Recover Forgotten Administrative Password

Pichito9 · 11-19-2014, 08:18 PM

Hello everyone. My issue is the following. My school gave me this Dell inspiron mini 2 years ago, and I actually never used it. Now that I want to use it I want to install some programs (It is currently running ubuntu). The problem is that it asks for a password that I don't know. Could anyone please tell me there is a way to recover or change the password? I'll really appreciate the help. Thank you!

nbritton · 11-19-2014, 09:51 PM

http://askubuntu.com/questions/24006...ative-password

Fred Caro · 11-20-2014, 08:57 PM

The previous entry depends on wether you are asked for former password, if that is the case you will have to chroot into that installation from a live cd/dvd.

Fred.

dkwolf · 11-20-2014, 09:10 PM

hi there is a program call ophcrack i work on computers part time now and sometimes i get one that the person who it belongs to does not know the password for admin rights so that i can fix it i use ophcrack to find the password then have the person change it after i done
just google it

hope this will help
but be warn but only use on you own computer unless you got permission otherwise

Soapm · 11-20-2014, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred Caro

The previous entry depends on wether you are asked for former password, if that is the case you will have to chroot into that installation from a live cd/dvd.

Fred.

Is this something the OP would know how to do?

I would sure be lost and googling something like this would find all kinds of answers, one might be right, some destructive, and some so outdated they'd have you in tears trying to make them work.

dkwolf · 11-20-2014, 09:23 PM

here is the link to the page
http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/down...hp?type=livecd
and it is safe to use

burn to a usb stick /use unetbootin for this/ then reboot with usb stick in usb port
it is a .iso file

nbritton · 11-21-2014, 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soapm

Is this something the OP would know how to do?

I would sure be lost and googling something like this would find all kinds of answers, one might be right, some destructive, and some so outdated they'd have you in tears trying to make them work.

Furthermore, why bother with cracking the password when you can just reset it? Just set init=/bin/bash and then you have the keys to the castle...

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lo...#The_Other_Way

chrism01 · 11-21-2014, 05:20 AM

If its over 2 years old and never used over that time, then its in need of an update.
Not only that, but I'd imagine there's nothing on there that you can't live without.
Why not just install a brand new up to date distro?

Pichito9 · 11-21-2014, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nbritton

Furthermore, why bother with cracking the password when you can just reset it? Just set init=/bin/bash and then you have the keys to the castle...

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lo...#The_Other_Way

Thanks for the replies! Inbritton I already tried your first suggestion but it didn't work.

Also for your seconds suggestion, out of the options it gives me after I press the shift key, none of them contain the word "kernel".

Pichito9 · 11-21-2014, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkwolf

here is the link to the page
http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/down...hp?type=livecd
and it is safe to use

burn to a usb stick /use unetbootin for this/ then reboot with usb stick in usb port
it is a .iso file

Thank you dkwolf for the answers. I am willing to try this, but since I am not very good with computers, I think I'll need a little help.
I have a USB with nothing in it. I downloaded UNebottin and saved it into the USB (I downloaded it from a mac computer, opened the zip document, and dragged the application to the USB). Also, when downloading the ophcrack, does it matter if it is XP, Vista?

nbritton · 11-21-2014, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pichito9

Thanks for the replies! Inbritton I already tried your first suggestion but it didn't work.

Also for your seconds suggestion, out of the options it gives me after I press the shift key, none of them contain the word "kernel".

You're probably using grub version 2 then, follow these instructions instead...

http://www.tejasbarot.com/2012/09/16...#axzz3Jj5qnSIG

dkwolf · 11-21-2014, 09:41 PM

Pichito9
you will need the ver that is the sane as your OS /you will have to run unetbootin from you desktop with the usb stick in usb port then you can use the usb stick to bootup the computer to find the password remember the computer has to be abale to boot from usb
hope this will help
right now i runing pud 4.8.5 off a live cd on a old windows xp a hp pavilion a316n

dk

Pichito9 · 11-22-2014, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkwolf

Pichito9
you will need the ver that is the sane as your OS /you will have to run unetbootin from you desktop with the usb stick in usb port then you can use the usb stick to bootup the computer to find the password remember the computer has to be abale to boot from usb
hope this will help
right now i runing pud 4.8.5 off a live cd on a old windows xp a hp pavilion a316n

dk

dkwolf, I am sorry for my lack of understanding but I don't really know where to start from. How I said it before, I am not good with computers. I would really appreciate it if you help me all the way through.
First of all, what do you mean by the version similar to the OS? Also, the Unetbootin has to be installed in the computer I'm trying to get the password from?

EDDY1 · 11-22-2014, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkwolf

hi there is a program call ophcrack i work on computers part time now and sometimes i get one that the person who it belongs to does not know the password for admin rights so that i can fix it i use ophcrack to find the password then have the person change it after i done
just google it

hope this will help
but be warn but only use on you own computer unless you got permission otherwise

Ophcrack is for windows os not linux

Quote:

Thanks for the replies! Inbritton I already tried your first suggestion but it didn't work.

Also for your seconds suggestion, out of the options it gives me after I press the shift key, none of them contain the word "kernel".

Are you holding the shift key at boot?

Pichito9 · 11-22-2014, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EDDY1

Ophcrack is for windows os not linux
Are you holding the shift key at boot?

Hi EDDY1. Yes, when booting I hold down the shift key, but how I mentioned it, the only four options that appear are the following:

Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-15-lpia
Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-15-lpia (recovery mode)
Memory test (memtest86+)
Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)