forgot password for only user on new opensuse 15.3 - any way to use the installation?
Dear all, I just received a brand new notebook, freshly installed with Opensuse 15.3 (bought at slimbook.es). When renaming the standard user and resetting its password I must have made a typo, because I can no longer log in (it's the only existing user). Now I see no other way but to reinstall the full system, which seems a pity. So before doing that I wanted to ask if there is a way to avoid that, e.g., by overwriting /home and /etc/passwd from a live USB to make the installed system accessible to a new user - or is a full reinstall the only way to make the system usable? Sorry for the embarrassingly stupid problem and thank you for your help Geza
Geza Giedke composed on 2022-01-17 22:07 (UTC+0100):
I just received a brand new notebook, freshly installed with Opensuse 15.3 (bought at slimbook.es). When renaming the standard user and resetting its password I must have made a typo, because I can no longer log in (it's the only existing user).
Now I see no other way but to reinstall the full system, which seems a pity. So before doing that I wanted to ask if there is a way to avoid that, e.g., by overwriting /home and /etc/passwd from a live USB to make the installed system accessible to a new user - or is a full reinstall the only way to make the system usable?
By booting installation media and chrooting into the installed system you have the ability to set a new root password. From root login, other passwords can be set/reset. -- Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion, based on faith, not based on science. Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata
On 17/01/2022 22.07, Geza Giedke wrote:
Dear all,
I just received a brand new notebook, freshly installed with Opensuse 15.3 (bought at slimbook.es). When renaming the standard user and resetting its password I must have made a typo, because I can no longer log in (it's the only existing user).
Now I see no other way but to reinstall the full system, which seems a pity. So before doing that I wanted to ask if there is a way to avoid that, e.g., by overwriting /home and /etc/passwd from a live USB to make the installed system accessible to a new user - or is a full reinstall the only way to make the system usable?
Sorry for the embarrassingly stupid problem and thank you for your help Geza
Can you login as root in console? Then start up yast, user module, and change the password of that user. If not, you could try this: https://www.suse.com/support/kb/doc/?id=000015925 https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Recover_root_password -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from openSUSE 15.3 (Legolas))
On 17.01.22 22:57, Carlos E. R. wrote:
On 17/01/2022 22.07, Geza Giedke wrote:
Dear all,
I just received a brand new notebook, freshly installed with Opensuse 15.3 (bought at slimbook.es). When renaming the standard user and resetting its password I must have made a typo, because I can no longer log in (it's the only existing user).
Now I see no other way but to reinstall the full system, which seems a pity. So before doing that I wanted to ask if there is a way to avoid that, e.g., by overwriting /home and /etc/passwd from a live USB to make the installed system accessible to a new user - or is a full reinstall the only way to make the system usable?
Sorry for the embarrassingly stupid problem and thank you for your help Geza
Can you login as root in console? Then start up yast, user module, and change the password of that user.
That's the Windows Way of doing that. The *x Way is to open a console and type "passwd <username>" ;-) Josef -- SUSE Software Solutions Germany GmbH Maxfeldstr. 5 90409 Nürnberg Germany (HRB 36809, AG Nürnberg) Geschäftsführer: Ivo Totev
On 2022-01-18 01:08:06 Josef Moellers wrote:
|On 17.01.22 22:57, Carlos E. R. wrote: |> On 17/01/2022 22.07, Geza Giedke wrote: |>> Dear all, |>> |>> I just received a brand new notebook, freshly installed with Opensuse |>> 15.3 (bought at slimbook.es). When renaming the standard user and |>> resetting its password I must have made a typo, because I can no |>> longer log in (it's the only existing user). |>> |>> Now I see no other way but to reinstall the full system, which seems a |>> pity. So before doing that I wanted to ask if there is a way to avoid |>> that, e.g., by overwriting /home and /etc/passwd from a live USB to |>> make the installed system accessible to a new user - or is a full |>> reinstall the only way to make the system usable? |>> |>> Sorry for the embarrassingly stupid problem and thank you for your help |>> Geza |> |> Can you login as root in console? Then start up yast, user module, and |> change the password of that user. | |That's the Windows Way of doing that. The *x Way is to open a console |and type "passwd <username>" ;-) | |Josef
