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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

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How to Reset Ubuntu Password


How to Reset Ubuntu Password




If you have ever forgotten your password, you are not alone it is probably one of the most common tech support problems I have encountered over the years. Luckily if you are using Ubuntu they made it incredibly easy to reset your password.
All it takes is adjusting the boot parameters slightly and typing a command or two, but we will walk you through it.



Reset Your Ubuntu Password

Reboot your computer, and then as soon as you see the GRUB Loading screen, make sure to hit the ESC key so that you can get to the menu.


If you have the option, you can choose the recovery mode item on the menu, usually found right below your default kernel option.



Then choose Drop to root shell prompt from this menu.








This should give you a root shell prompt.



Alternate Root Shell Method


If you do not have the recovery mode option, this is the alternate way to manually edit the grub options to allow for a root shell.
First you will want to make sure to choose the regular boot kernel that you use (typically just the default one), and then use the e key to choose to edit that boot option.



Now just hit the down arrow key over to the kernel option, and then use the e key to switch to edit mode for the kernel option.

You will first be presented with a screen that looks very similar to this one:

You will want to remove the ro quiet splash part with the backspace key, and then add this onto the end:
rw init=/bin/bash

Once you hit enter after adjusting the kernel line, you will need to use the B key to choose to boot with that option.


At this point the system should boot up very quickly to a command prompt.



Changing the Actual Password



You can use the following command to reset your password:

passwd < username >

After changing your password, use the following commands to reboot your system. (The sync command makes sure to write out data to the disk before rebooting).

sync
reboot -f

I found that the -f parameter was necessary to get the reboot command to work for some reason. You could always hardware reset instead, but make sure to use the sync command first.

And now you should be able to login without any issues.

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