[Swlug] forgotten administrative password

[Bill Thomson]

Thanks for your input team 😊

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.

Thanks team, look forward to hearing from you 😊

Bill Thomson


------ Original Message ------
From: "Dick Bain via Swlug" <swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk>
To: "South Wales Linux User Group" <swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk>
Cc: "Dick Bain" <dick.bain at gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, 6 Feb, 21 At 13:03
Subject: Re: [Swlug] forgotten administrative password

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 😉
For preference I use Linux Mint or Ubuntu and so the user password is in 
the list of sudo-ers
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 😉
Dick


On Sat, 6 Feb 2021, 11:56 Marcus Davage via Swlug, 
<swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk <mailto:swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk> > wrote:

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.

I use Mint on all my kit at home, with a dual boot Windows partition.


Best of luck!
Marcus


On Sat, 6 Feb 2021, 11:46 Bill Thomson via Swlug, 
<swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk <mailto:swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk> > wrote:

Hi team, I hope you're all well :)


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!

Is there any way of reminding myself of the password, or of changing it?

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?

The very few files that are on the Linux installation have already been 
backed up onto a separate USB stick.

I'd welcome your expertise on this knotty little problem please. It's 
obviously important that my friend's Windows installation stays intact.

I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you!

Bill Thomson

-- 
  Swlug mailing list
  Swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk <mailto:Swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk>
  https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/swlug 
<https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/swlug>
  --
  Swlug mailing list
  Swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk <mailto:Swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk>
  https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/swlug 
<https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/swlug>

  --
  Swlug mailing list
  Swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk
  https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/swlug 
<https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/swlug>


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/swlug/attachments/20210210/cf4acd7d/attachment.html>