User and Password not accepted.

MikRose · 03-09-2007, 01:41 PM

I set up Ubuntu 6.06 on a 2nd HD with XP Home on the 1st HD and everything went fine. When I choose Ubuntu on the grub and get the screen, the user and password I just set up aren't accepted. I had just done it and written them down with correct case size, etc., but now not able to access. Short of re-installing, any shortcuts?

osor · 03-09-2007, 03:07 PM

I don’t know of anything official Ubuntu-style, but you might boot to a LiveCD, and try to fix it. Here’s what i would do:

Go to a terminal in the live cd environment.
Mount the partition you installed to, and navigate to the etc directory under that mountpoint.
Take a look at the file named “passwd” (look for the username you entered, and see if you had made a typo in the username. If it was a typo, you must correct it in several places. First, rename the home directory from /home/badusername to /home/goodusername. Then try typing “grep -rl 'badusername' * | xargs sed -e 's/badusername/goodusername/g' -i” when in the root of your mounted partition. If it’s not a typo in the username, read on.).
Figure out what your username is in the LiveCD environment (i.e., type “whoami”).
Create a password for that user (i.e., type “passwd”).
Copy the new password to the old partition (i.e., find the line containing your LiveCD username in /etc/shadow. Copy all but the first field from that line. Open etc/shadow from the mountpoint. Find the line containing your username, and overwrite all but the first field with the whatever text you copied. Double check to make sure both lines are equivalent save the username.).

Just say so if you need any more detail.

MikRose · 03-10-2007, 11:32 AM

Thank you osor, your first suggestion was successful! If I hadn't played around with Linux a little previously I might have needed more info on mounting...but not so (at least not now!). I found I had spelled part of my username with K instead of a C. I do spell it this way once in a blue moon, if a site won't take the C spelling, but my mind sees what it wants sometimes! Thank you again, if you don't mind, I'd like to add you to my "Buddy" list?