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I hope i'll be able to explain this well, so pls bear with me... Firstly, I got Ubuntu 12.4 I forgot the password for my admin account, so i changed it in thhe grub- in recovery mode. after i've been able to access only the guest account, where at least i changed the option login withou passwd for my admin account (obviously at this point the passwd worked since for changing this option u need sudo privileges) However, i still couldnt log in into my master account- when i click on login on startup, the page goes black, then comes back to the same point where u select users. i tried many different options- probably messed it up too! but I am not able to even use the password again in the guest account. Im totally logged out, pls help.

note that a solution without using a dvd/bootable usb to fix grub/linux would be much more preferred! Since Im travelling in remote areas :p

user301108
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  • Are you able to log into a tty? Press Ctrl+Alt+F1, type in your username, press enter, then type in your password. Can you log in there? – Moose Jul 07 '14 at 03:23
  • i tried it, and when i type user name it says: no directory, logging in with HOME=/ – user301108 Jul 07 '14 at 03:40
  • but the next line is already my user name dianka@dianka:/$ – user301108 Jul 07 '14 at 03:41
  • sorry im not really good at this :( what shud i do next? – user301108 Jul 07 '14 at 03:42
  • update- i was able to set the passwd again through tty and now i can access more stuff in my guest account..However still not able to access my admin account – user301108 Jul 07 '14 at 04:35
  • Are you using an encrypted home directory? It looks like you changed your password in /etc/passwd but "no directory, logging in with HOME=/" means that your encrypted home directory is NOT being decrypted and mounted. Unless you can recover/recall the original password, and decrypt/mount the HOME directory, you will have lost all your data. This is a feature of encrypted home directories. I hope you have a backup. – waltinator Jul 07 '14 at 15:55
  • okay i might remember the orig password.. so what shud i do? – user301108 Jul 07 '14 at 16:29

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what about creating a brand new user from tty (if I've correctly understood, you can login via tty) using sudo adduser new_username_of_your_choice? As I can understand, it seems to be some problem with your home directory, so maybe, accessing as a different user you can understand what's wrong/missing in your old user's home.

Cheers,

Silvia

Silvia
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  • i was thinking avout it too, but eventually i do want to access my old account since i got there all my important files, pics etc... – user301108 Jul 07 '14 at 12:48
  • once you're logged in as new user, you can import into your new home everything you need from old one for example via terminal and sudo (don't forget, then, to change ownership). Silvia – Silvia Jul 07 '14 at 13:01