it is not recognised when I login! By successful I mean that it reported that I had successfully changed the password.

[grier-devon]

Here is a way to do it through a live cd
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/linux...m-the-live-cd/

Though if you have never had access to the machine which means non of your data is on there then it is silly to not do a fresh install with a supported version of Ubuntu as 12.10 will have security flaws not being fixed, old software and less hardware support out of the box.

[deadflowr]

Since you've enabled the root password, which is normally a no-no here, try this.

when you boot into Ubuntu, as you get to the login screen, press ctrl + alt + F1(or F2)
You will get tty1,or tty2.
login in as root, with the newly made root password.
when logged in run

passwd username

changing username here for you normal username.

now enter

reboot

When you reboot the new password for your user should work to log you in.

After to log in open a terminal and run this

sudo passwd -dl root

This will re-disable the root password.
Which is the preferable state.

Good luck.

[Robbyx]

Deadflowr: Thank you I have now been able to login. For me the ilogical part was that I was changing username's password at root level, but a login I could not use the same password. I did not enter "root" when I changed the password for username.

[deadflowr]

Deadflowr: Thank you I have now been able to login. For me the ilogical part was that I was changing username's password at root level, but a login I could not use the same password. I did not enter "root" when I changed the password for username.

Did you simply use passwd, without a username?
I think it defaults to root.
Like su, where simply su moves you into root, su username will move you into the other username.
I'm guessing, though.

[Iowan]

Did you simply use passwd, without a username?
I think it defaults to root.
Like su, where simply su moves you into root, su username will move you into the other username.
I'm guessing, though.

As mentioned in the Wiki:

This procedure gives you a full root shell! You can damage your system if you are not careful!

So, as root, if you didn't specify a username, the system changed the root password.

[sammiev]

Any computer I would of bought from another person would have been wiped and installed with the OS I wanted afterwards. I hope you trusted the person you bought it from.

[nothingspecial]

What you need to do is download the latest ubuntu, install it, and set it up for yourself.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/