I am new at ubuntu. It is on my laptop and seldom in use. So I forgot the password. I saw threads about recovering (restart, press SHIFT - did'nt work but ESC did) now I got a GRUB page without the options to choose from. I ask for advice.[/SIZE][/FONT]

You may be able to boot from the Ubuntu install CD in LiveCD mode, mount the drive, chroot into the drive, and run passwd to change the password. There are how-to pages on the web about doing this.

If you seldom use this device and have had time to forget the password since using it last I must ask: "is there any data on it worth preserving?". If the answer is "no", why not install a newer version atop of, and blowing away, the old version? This will provide you with the latest software, and allow you to establish a new account and password.

1 members found this post helpful.

Thank you Wpeckham for your answer. I accept your reasoning and am now downloading the latest ubuntu (16.04.2) and burning it to a DVD.
The laptop does not boot from the CD, and I have no access to the GRUB page where I can set the laptop to boot from CD.

Booting from the media drive is not in the grub setup (although there IS a way to set that up IN grub, that is not really what you want). You are looking for system setup menu options at the BIOS level (or UEFI? on new systems). This is usually reached by hitting F2 (or F-10, or ESC) during the boot process but before anything (including grub) can load from the hard drive. Once in that setting menu system ther should be a boot options submenu where you can allow booting from the optical drive.

Alas, more specific I cannot be as there are more differences than there are different manufacturers and I do not know them all.

>"...now I got a GRUB page..."
Does it mention 'e' to edit? Append to linux line: rw init=/bin/sh
OR is it a prompt?: grub>

It is a prompt: grub>
I have installed win 8. If I try Ubuntu again I will record my password.

1. Goto GRUB
2. Press e over the first line
3. Find kernel line (starts with linux) and append init=/bin/bash
4. Press ctrl+x
5. Change the password using passwd command
example: passwd root
6. Done

1 members found this post helpful.

Thank you.
I can not apply your suggestion.
I have re-installed windows 8.
I have also unsubscribed to this thread.
Sorry to have caused inconvenience.
Jacob.