Step 1: Boot into recovery mode
You need to have write access to the root partition. By default, it has read-only access.
Use the command below to remount it with write access:
mount -rw -o remount /
Here, you’ll be given root access. Use the following command to list all the users available:
ls /home
Based on this command, choose the “username” for which you want to reset or (say) hack the password. Now, use the following command to reset the password for the selected “username“:
passwd username
It prompts for a new password. Enter the new password twice:
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
Voilà! There you go. You have just successfully reset the password. Now exit the root shell prompt:
exit
While entering the new password you might be prompted with Authentication token manipulation error like this:
passwd username Enter new UNIX password: Retype new UNIX password: passwd: Authentication token manipulation error passwd: password unchanged
The reason for this error is that the file system is mounted with read access only. Change the access and remount the file system in the following manner:
mount -rw -o remount /
Now try to reset the password again. It should work now.
If you still having trouble booting from the USB please contact us via this page, or by email: info@linuxartists.com