Duel boot XP NT Ubuntu cant bypass grub for other OSes: every cmd in grub is unrecognizable error, lost Ubuntu PW

pparfitt · 01-11-2016, 02:13 PM

Ok, I just pulled an old PC out of storage from a long time ago when I was planning to learn Linux. It had Ubuntu, XP (and NT it appears. First of all I forgot my password. So I bypassed boot to go to safe mode: grub(?). However every command I enter gives me error (22 ?)unrecognized command, and the system will not let me boot into the other OSes or change my password. It is a very old system, maybe around the time of NT, but it boots and may try to learn Linux, Unix now, and play around with XP NT just for kicks. If not I will just wipe the drive and start over but I don't have any of the boot disks for windows. I also do not know what versions Of Ubuntu or Grub they are (I hear grub has multiple versions. Also, if I build a home network in Microsoft, how will a Linux system fit in or does it have to be on the file server system? I am also interested in a Linux based server and possibly learning multiple Linux versions, so maybe putting the new versions on the same machine as the Ubuntu. Is there really any really getting into Linux unix these days? I may be getting an entry level job in IT but do you use it regulary, especially the server version. Don't ask me why I'm doing all of this but I thought it would be interesting.

Habitual · 01-11-2016, 02:49 PM

Welcome to LQ!
Have a look at http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/resetpassword and the <enter> key here and there.

colorpurple21859 · 01-11-2016, 03:41 PM

What are the specs on the computer most modern linux distos won't run on older hardware anymore, just a few that specialize in older hardware like some versions of puppy, slitaz and antix. For the grub passwd maybe this will help https://ubuntugenius.wordpress.com/2...get-rid-of-it/

yancek · 01-11-2016, 04:39 PM

Grub has two basic versions, Grub Legacy which had different releases over the years and Grub2 which also had different releases. If you are getting a command unrecognized it is most likely that you are using commands for one version of Grub and the system is actual using a different Grub. You didn't post any of the commands you tried?

Simplest thing to do is to download any Linux and put it on a CD/DVD or flash drive, boot it up and run fdisk -l to see your drives/partitions and then you can mount the Linux partition(s) to find out what release of Ubuntu you have.