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CPallini16-Mar-20 4:41

CPallini

16-Mar-20 4:41

In a long experience with Ubuntu (well, LUbuntu) I never had such a problem.
Unfortunately I don't know a workaround for that.

raddevus16-Mar-20 5:34

16-Mar-20 5:34

CPallini wrote:
I never had such a problem.

Apparently I haven't had the problem either.
Thanks so much. Somehow I've literally been typing my password for weeks without actually knowing it. I was one character off today and couldn't get it. Yes, I'm obviously senile and a savant at the same time, because I can type a password incorrectly for weeks then not know it.
OY!!
Blush | :O

CPallini16-Mar-20 5:52

CPallini

16-Mar-20 5:52

You are welcome and, for sure, not alone on that.
I keep typing wrong passwords at work, just because the company password policy is insane and, above all, I am an old dog.
Smile | :)

k505416-Mar-20 4:44

16-Mar-20 4:44

You might be able to boot to single user. Generally CTL-X, at the boot screen, then add "single" to the kernel boot parameters.
Alternatively, get a Knoppix (or other) Live CD/DVD and boot from that. Mount the root partition from the laptop's hard drive, and blank the password in /etc/shadow
e.g from something like this:

k5054:$6$gVGCezrmD49p1H/a$S2YUlUknRaPHIjdskN6dQ1GJeZpxxg4hlnuCB68CO8ZgmGEmAQiYjn0wjc83bM8aGOaYTdprtva0rIRRGVLSu1:18108:0:99999:7:::

to this

k5054::18108:0:99999:7:::

Save, reboot, change password when you get logged in.
Next, generate ssh-keys for your both your Desktop and Laptop, and do a ssh-copy-id between the two. You should now be able to ssh in either direction without a password. If you'd prefer to retain the security of a password, add a password when doing the ssh-keygen.

If you'd prefer not to hard-boot the laptop you might be able to CTL-ALT-DEL to trigger a reboot (or a tap on the power button might work too). If the "Vulcan Neck Pinch" doesn't work from a GUI screen, you should be able to get to a non-gui login using CTL-ALT-Fn. I'm not sure which virtual console Ubuntu uses. Fedora uses VT1, and other systems uses VT7 or VT5, so try F4 or F6.

k505416-Mar-20 5:01

16-Mar-20 5:01

Looks like things have changed a bit since I last did this ... For GRUB 2, you hold down SHIFT when booting. See GNU/Linux Ubuntu 18.04 Boot Single User Mode Easy Guide | tutorialforlinux.com

raddevus16-Mar-20 5:17

16-Mar-20 5:17

Thanks so much. Somehow I've literally been typing my password for weeks without actually knowing it. I was one character off today and couldn't get it. Yes, I'm obviously senile and a savant at the same time, because I can type a password incorrectly for weeks then not know it.
OY!!
Blush | :O

k505416-Mar-20 5:41

16-Mar-20 5:41

So, PEBKAC, then?

It still might be worth generating some ssh keys (preferably an ed25519 key-type), and check you can ssh between machines using them. And you never know when a Live CD/DVD might be useful too, so it might be worth burning one and making sure you know how to boot from it. Or a USB stick, which is faster than an optical drive.

raddevus16-Mar-20 5:57

16-Mar-20 5:57

Yes, PEBKAC. Blush | :O

I will implement a process to handle this in the near future.
Hopefully before I get into that situation again. Smile | :)

k505416-Mar-20 6:05

16-Mar-20 6:05

Mark_Wallace16-Mar-20 6:10

Mark_Wallace

16-Mar-20 6:10

It's nice to know that Ubuntu makes it really hard for the people who steal your laptop. D'Oh! | :doh:

I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

5teveH16-Mar-20 5:13

5teveH

16-Mar-20 5:13

Grub usually gives you a few seconds to interrupt the normal boot and allows you to choose single user/emergency. I don't think you need a password from there, and can reset the root password. I would check, but my desktop (Ubuntu 19) has a hardware problem at the moment.

