Linux installed, can't log in

4wheels · 10-20-2009, 09:00 PM

Hi, I'm a true newbie and need help with my newly installed Ububtu 8,04.3 and since I don't have any teenagers or 8 year olds around, I'm looking for help here. I formatted my hard drive and erased Windows XP and tried to do the manual partitioning but don't have enough knowledge so picked the guided tour. Everything seemed to install but when I restarted it comes to "computer log-in" and wants a user name and password. I put in the user name I chose during installation and tried to put in the password but it wouldn'd type in - it also seemed to want a name for "computer." Does anyone know where I went wrong? I've been struggling to learn computer stuff on my own (I'm not young) and any tidbit will help. Thanx

~sHyLoCk~ · 10-20-2009, 09:13 PM

You mean your keyboard isn't working in the login page? You can't type the password that you used during install? What does it say? Any error messages?

4wheels · 10-20-2009, 09:24 PM

It says: "Ububtu 8.04.3 LTS computer tty1"
computer login: (there's a flashing cursor)

I can type in what I thought was my password and hit enter and then it goes to password but won't let me type. There are no error messages. Is there something I should put in at the computer login prompt? Thanks again.

chrism01 · 10-20-2009, 10:28 PM

At the login prompt, type your username; at the passwd prompt, type your passwd. NB: your passwd will not appear(!), not even as a row of '*'. This is a security feature. Nonetheless, it's still reading what you type.

~sHyLoCk~ · 10-20-2009, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrism01

At the login prompt, type your username; at the passwd prompt, type your passwd. NB: your passwd will not appear(!), not even as a row of '*'. This is a security feature. Nonetheless, it's still reading what you type.

The * won't even appear,it will be invisible all together if you are login from console. So, just type in yur correct pssword and press enter and you should be able to login.

linuxlover.chaitanya · 10-21-2009, 12:40 AM

Have you installed a server version of Ubuntu Hardy 8.04? Else it should have given you a GUI login screen. Check if you have server or Ubuntu desktop?
If you have a server edition, you should install desktop edition. You can do it right after you login.

apt-get update
apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

smeezekitty · 10-21-2009, 01:37 AM

this is a stupid feature and should show *'s or somthing
because what if you make a mistake - you cannot tell how many backspaces you need or even if you did make a mistake
and if you want to start over you dont even know if the cursor is at the beginning

linuxlover.chaitanya · 10-21-2009, 01:49 AM

Its not stupid at all. Usually you will login into console in server where your security is at most important and when it comes to logging in with root user the importance of security doubles up.
If someone is looking over, the person would not even know the length of your password making it more difficult for him/her to break it.
And as far as the legitimate person not knowing what he/she has entered, password can be re-entered if some characters go wrong. And the legitimate person knows the length of the password, so he/she can use the backspace that many times irrespective of how many characters he/she has entered and start off again.
And this amount of effort is nothing compared to the amount of security it provides.

smeezekitty · 10-21-2009, 02:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linuxlover.chaitanya

Its not stupid at all. Usually you will login into console in server where your security is at most important and when it comes to logging in with root user the importance of security doubles up.
If someone is looking over, the person would not even know the length of your password making it more difficult for him/her to break it.
And as far as the legitimate person not knowing what he/she has entered, password can be re-entered if some characters go wrong. And the legitimate person knows the length of the password, so he/she can use the backspace that many times irrespective of how many characters he/she has entered and start off again.
And this amount of effort is nothing compared to the amount of security it provides.

well then, my password is 7 chars long and starts with the letter t and is all lowercase

linuxlover.chaitanya · 10-21-2009, 05:44 AM

And what do I do with it?

4wheels · 10-21-2009, 08:07 PM

OK this is so far over my head it's ridiculous. I did as instructed and put in the user name and invisible password and it then took me to a new level of confusion. It said (username)@computer:~$ (and flashing cursor). I typed in man sudo_root as this was shown on the page and it took me to an info page but I don't know how to use these commands and stuff. How do I know if this is a server or desktop version? It seems that it must be a server edition. Can I get rid of it and get an easier to use version and if so, which one? HELP!!

chrism01 · 10-21-2009, 08:13 PM

1. Calm down
2. now you've logged in successfully, try

Code:

startx

at the prompt.
NB: Linux is case sensitive, that cmd (just about all of them in fact) is in lowercase.

This will attempt to start the X-win software aka the GUI. If it succeeds great, if not, copy and paste the exact cmd you used and the msgs you received. Its always possible you didn't choose to install the GUI option.

Wim Sturkenboom · 10-22-2009, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeezekitty

this is a stupid feature and should show *'s or somthing
because what if you make a mistake - you cannot tell how many backspaces you need or even if you did make a mistake
and if you want to start over you dont even know if the cursor is at the beginning

I've seen once a system that puts a random number of *'s in for each typed character

Makes it more difficult for somebody who's looking over your shoulder to guess how many characters you've typed.

So you have your *'s but still don't know how far you are

By the way, my password is around 25 characters so I know that a maximum of 25 backspaces is enough to start all over. You should definitely be able to count around 10 backspaces to get to the beginning at all time

cola · 10-22-2009, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4wheels

It says: "Ububtu 8.04.3 LTS computer tty1"
computer login: (there's a flashing cursor)

I can type in what I thought was my password and hit enter and then it goes to password but won't let me type. There are no error messages. Is there something I should put in at the computer login prompt? Thanks again.

Enter the login name you set up during installation,then type the password correctly.(no ******** will be shown)

Is it ubuntu-server-edition or ubuntu-desktop-edition?

linuxlover.chaitanya · 10-22-2009, 02:00 AM

I still doubt its Ubuntu Server Edition. Desktop edition will directly take you to a GUI login screen and its default run level is always 2 (X mode). This should be default for desktop if not changed manually.
You will need to install desktop apps if its a server edition.

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

This should install desktop as well and give you GUI.