Can't login after installation
 

I recently used an online guide for installation of Fedora, such that I would be able to use Windows XP or Fedora as necessary. Since this forum won't allow me to post the URL, you can find it by doing a Google search for "Dual Boot Fedora Linux and Windows XP, resizing NTFS". I first used qtparted to free 6 GB of hard drive; due to limitations in the Windows XP defragmenter, I was unable to free any more without wiping my memory.

I then installed Fedora using Anaconda and entered a desired username and password into Setup Agent. Shortly thereafter, I was prompted for my username and password at a graphical login screen, but upon entering them, I received the error message, "Incorrect username or password. Letters must be typed in the correct case." I also tried logging in as "root" and as no username, both of which also failed. I tried reinstalling Fedora, using a different username of exactly eight characters (as per the website's recommendation), with the same result. What can I do to correct this? Note that this is my very first experience with Linux. Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi.

The only thing I can think of is that the keyboard layout Anaconda thinks you have isn't the same as the layout the login screen thinks you have.

This shouldn't be a problem if you're only using the A-Z and 0-9 keys for your passwords, though. Make sure Caps Lock isn't on when Anaconda asks for the password and when you try to log in too.

Dave

I have tried entering the password both with caps lock on and off, although my password consists solely of lowercase letters a - z and digits 0 - 9.

previous post
 

Thanks for the URL, but the discussion is too technical for me. Specifically, I don't understand how to enter single-user mode or how to access boot options in GRUB. Typing "chmod /mnt/sysimage" from rescue mode failed. I don't know what yum-update or RPM are. I don't know how to "change the permissions on bash". Any help would be appreciated.

booting in single user mode
 

Use the installation CD and enter "linux rescue" at the boot prompt

http://www.samspublishing.com/articl...69466&seqNum=3

After you have logged on in single user mode, you can reset the root and user passwords:

Enter "root passwd <password>"

Now you can log in as root:

Enter "su" and give it the new root password

Then "passwd <username> <password>"

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...+root+password

I booted from CD 1, entered "linux rescue", and went through a few dialog boxes until I reached the command prompt. After entering the command "passwd root", I received the error, "passwd: unable to set failure delay". When I tried "passwd <my_username>", it said, "passwd: Unknown user name '<my_username>'." "passwd root <password>" and "passwd <my_username> <password>" gave, "Only one user name may be specified". "root passwd" and "root passwd <password>" gave the error message, "sh: root: command not found". Does anyone know how I can correct this?

okay....
 

It looks like entering linux rescue at the boot prompt already logs you in as root....so I am having difficulty seeing how you will reset the root password

But, to reset the user password enter

"passwd " and then your username, not LITERALLY "passwd <username>" (The < > was meant for you to fill in the appropriate value between them, not just parrot what I placed there (i.e. "<username>"))

It should prompt you for the new username's password

That's what I tried.

su to username?, no < >
 

Once you use the CD to login as root, can you do

"su <user>" to become that user? If so, then you you can change that user's password using "passwd"

When you are entering these commands, you aren't including the <> 's, are you?

I am not using the "<" and ">" characters in my entries, but rather replacing the text "<username>" with the username that I entered into Setup Agent. Trying "su " and then my username once again produced the error, "unknown user name '<my_username>'."

Perhaps this might help reveal the problem. When I entered, "adduser <desired_username>", trying to add both the username I had selected previously and a different username, I received both times the error message, "adduser: error opening group file".

Also, a minor correction: using "su " followed by my username produced the exact error message, "su: user <my_username> does not exist".

cd to home
 

when you are logged in a single user mode, can you go to the /home directory?

cd /home

once you're there enter ls and look to see what users actually exist in the /home directory. The usernames you are trying to enter should be one of those.

When I enter, "cd /home", I get the error message, "sh: cd: /home: No such file or directory".

work way down file tree
 

Now I've run into a brick wall....if you're running fedora and don't have a /home directory, something's non-standard....

maybe there's some permissions thing amiss when logging into single user mode...don't know....

try

cd /

and then use cd to work your way down the filesystem, looking for /home

look at the man page for cd to see how it works, "man cd" (space to scroll down screen, arrow keys should work, and q to quit it)

if no one else helps you here, try posting at justlinux.com (same format there)