September 25, 2007 · General, Security · Email This Post

If you forgot you password for your ubuntu system you can recover using the following steps

Turn your computer on.

Press ESC at the grub prompt.

Press e for edit.

Highlight the line that begins kernel ........., press e

Go to the very end of the line, add rw init=/bin/bash

press enter, then press b to boot your system.

Your system will boot up to a passwordless root shell.

Type in passwd username

Set your password.

Type in reboot

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86 Comments to “How-To Recover password under Ubuntu”

  1. Freak says:

    my ibook made a friggen liar out of me. put a panther disk in and it actually booted setup! ok. i guess, nevermind then *^_^*

    [Reply]

  2. Kraven says:

    I’ve done this, but I can’t seem to find the line that begins “kernel…”

    [Reply]

    steve Reply:

    i have the same, did you find the answer?

    [Reply]

  3. Flood says:

    If you have a user with sudo rights (by default in ubuntu, you first user will have this right)
    just type this:

    sudo passwd root

    cheers!

    [Reply]

  4. Mike says:

    Thanks! It worked!

    [Reply]

  5. amish says:

    i m deep trouble with ubuntu now!!!!

    my os is ubuntu ultimate 2.7 edition

    my root as well as the user is locked by the password!! they both are different!!

    please give a good solution on my email id amishjadhav@yahoo.co.in!!!

    there is important files and i want to recover them

    [Reply]

  6. hi ubuntu 10.10

    not able to hit escape on boot up. Can not get to root. I can log in as administrator. I can not get to root using sudo. It says there is a problem with the sudos file. This happened when i installed the latest ubuntu updates

    All I can do is switch it off and then on. The only option is to reload, ubuntu.

    [Reply]

  7. Basu says:

    I installed ubuntu 10.10 version to my Dell laptop..,by mistake i deleted existing username in user managemant and i added new user name and password in that place..,after rebooting it wont get login .., so i need it very urgently , i am worried .., please send me the procedure to recover the password …,

    [Reply]

  8. Basu says:

    I have ubuntu 10.10 to my Dell laptop.., i forgot username and password..,i tried from ubuntu live cd ., but i didnt get it ., so plase tell me how to recover the password..,

    [Reply]

  9. Basu says:

    ubuntu 10.10

    i am not able to hit escape on boot up. Can not get to root. I can log in as administrator. I can not get to root using sudo. It says there is a problem with the sudos file. i forgot usernsme and password so plase help me..,

    [Reply]

  10. fizzle says:

    mine won’t let me reboot any advice?

    [Reply]

  11. pawa says:

    We don’t have GRUB menu in Ubuntu 10.10!

    [Reply]

  12. mathias01234 says:

    I use Mint Linux (based on Ubuntu), but the above solution to get a root shell without password doesn’t work.

    The system restarts, I use the arrow keys to choose “recovery” and type “e”, well I can edit the kernel-line and add “init=/bin/bash” but if I press ENTER, a new line is added. If I press ESC all changes are gone and in the menu “b” has no effect.

    What’s the corret way to change the start up of current grup version?

    [Reply]

    n00b95 Reply:

    try pressing ctrl + x instead of enter

    [Reply]

  13. Rodney Beede says:

    For Ubuntu 10.10 Grub has been updated to Grub2.

    Hold down the shift key (I did left shift) instead of escape while booting up.

    [Reply]

  14. chris says:

    tnx. it works!

    [Reply]

  15. arun says:

    hi
    i shared my computer with my room mate and both of us had a separate administrative user account.He has removed my administrative rights.Can i get the password of his account.
    I have the root password

    [Reply]

  16. Terry Emery says:

    Witch line do I edit for password retival there are three that come up.

    ubuntu 8.04,kernal 2.6.24-16-generic

    ubuntu 8.04,kernal 2.6.24-16-generic [recovery mode]

    ubuntu 8.04 mentest86+

    [Reply]

  17. Enkouyami says:

    In Ubuntu 10.10 I went to very end of the line and added rw init=/bin/bash and now ubuntu seems to start up normally at first untill after the plymouth booting animation theres only a purple screen. When I logging through safe-mode theres a problem with the encryption manager. My home folder doesn’t get decrypted and because of that nautilus and gnome lack functionality.

    [Reply]

  18. corey says:

    this did not work for me says that root isn’t installed but in order to install anything i still need a password..when i try changing it using the passwd command says i still need a password to change it..followed the instructions to the T you gave above.

    [Reply]

  19. Dave says:

    Worked perfectly.. thx!!!

    [Reply]

  20. Kyle says:

    How do i get into recovery mode ??? Im on ubuntu 8.04 lts plzzzzz help

    [Reply]

  21. Kyle says:

    What is the grub prompt?

    [Reply]

  22. zeruel107 says:

    When i do this, passwd_space_user_space_password, I get to a “help desk”. It says : root@(none) :/# usage: passwd [options] [login]

    Options :
    And certain commands. I try to write my new password (not sure if its the timing to do it) and write reboot.
    I get the “error” saying shutdown: Unable to send message: connection refused.
    Can anyone help me from here? btw, 15 yrs old so this is pretty new. I have Vista (black screen of death before everything) so I try Ubuntu.

    [Reply]

  23. Erik says:

    What is the grub prompt?

    [Reply]

  24. xavier says:

    I do not have superuser password nor do I have root password, can someone please email me with any tip’s for begginer’s. It would be greatly appreciated thank you.

    [Reply]

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