Forgotten Password

maneagle

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How do I change the forgotten password for Linux Mint?
 
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Hello @maneagle, and welcome. You probably can't "recover" a password, but you can reset it. Do you need to reset the root password? Or your own user account? Or another user account?

Have you encrypted your /home folder or the entire hard drive? A password reset may not work if encrypted.
 
Hello @maneagle, and welcome. You probably can't "recover" a password, but you can reset it. Do you need to reset the root password? Or your own user account? Or another user account?

Have you encrypted your /home folder or the entire hard drive? A password reset may not work if encrypted.
no I have not encrypted the harddrive I just want to regain control of my computer. I cannot download new software because it asks for my password and I don't know about the root password I'm just talkin about the password that keeps coming up for KDE wallet and for software and for other things. And yeah it would be plenty good enough to just reset the password so I know what it is Thank you for any help you can give me. Warren

When I try to change the password in Terminal with passwd maneagle which is my user name, it asked for my Unix password. It doesn't accept the passwords that I tried.
 
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Hi again Warren. Using passwd maneagle is a good try. The password is sensitive to upper case and lower case letters though, so as long as you tried those correctly (or what you thought they were)... then it does seem like you forgot the correct password. This can be reset, but it takes a few steps.

@arochester's link above is accurate, but just a bit outdated judging from the GRUB version. Here is a link that explains the same process, but just shows a more recent GRUB screen. Both of these links are showing Ubuntu, but your Linux Mint should be almost exactly the same. Read through both of the links to get an understanding of what you need to do. Your Mint may even be a bit older and use the older GRUB, so you just want to get a feel for this task. It isn't hard.

From what you have said, it is your user maneagle that needs the reset. But Linux Mint is a bit funny... in some cases you may have also created a root user password, and in some cases you may not. If you ever did create a root password, then you would need to know that to make the steps in the links work! That's okay, there is a way around that too, but let's don't go there if we don't need to. Try the method in the links first.

Here is a brief outline of what the links are telling you to do:

1. If your computer boots straight to the Mint desktop and you never see the GRUB menu, then you'll need to use the SHIFT key when booting (before Mint starts) so that you can see GRUB. You may have to play with this to make it work... try tapping (or long taps) on the SHIFT key when booting or restarting, and if that doesn't work, try holding the SHIFT key down when booting.

2. Depending on old GRUB or new GRUB... you may see the (recovery mode) on the first screen, or you may have to choose "Advanced options" first, and then you can see the option to choose recovery mode.

3. When you choose recovery mode, you will see a LOT of text flying by on the screen. Just wait for it. It will finally get to the screen shown in the links where you can choose to "drop to root shell".

4. When you choose drop to root shell, if you do not have a root password set (which we hope)... then Mint will just tell you to hit Enter to get maintenance mode. If this is true, go to the next step below. If it needs the root password to get maintenance mode, then just give it up and reboot... and come back here for us to go a different way.

5. If root password was not needed, then you should now be in maintenance mode. The next few commands are where you will actually reset the password, and it's very important to get everything correct here. The first command you must give exactly is this: mount -o rw,remount /. (Note the comma between rw and remount, and note the / at the end.)

6. The next command you must give is this: passwd maneagle.

7. It will prompt you to enter a new UNIX password. You won't see any **** characters, or any movement of the cursor.... so just type the new password very carefully (be sure your CAPS LOCK is off). You will have to type the password twice like this, and it will tell you that you were successful.

8. Next, enter this command: sync and then enter the command: reboot.

With luck, when you get back to your Linux Mint desktop, your new password will be active and ready to use. Test it out by opening a terminal and giving the command: sudo apt update to update your system repositories. After that, you can use sudo apt upgrade to upgrade the software that is installed with your Mint.

Good luck!
 
The Unix password was needed.
Hi again Warren. Using passwd maneagle is a good try. The password is sensitive to upper case and lower case letters though, so as long as you tried those correctly (or what you thought they were)... then it does seem like you forgot the correct password. This can be reset, but it takes a few steps.

@arochester's link above is accurate, but just a bit outdated judging from the GRUB version. Here is a link that explains the same process, but just shows a more recent GRUB screen. Both of these links are showing Ubuntu, but your Linux Mint should be almost exactly the same. Read through both of the links to get an understanding of what you need to do. Your Mint may even be a bit older and use the older GRUB, so you just want to get a feel for this task. It isn't hard.

From what you have said, it is your user maneagle that needs the reset. But Linux Mint is a bit funny... in some cases you may have also created a root user password, and in some cases you may not. If you ever did create a root password, then you would need to know that to make the steps in the links work! That's okay, there is a way around that too, but let's don't go there if we don't need to. Try the method in the links first.

