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Sad story short, my brother has passed away. For personal reasons i have to get into his laptop. Sometimes when i open it, it puts me right to the desktop without password, but sometimes it requires password i obviously do not know.

So my questions are

  • is there a way to change the password via terminal while it autologs
  • is there a chance of me deleting memory content while i try to do it through recovery mode
  • is there a way to view current password

Thank you in advance for you answers.

Daniel Chudárek
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  • If it automatically logs in then you should be able to do any backup you need to do. Once done reinstall the OS, it's that simple. – ChanganAuto Mar 15 '22 at 22:14
  • Be aware that if you do as the link above you won't be able to backup personal files. Changing the password won't give you access to the personal files. Please read again my previous comment and suggestion. – ChanganAuto Mar 15 '22 at 22:20
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    This seems like an XY Question. The root problem is "I have to get into his laptop". There may be better and safer ways than changing the password. – user535733 Mar 15 '22 at 22:32

1 Answers1

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One easy, safe method of accessing data is to:

  • Create an Ubuntu LiveUSB.
  • Boot into the "Try Ubuntu" environment.
  • Mount the hard drive
  • Copy all the data that you wish to preserve onto some other media.
  • Test the other media to ensure the data is readable.
  • Now it is safe to wipe the old machine and dispose/reinstall

Keep in mind that sometimes folks using the term "password" actually mean encryption passphrase, which is something completely different from a real "password".

  • Since your system has autologin, it does not seem to be encrypted. But a directory or file might be. Discussion about encryption is for future readers who might be misdirected to this question.

If a system or directory or file really is encrypted, the encrypted data is gone forever unless you can discover the passphrase (or you have the resources of a State actor). There is no secret backdoor for emergency access.

user535733
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