First Login Help

[lwleaver]

This is totally embarrasing, but I am so new to Linux it hurts. Well, here is my story. I had an extremly easy install of ASPLinux 9, once I figured out the disk partition. I am ready to load the OS, after a successful dual-boot setup between XP and Linux. It is prompting me for the username and password, i swear, i setup during the initial configuration stage. Everything I could have possible entered there does not work. I cannot figure out what the hell I could have done. I thought I was very careful during setup, but I do not know. Any advice would be great. I looked through the help files and did not see this scenario, unless I am totally burnt out right now and missed it. Thanks.

Landon

[MB[DK]]

Copy Paste:

How do I recover my root password? The problem with this question is usually two-fold. On one hand, the person could be a new Linux user who has become accustomed to just hitting cancel at the login screen and having Microsoft Windows let them access their computer. On the other hand, it could be a regular Linux user who for whatever reason forgot the root password. Either way, the root of the problem (no pun intended) is the user is not reading the documentation.
If you find yourself without the root password of a Linux machine you can recover the machine without trouble. This is done by passing a couple of parameters to Lilo. Lilo is the Linux boot loader and is the most commonly used loader among all Linux distributions. These are the steps you will have to follow to recover your password.


At the Lilo prompt type: (image name) init=/bin/sh rw

The image name is typically linux. If you wish to find what images are available you press the TAB key.

This command will drop you to a single-user mode. One the system has completed the boot process you will be presented with a # prompt. At this prompt you have complete access to the system. The first thing you will want to do is make sure that all file systems are mounted. (This eases some pain later.) You can do this by typing: mount -a. Once the filesystems have been mounted you can change the root password by using the following command: /sbin/passwd root. Once you have changed your password you should unmount all the filesystems with the umount -a command and then reboot.

When the Linux machine reboots you should be able to log in as root using the new password you chose.

[polle]

what happened one time to me was that I choose the wrong keyboard layout, I didn't see that first because root and my username were correct in both layouts ( the desired and the installed)
it went all wrong when I typed the passwds, which I obviously couldn't se
So try also to type your passwd in tte line for user, so you can easily check if every character is correct

[lwleaver]

Thanks for you help guys. What I relaized is the accoutn I created was fine but I had to login as root. Like I said I am about as green as they come. Do you guys know a good 'very' beginner site? Thanks again for your help.

Landon

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by lwleaver
Do you guys know a good 'very' beginner site?

Most distros include online documentation on their sites. Plus the wealth of docs, howto's, manpages and guides included with the installation.

www.tldp.org

www.google.com/linux (search for '<whatever> guide or tutorial'

http://www.scorpioncity.com/linux.html

http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/

http://www.dsl.org/cookbook/

Just a few to get you started.