Also, (assuming it is allowing you to type in the password), could it be a problem with a key on your laptop keyboard - which is going to be hard to spot when entering a password. Can you plug in an external keyboard - or telnet/ssh from your desktop.

raddevus16-Mar-20 5:18

16-Mar-20 5:18

5teveH16-Mar-20 5:24

5teveH

16-Mar-20 5:24

LOL! Been there. Done that. I'd assumed you weren't as stupid as me! Laugh | :laugh:

raddevus16-Mar-20 5:31

16-Mar-20 5:31

5teveH wrote:
LOL! Been there. Done that. I'd assumed you weren't as stupid as me!

Thanks for admitting it. And, yes, I'm far stupider. Big Grin | :-D

User 1106097916-Mar-20 5:15

User 11060979

16-Mar-20 5:15

- Try another keyoard?
- Is there in linux something like Alt&<numkeypadasciicode> to enter a character?

hope dies last Big Grin | :-D

It does not solve my Problem, but it answers my question

modified 19-Jan-21 21:04pm.

raddevus16-Mar-20 5:19

16-Mar-20 5:19

0x01AA wrote:
hope dies last

that gave me a smile... thanks so much.

Somehow I've literally been typing my password for weeks without actually knowing it. I was one character off today and couldn't get it. Yes, I'm obviously senile and a savant at the same time, because I can type a password incorrectly for weeks then not know it.
OY!!
Blush | :O

User 1106097916-Mar-20 5:31

User 11060979

16-Mar-20 5:31

Quote:
typing my password for weeks without actually knowing it

Same here

It does not solve my Problem, but it answers my question

modified 19-Jan-21 21:04pm.

raddevus16-Mar-20 5:32

Re: Not sure I can ever trust Ubuntu again: im an idiot

16-Mar-20 5:32

I guess it is highly secure this way. Oy!! I'm just so stupid. Blush | :O

theoldfool16-Mar-20 5:32

theoldfool

16-Mar-20 5:32

Pogo said it best: We have met the enemy and it is us.

If you can keep your head while those about you are losing theirs, perhaps you don't understand the situation.

Re: Not sure I can ever trust Ubuntu again: im an idiot

raddevus16-Mar-20 5:33

Re: Not sure I can ever trust Ubuntu again: im an idiot

16-Mar-20 5:33

theoldfool wrote:
Pogo said it best: We have met the enemy and it is us.

Haha, I remember Pogo saying that... and it has never been more true!!! Thanks for the laugh. Laugh | :laugh:

dandy7216-Mar-20 5:43

dandy72

16-Mar-20 5:43

raddevus wrote:
there does seem to be a problem with it not accepting your password

There's something to that, I'm convinced of it.

I've had a number of Linux distributions on a laptop I swear sometimes refuses to accept my password even though I know, absolutely and positively, has been typed in correctly. Then I force a reboot and everything's fine, on the very first attempt.

Every once in a while it's the NumLock key. Being a laptop, it doesn't have a dedicated numeric keypad, and some keys (YUI/HJK/NM, I think) can be reused to enter digits. But when I get in the situation described above, more often than not, hitting NumLock doesn't make any difference. For a while, I had temporarily changed my password so it doesn't use any of those multi-use buttons...and hadn't encountered the problem. It could have been just a coincidence. It's never happened often enough for me to notice any particular pattern or become a predictable thing.

Same laptop ran various versions of Windows for years prior to that, without ever exhibiting this behavior.

Re: Not sure I can ever trust Ubuntu again: im an idiot

raddevus16-Mar-20 5:50

Re: Not sure I can ever trust Ubuntu again: im an idiot

16-Mar-20 5:50

Thanks for the input. I think I've encountered this too because I'm not sure how I continually typed it wrong so many times. I finally got it all resolved. Somehow I had typed one char in place of another but for a couple of weeks had been typing it properly, I guess. Blush | :O

And when I looked it up there are some cases where certain versions of ubuntu (in the past) did have a problem.

dandy7216-Mar-20 6:15

dandy72

16-Mar-20 6:15

Muscle memory is also definitely a thing. I swear I have some passwords I can type blindfolded in a fraction of a second. Yet if you were to ask me to write it down on a piece of paper, I'd have a hard time doing it correctly.

Then every once in a while I have a brain fart and go into a panic because I have no idea what a password is, and it's one I use so frequently I've never bothered entering it in a password manager...one day it'll become permanent and I'll be truly screwed... Smile | :)

Re: Not sure I can ever trust Ubuntu again: im an idiot

raddevus16-Mar-20 7:17