Here is a brief outline of what the links are telling you to do:

1. If your computer boots straight to the Mint desktop and you never see the GRUB menu, then you'll need to use the SHIFT key when booting (before Mint starts) so that you can see GRUB. You may have to play with this to make it work... try tapping (or long taps) on the SHIFT key when booting or restarting, and if that doesn't work, try holding the SHIFT key down when booting.

2. Depending on old GRUB or new GRUB... you may see the (recovery mode) on the first screen, or you may have to choose "Advanced options" first, and then you can see the option to choose recovery mode.

3. When you choose recovery mode, you will see a LOT of text flying by on the screen. Just wait for it. It will finally get to the screen shown in the links where you can choose to "drop to root shell".

4. When you choose drop to root shell, if you do not have a root password set (which we hope)... then Mint will just tell you to hit Enter to get maintenance mode. If this is true, go to the next step below. If it needs the root password to get maintenance mode, then just give it up and reboot... and come back here for us to go a different way.

5. If root password was not needed, then you should not be in maintenance mode. The next few commands are where you will actually reset the password, and it's very important to get everything correct here. The first command you must give exactly is this: mount -o rw,remount /. (Note the comma between rw and remount, and note the / at the end.)

6. The next command you must give is this: passwd maneagle.

7. It will prompt you to enter a new UNIX password. You won't see any **** characters, or any movement of the cursor.... so just type the new password very carefully (be sure your CAPS LOCK is off). You will have to type the password twice like this, and it will tell you that you were successful.

8. Next, enter this command: sync and then enter the command: reboot.

With luck, when you get back to your Linux Mint desktop, your new password will be active and ready to use. Test it out by opening a terminal and giving the command: sudo apt update to update your system repositories. After that, you can use sudo apt upgrade to upgrade the software that is installed with your Mint.

Good luck!
When I typed mount -o rw,remount / in Terminal I was told "Only root can do that."
 
The Unix password was needed.

When I typed mount -o rw,remount / in Terminal I was told "Only root can do that."
And thank you again for helping me. I am very anxious to get this password thing taken care of. So what do I do now? The Unix password is required. I don't see how I replace or delete that Unix password.
 
We'll get you there, but I just want to be sure about what happened at Step #4 above. When you got to the screen and picked "drop to root shell".... did it ask you right then for the root password to enter maintenance mode? Or did it say to just hit Enter to get maintenance mode?

You have indicated that you got to Step #5, and that doesn't seem right (if you need the root password).

By the way, do you know what version of Linux Mint you are using?
 
There must be a Unix password. because the system asks for it what I try change the maneagle password. and when I type in the mount change it still asks for the password when I try to change the maneagle password.

Thank you for helping me.
 
There must be a Unix password. because the system asks for it what I try change the maneagle password. and when I type in the mount change it still asks for the password when I try to change the maneagle password.

Thank you for helping me.
it asked for the password. It did not say anything about maintenance. It said if I don't have the password continue by hitting control D I think.
 
There must be a Unix password. because the system asks for it what I try change the maneagle password. and when I type in the mount change it still asks for the password when I try to change the maneagle password.

Thank you for helping me.
I am using Linux Mint 17. If I could somehow delete it and upload a later version and that way get over this password problem, I am willing to do that.
 
I am using Linux Mint 17. If I could somehow delete it and upload a later version and that way get over this password problem, I am willing to do that.
I downloaded Mint 17 and found a different way to reset the password (it worked for me). But version 17 is quite old now and has reached "end of life" (EOL). And that does make for troubles because after EOL, you can't update it anymore, even if you fix the password problem. :(

The latest Linux Mint is 19.2, just released today. If you remember how to download a Linux .iso file and "burn" it to a DVD or USB, you can totally erase your Mint 17 and install this new one. But you should be very careful to save anything that is important to you first! You might even want to run the new version in "live mode" from the DVD/USB for awhile first to make sure that everything works okay before trying to install it.

Installing a fresh new Linux will prompt you with all the questions... create a username, create a new password, etc. But unfortunately it's a bigger project than just resetting the old password.
 
Hey - I want to thank you again for all your great suggestions. I finally decided to just create a new computer out of my old Lenovo Thinkpad. I chose to wipe the disk and install only Linux Manjaro and that seems to be working out. I now have an OS where I have control. I know the password; I can print documents and add software. I can search the web, create and save documents. Thank you - I am on my way with my new Manjaro OS Thinkpad computer. Take care and may God bless you and yours.
Warren (maneagle)
 
Great news, Warren! Manjaro is a nice distro and I hope that it serves you well. Going with a new install was probably the best choice. Now hang onto that password! :p:D

Cheers
Stan
 

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