Possible Duplicate:
How do I reset a lost Administrative(root) password?
I inherited a machine with Ubuntu desktop installed. It has a password in place and I have no idea what the password may be. I cannot get to the command line to use the methods I have found online. No matter how many times I press "Shift" during the boot process it still goes all the way to the desktop login. I never see grub. I am not sure which version I have but I think may be 9 or 10.
Thanks
Doug
OK, chapter II
I have 10.04.1, btw.
I tried holding the shift key down and got to the boot menu. Mine was titled GNU GRUB 1.98-1unbuntu7
It has several kernels listed but none say...Ubuntu, KERNEL. Instead mine says (along with several older versions)
Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-24-generic.
I pressed 'e' on that one anyway and got a page that shows:
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root = '(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set (long id number)
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic root=UUID (same long number) ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-24-generic
When I try to addd rw init=/bin/bash and hit ESC, then e again it is gone. If I try to reboot (ctrl-X) after entering the above it goes to the locked desktop.
I also tried the Live CD (I have 8.04.1 on CD). That worked, up until I tried to mount the existing HD. It said it was ext4 and was not compatible. I used the Partition manager and it showed that partition was ext3. {shrug}
I booted into recovery mode and can get to the root command line. It shows the machine name but I am not sure where I need to go from there though to find the user info. Maybe CD /dev/sdb?? I know root is a no-no and I don't want to break it .. . I just want to get in and not have to reinstall!
Thanks
Doug
