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<p>Thanks Ben for your input. I have to say that it would be good to
try your suggestion of simply resetting the password within the
current installation, but I don't think my technical skills as
they stand are up to it! In spite of being a confirmed Linux user,
Ubuntu first then Mint, for many years now, I'm still quite a
newbie when it comes to the background stuff!</p>
<p>I'll have a look at the various books I have on Linux Mint and
try to learn a few basics about the root system and the command
line to gain a little confidence in the way forward that you so
very kindly suggest :)</p>
<p>Thank you once again,</p>
<p>Best wishes,</p>
<p>Bill<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 10/02/2021 21:00, Ben Tullis via
Swlug wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:C2B1C7F5-ADF1-4CBB-A043-7DB6136E4337@hypothetical.co.uk">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
Hello. This may be a bit late, but it might help. <br>
<br>
If all you need to do is change the password that was originally
set for a user account, there are other ways to do this that don't
require a reinstall. <br>
<br>
The way that I would go about it is:<br>
<br>
* Boot to a rescue environment.<br>
* Mount your root partition to a directory in the rescue
environment:<br>
<br>
e.g . (after making sure your are root)<br>
mount /dev/sda1 /target<br>
<br>
* Bind mount the virtual filesystems into this environment<br>
<br>
e.g.<br>
mount -o bind /dev /target/dev<br>
mount -o bind /dev/pts /target/dev/pts<br>
mount -o bind /sys /target/sys<br>
<br>
* Change your root into the target filesystem<br>
<br>
e.g.<br>
chroot/target<br>
<br>
* Change the password for the user<br>
<br>
e.g.<br>
passwd bill<br>
<br>
This will update the file /etc/shadow with the new password. Since
your are already root you won't need to enter the existing
password. <br>
<br>
* Exit the chroot and exit the rescue environment and reboot.<br>
<br>
You can use the Mint USB installer as a rescue environment,
systemrescuecd, or you might be able to get in by just accessing
your own grub boot menu options. <br>
<br>
Best wishes, <br>
Ben<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On 10 February 2021 16:50:52 GMT, Dick
Bain via Swlug <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:swlug@mailman.lug.org.uk"><swlug@mailman.lug.org.uk></a> wrote:
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt
0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);
padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>I presume you are using Mint already, if you are in the
Applications - Accessories menu there is USB stick
formatter and USB Image writer 😉</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>When you have booted into the USB Image and start the
installation you will be asked which installation type you
want , here you choose Something Else which will take you
to a partition manager where you can create a root
partition / a /swap partition and a /home partition the
root should be 20GB the swap 4GB and the home partition as
big as you can make it 😉<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The instructions are <a
href="https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/install.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/install.html</a>
although it envisages you just making a root partition and
a swap artition 🙄</div>
<div>hope this helps</div>
<div>Dick<br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, 10 Feb 2021 at
16:28, Bill Thomson <<a
href="mailto:billthomson1951@btinternet.com"
moz-do-not-send="true">billthomson1951@btinternet.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<div dir="auto" style="unicode-bidi:embed">
<div>
<p>Thanks for your input team 😊</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>I've downloaded Mint Cinnamon 20.1 onto the
laptop and have checked the download is legit
using the sha256sum and pgp links. I now wish to
copy it onto a USB stick, but first I need to
delete the old ISO from the stick or format the
stick perhaps. How do I do that? In addition to
that, may I please ask for details as to how to
create a separate /home partition as suggested by
both Dick and Marcus.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Thanks team, look forward to hearing from you 😊</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Bill Thomson<br>
</p>
</div>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote style="margin:0px auto;padding:0px
2em;border-left:2px solid rgb(0,173,229)"><br>
<br>
------ Original Message ------<br>
From: "Dick Bain via Swlug" <<span><a
href="mailto:swlug@mailman.lug.org.uk"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">swlug@mailman.lug.org.uk</a></span><span></span>><br>
To: "South Wales Linux User Group" <<span><a
href="mailto:swlug@mailman.lug.org.uk"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">swlug@mailman.lug.org.uk</a></span><span></span>><br>
Cc: "Dick Bain" <<span><a
href="mailto:dick.bain@gmail.com"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">dick.bain@gmail.com</a></span><span></span>><br>
Sent: Saturday, 6 Feb, 21 At 13:03<br>
Subject: Re: [Swlug] forgotten administrative
password<br>
<br>
<div dir="auto">
<div>I always create a separate /home partition so
that it is okay to install the latest version
onto the root partition and your user data will
be safer, of course you must back up everything
too 😉
<div dir="auto">For preference I use Linux Mint
or Ubuntu and so the user password is in the
list of sudo-ers</div>
<div dir="auto">If you really want to retain the
current Linux you can interrupt the boot
process when grub comes up and follow the
instructions from Jon 😉 </div>
<div dir="auto">Dick</div>
<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, 6
Feb 2021, 11:56 Marcus Davage via Swlug,
<<a
href="mailto:swlug@mailman.lug.org.uk"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"><span><span>swlug@mailman.lug.org.uk</span><span></span></span><span></span></a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="auto">I'd personally reinstall
with the latest version having being
downloaded on USB first. If you had
separated the /home directory from / at
the beginning, that would make life
easier. If you hadn't, then back up the
/home directory first, reinstall, then
restore.
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">I use Mint on all my kit
at home, with a dual boot Windows
partition. </div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Best of luck!</div>
<div dir="auto">Marcus</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat,
6 Feb 2021, 11:46 Bill Thomson via
Swlug, <<a
href="mailto:swlug@mailman.lug.org.uk"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"><span><span>swlug@mailman.lug.org.uk</span><span></span></span><span></span></a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<div dir="auto"
style="unicode-bidi:embed">Hi team,
I hope you're all well :)</div>
<div dir="auto"
style="unicode-bidi:embed">
<p><br>
</p>
<p>I have a slight problem. I
installed Linux Mint 19.3 onto a
friend's computer to create a dual
boot (Windows/Linux Mint)
capability. When I installed the
Linux Mint 19.3, from a USB drive,
I set an administrative password
for future updates etc. However, I
have forgotten the password I set,
and the list of updates is now
quite impressive!</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Is there any way of reminding
myself of the password, or of
changing it?<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Alternately, I could reinstall
Linux for my friend. How do I go
about doing that? Do I have to
uninstall the original
installation first, and if so,
how?</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>The very few files that are on
the Linux installation have
already been backed up onto a
separate USB stick.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>I'd welcome your expertise on
this knotty little problem please.
It's obviously important that my
friend's Windows installation
stays intact.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>I look forward to hearing from
you. Thank you!</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Bill Thomson<br>
</p>
</div>
</div>
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<br>
-- <br>
Ben Tullis
<br>
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