There's really nothing wrong with using YaST to do it. :-) Leslie -- Distribution: openSUSE Leap 15.3 x86_64
On 18.01.22 09:13, J Leslie Turriff wrote:
On 2022-01-18 01:08:06 Josef Moellers wrote:
|On 17.01.22 22:57, Carlos E. R. wrote: |> On 17/01/2022 22.07, Geza Giedke wrote: |>> Dear all, |>> |>> I just received a brand new notebook, freshly installed with Opensuse |>> 15.3 (bought at slimbook.es). When renaming the standard user and |>> resetting its password I must have made a typo, because I can no |>> longer log in (it's the only existing user). |>> |>> Now I see no other way but to reinstall the full system, which seems a |>> pity. So before doing that I wanted to ask if there is a way to avoid |>> that, e.g., by overwriting /home and /etc/passwd from a live USB to |>> make the installed system accessible to a new user - or is a full |>> reinstall the only way to make the system usable? |>> |>> Sorry for the embarrassingly stupid problem and thank you for your help |>> Geza |> |> Can you login as root in console? Then start up yast, user module, and |> change the password of that user. | |That's the Windows Way of doing that. The *x Way is to open a console |and type "passwd <username>" ;-) | |Josef
There's really nothing wrong with using YaST to do it. :-)
That's correct. TMTOWTDI, as they say in PERL ;-) However, I often have my system shut down again (or rebooted) before other people have YaST up ... But ... the best way to do things is the way one is comfortable with! Josef, command line junkie -- SUSE Software Solutions Germany GmbH Maxfeldstr. 5 90409 Nürnberg Germany (HRB 36809, AG Nürnberg) Geschäftsführer: Ivo Totev
On 18/01/2022 09.13, J Leslie Turriff wrote:
On 2022-01-18 01:08:06 Josef Moellers wrote:
|On 17.01.22 22:57, Carlos E. R. wrote: |> On 17/01/2022 22.07, Geza Giedke wrote: |>> Dear all, |>> |>> I just received a brand new notebook, freshly installed with Opensuse |>> 15.3 (bought at slimbook.es). When renaming the standard user and |>> resetting its password I must have made a typo, because I can no |>> longer log in (it's the only existing user). |>> |>> Now I see no other way but to reinstall the full system, which seems a |>> pity. So before doing that I wanted to ask if there is a way to avoid |>> that, e.g., by overwriting /home and /etc/passwd from a live USB to |>> make the installed system accessible to a new user - or is a full |>> reinstall the only way to make the system usable? |>> |>> Sorry for the embarrassingly stupid problem and thank you for your help |>> Geza |> |> Can you login as root in console? Then start up yast, user module, and |> change the password of that user. | |That's the Windows Way of doing that. The *x Way is to open a console |and type "passwd <username>" ;-) | |Josef
There's really nothing wrong with using YaST to do it. :-)
Right, using YaST is the [open]SUSE way, and I am proud of it :-) -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from oS Leap 15.3 x86_64 (Erebor-4))
* Geza Giedke
Dear all,
I just received a brand new notebook, freshly installed with Opensuse 15.3 (bought at slimbook.es). When renaming the standard user and resetting its password I must have made a typo, because I can no longer log in (it's the only existing user).
Now I see no other way but to reinstall the full system, which seems a pity. So before doing that I wanted to ask if there is a way to avoid that, e.g., by overwriting /home and /etc/passwd from a live USB to make the installed system accessible to a new user - or is a full reinstall the only way to make the system usable?
Sorry for the embarrassingly stupid problem and thank you for your help Geza
// from another post some time ago: chroot(1) allows you to run a shell with a different root file system.=20 When you boot the rescue system, your root file system is in a ramdisk. But if you need to reset your root password, what you do is: 1. Mount the root file system from your normal boot HD: mount /dev/hda1 /mnt 2. make that the new root file system: chroot /mnt You will now be in a shell where it thinks that /mnt is the root file system instead of the ramdisk / 3. Run the appropriate commands such as passwd(1). 4. Exit chroot like you would exit any other shell. -- (paka)Patrick Shanahan Plainfield, Indiana, USA @ptilopteri http://en.opensuse.org openSUSE Community Member facebook/ptilopteri Photos: http://wahoo.no-ip.org/piwigo paka @ IRCnet oftc What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times...
