Table of Contents
Advertisement
112
12.8. Forgotten Password
Help! I forgot my root password. How do I log in now?
You can log in using single-user mode and create a new root password.
To enter single-user mode, reboot your computer. If you use the default boot loader, GRUB, you can
enter single user mode by performing the following:
1. At the boot loader menu, use the arrow keys to highlight the installation you want to edit and
type [A] to enter into
2. You are presented with a prompt that looks similar to the following:
grub append>
3. Press the Spacebar once to add a blank space, then add the word single to tell GRUB to boot
into single-user Linux mode. The result should look like the following:
ro root=LABEL=/ single
4. Press [Enter] and GRUB will boot single-user Linux mode. After it finishes loading, you will
be presented with a shell prompt similar to the following:
sh-2.05b#
5. You can now change the root password by typing
passwd root
You will be asked to re-type the password for verification. Once you are finished, the password
will be changed. You can then reboot by typing
root as you normally would.
12.9. Password Maintenance
I forgot or want to change my user account password.
Open a shell prompt and type the following:
passwd username
Replace username with your normal user name.
The
command will then ask for the new password, which you will need to enter twice. You
passwd
can now use the new password to log in to your user account.
12.10. Changing Login from Console to X at Startup
How do I change my login from the console to the graphical screen?
Instead of logging in to your system at the console and typing the
Window System, you can configure your system so that you can log in directly to X.
You must edit one file,
you are finished, reboot the computer. The next time you log in, you will have a graphical login
prompt.
Open a shell prompt. If you are in your user (home) account, change to the root user by using the
command:
su -
Now, type
gedit /etc/inittab
Within the first screen, you will see a section of the file which looks like this:
mode.
append
ro root=LABEL=/
, by changing just one number in the runlevel section. When
/etc/inittab
to edit the file with gedit. The file
Chapter 12. Frequently Asked Questions
at the prompt; then you can log in to
reboot
startx
/etc/inittab
command to start the X
will open.
su
Advertisement
Table of Contents
Troubleshooting
