[SOLVED] I can't type in my password when I try to boot Wary Puppy from my USB

shijm · 02-27-2014, 07:17 PM

Hi, I'm new to Linux, and I'm using Wary Puppy 5.5, booting from my USB flash drive.

I made an encrypted save file when I first shut down my computer from Wary Puppy. When I tried to boot it after time, I was asked to type in a password I have set when I made the save file, but it seems that I can't type the password.

I tried punching all sorts of keys but it doesn't work.

I'm using a Hewlett-Packard Pavilion dm1 laptop PC.

frankbell · 02-27-2014, 09:05 PM

Do you mean that the keyboard doesn't seem to work or the passwords don't seem to work?

Note that Linux generally does not echo passwords. When you type a password, there will be no asterisks or other symbols appear in the field; it just remains blank.

szboardstretcher · 02-27-2014, 09:13 PM

Does anyone know why ssh/tty login has never echoed any feedback for passwords? What was the real reasoning behind its inception and continued persistence?

shijm · 02-27-2014, 10:13 PM

>Do you mean that the keyboard doesn't seem to work or the passwords don't seem to work?

When I typed the password, it didn't show up.

>Note that Linux generally does not echo passwords. When you type a password, there will be no asterisks or other symbols appear in the field; it just remains blank.

I didn't know that! I think that's my problem. Thanks for your comment!

sgosnell · 02-27-2014, 10:50 PM

With no echo of input, anyone who might be watching the screen gets no information about the password - not even the length of it. If the password is echoed as asterisks or something else, you can see the length of the password, and that makes breaking it much easier.

szboardstretcher · 02-27-2014, 10:52 PM

Thats a good guess.

But really, you can hear how many characters i type, farther away,.. than you can see how many characters i am typing.

A simple experiment is my associate can't see how many characters are on the screen in a command, from the doorway. But on a second attempt, just listening, he correctly guessed that what i typed, at normal speed, was 12 characters with two spaces.

shijm · 02-27-2014, 10:57 PM

>With no echo of input, anyone who might be watching the screen gets no information about the password - not even the length of it. If the password is echoed as asterisks or something else, you can see the length of the password, and that makes breaking it much easier.

So you mean that it helps to strengthen security by not echoing passwords?

sgosnell · 02-28-2014, 12:15 PM

Yes, IMO it strengthens security by not echoing passwords. And it's easy enough to get around listeners, by using the backspace key. Relying solely on the sound of keystrokes can be misleading. One can backspace over one or more characters and make it appear that the passphrase contains more characters than it does. And if the listener is watching, there is no indication whatsoever that the backspace key was ever pressed, it just sounds like another keystroke.