On 2022-01-17 15:07, Geza Giedke wrote:
Dear all,
I just received a brand new notebook, freshly installed with Opensuse 15.3 (bought at slimbook.es). When renaming the standard user and resetting its password I must have made a typo, because I can no longer log in (it's the only existing user).
Now I see no other way but to reinstall the full system, which seems a pity. So before doing that I wanted to ask if there is a way to avoid that, e.g., by overwriting /home and /etc/passwd from a live USB to make the installed system accessible to a new user - or is a full reinstall the only way to make the system usable?
Sorry for the embarrassingly stupid problem and thank you for your help Geza
YaST/Security and Users --> User and Group Administration. You will need the root password to do this. Highlight the user in question, click "Edit", and in the popup screen, you may edit the user's password.
Op maandag 17 januari 2022 22:07:03 CET schreef Geza Giedke:
Dear all,
I just received a brand new notebook, freshly installed with Opensuse 15.3 (bought at slimbook.es). When renaming the standard user and resetting its password I must have made a typo, because I can no longer log in (it's the only existing user).
Now I see no other way but to reinstall the full system, which seems a pity. So before doing that I wanted to ask if there is a way to avoid that, e.g., by overwriting /home and /etc/passwd from a live USB to make the installed system accessible to a new user - or is a full reinstall the only way to make the system usable?
Sorry for the embarrassingly stupid problem and thank you for your help Geza LOL, just posted somewhere else:
mount /dev/sdX# /mnt mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys chroot /mnt passwd YOUR_USER_HERE -- Gertjan Lettink a.k.a. Knurpht openSUSE Board openSUSE Forums Team
many thanks to everybody for your helpful replies; chroot and
resetting the user's password worked and saved me a lot of time.
Thanks also for teaching me something new (and implicitly making clear
how limited the standard password 'protection' is and that one should
use an encrypted file systems if one wants the data there to be
private ;-).
I didn't try the root-access based methods as I thought that I didn't
have that access anymore (as I had messed up the password of the only
user); but afterwards I realized that the root password hadn't changed
from the factory settings and so that would have been an even easier
route.
thanks again and best regards
Geza
On Tue, Jan 18, 2022 at 1:25 AM Knurpht-openSUSE
Op maandag 17 januari 2022 22:07:03 CET schreef Geza Giedke:
Dear all,
I just received a brand new notebook, freshly installed with Opensuse 15.3 (bought at slimbook.es). When renaming the standard user and resetting its password I must have made a typo, because I can no longer log in (it's the only existing user).
Now I see no other way but to reinstall the full system, which seems a pity. So before doing that I wanted to ask if there is a way to avoid that, e.g., by overwriting /home and /etc/passwd from a live USB to make the installed system accessible to a new user - or is a full reinstall the only way to make the system usable?
Sorry for the embarrassingly stupid problem and thank you for your help Geza LOL, just posted somewhere else:
mount /dev/sdX# /mnt mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys chroot /mnt passwd YOUR_USER_HERE
-- Gertjan Lettink a.k.a. Knurpht openSUSE Board openSUSE Forums Team
On 18/01/2022 11.42, Geza Giedke wrote:
many thanks to everybody for your helpful replies; chroot and resetting the user's password worked and saved me a lot of time. Thanks also for teaching me something new (and implicitly making clear how limited the standard password 'protection' is and that one should use an encrypted file systems if one wants the data there to be private ;-). I didn't try the root-access based methods as I thought that I didn't have that access anymore (as I had messed up the password of the only user); but afterwards I realized that the root password hadn't changed from the factory settings and so that would have been an even easier route.
Check that you can access as root. By default, root has the same password as the 1st user (something I never do). -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from oS Leap 15.3 x86_64 (Erebor-4))
On 18/01/2022 11.42, Geza Giedke wrote:
many thanks to everybody for your helpful replies; chroot and resetting the user's password worked and saved me a lot of time. Thanks also for teaching me something new (and implicitly making clear how limited the standard password 'protection' is and that one should use an encrypted file systems if one wants the data there to be private ;-).
Oh, I forgot to mention that there is no way to recover a lost encryption passphrase, so be careful ;-) -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from oS Leap 15.3 x86_64 (Erebor-4))
participants (8)
-
Carlos E. R. -
Darryl Gregorash -
Felix Miata -
Geza Giedke -
J Leslie Turriff -
Josef Moellers -
Knurpht-openSUSE -
Patrick Shanahan