(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...is there any way to find out the user id and password on a linux pc or live cd without actually logging in?
i recently customised a live cd from a linux distro.
i installed it on my pc.
on the distro web-page it lists a password for root.
i thought i had left that as the default because the software wouldnt let me create a second account.
however somehow i must have changed the password. so now the user id and password wont work.
any idea how to find out so i can log back in?
Posted in 
Tags: 2 Responses to “is there any way to find out the user id and password on a linux pc or live cd without actually logging in?”
The linux passwords are stored irreversibly in hashes (you can’t retrieve the password from existing data). All you can do is two things:
1. Run a brute force attack to try and recover the root passwd from /etc/passwd file.
2. Burn a new CD with other than default passwd (and this time write it down on something other than toilet paper).
I suggest the latter, since it’s faster. However, the first method could give you an insight on how great hackers work.
All the best.
Report this comment
It sounds like you may have installed in OEM mode. Have you tried OEM as the user name with the password you created?
If that doesn’t work, boot into recovery mode (its an option from the GRUB menu) and then type this;
cd /home
ls
That will show you any user accounts on the system, If you see your user account there, (or OEM), and the password you made still wont work / cant be remembered……
Boot back into recovery mode from GRUB menu and at the prompt, change the password for that user, john (assuming john is the username…)
passwd john
Or you can reset it this way as well.
Boot back into recovery mode and add another administrative user account;
adduser “WHATEVER_NAME_YOU_WANT”
adduser “NEW_NAME_YOU_JUST_MADE_UP” admin
reboot
This will add a new administrative user, with whatever user name you entered in the step above. This user will be fully privileged, and can delete the original user account , thats not working.
That should fix the problem : )
Report this comment