Recover user name under Ubuntu

waltjones40 · 12-09-2008, 03:27 PM

I created an Ubuntu virtual machine with VMWare and haven't used it for a while and I've forgotten my user name. Is there a way to recover it. I can boot to single user and log in as root, but would like to recover files I made when I was actively testing the Distro.

syg00 · 12-09-2008, 03:37 PM

Have a look at /etc/passwd - I'm sure you'll recognise yourself ...

Won't help with the password for that user itself but "passwd" can fix that.

Junior Hacker · 12-09-2008, 04:32 PM

You can access all user files as root in any Linux distribution. If all you want is a Graphic environment, create a new user in single mode with command: useradd or adduser. Then as root in a shell, you can retract all files from the old user's account and kill it.

waltjones40 · 12-10-2008, 11:10 AM

Thanks, I knew about /etc/passwd from Slackware I wasn't sure if it would work. Ubuntu is so Windowsy that I didn't think it would work. Still having trouble adapting to having to us SU in a terminal to get things done.