root password
 

how do Ifind the root password

Where do you expect to find it? It's not stored in the system anywhere, at least not in the explicit form. If you lose your root password, there's no way to recover it, you can only reset it, replacing with a new one.

If it's Ubuntu you are using then there is no root password by default. You can set it using the command :

Ubantu pword
 

No wonder Ubuntu is such a pain to install

All Unix/Linux passwds (inc root) are stored using one-way encryption. As mentioned, you can't (usually) decrypt it.
FYI, they're usually in /etc/shadow.

Ubuntu is easy to install, double click on the install icon and follow the prompts, not exactly rocket science, and ubuntu uses sudo for root access

Ok I'm going to be the bad guy here, why would you have your first post (Oh by the way welcome to LQ ) be about wanting to know where to find the root passwd? I kind of have a red flag going up about now.

ubantu/ root password/easy to install
 

Yes it is easy to install but ( the partitioner being particularly useful) the usual root and user passwords do not seem to operate; notwithstanding that it is supposed to be one of the most user friendly options of linux going- maybe more to do with publicity than substance. Windows has the use of user limitation, ie, so intrusions do not affect your system so why dilute this on Ubuntu?

It has to decypted to find it back I guess. dont knwo if it can succeed.
resetting it will save lot of time and energy.

Fedora Development

If you have physical access to the computer, it is possible to change the password. If you do not, you are SOL. The passwords are stored using a hash, which is impossible for you to get the original password from (encryption would mean you can go both ways, hashing in one-way). It simply would have to hash the entered password, and compare it to the stored hash, and see if it works or not.

As for Ubuntu, I've used many a distro before getting to it, found it too simplistic at one point, tried it again later on, and have been loving it. I got sick of having to search the net for random packages just to get the one little program to install, let alone compiling things all the time. Although I will admit I realized a major security flaw in its ease-of-use setup earlier, namely that when you sudo open a program once, you have about 5 mins or so (never timed it) before you need to enter the password again, which seems to also go into terminal sessions. Could mean that some malicious software could easily get on, login as root (sudo su, anyone?) and wreak havoc.

I'm not sure what your after here?

root
 

You can boot the the system with a rescue system or a Live CD - either Knoppix or the rescue CD/DVD from distributions like RedHat/Fedora, Ubuntu, etc. Then you can change the password by some copy-pasting from another valid password file or chrooting and resetting the password. You will not be able to find a clear text version of the root password (unless the system administrator is a dummy).

All this needs physical access to the computer.

If you don't have physical access to the PC, then the request is really dubious.

Regards,
SIMP

hi,

by the way the password inside box always stored in hash equivalent this means if your enter the password system will hash the password and check if the hash values are equal if so granted otherwise denied this means you can only reset by single user mode or you can directly format it.

regards,