User name & password change

thank you for your question.

When you start your computer you need select the recovery mode. then write passwd <username> after this is going to ask for your new password.

when I went into the recovery mode it ran what I presume is its nomal checks and then end with this line;

root@rlv8430-desktop:~#

at this point I did as instucted above (I presumed this is where you wanted me to do it because I have no other choice but to enter it here) and the response I got was this;

bash; syntax error near unexpected token ~newline'
root@rlv8430-desktop:~#

now what am I supposed to do??

could you write just the command to check some kind of error ?

I'm not sure what you mean.

At the recovery prompt you can create a new user with the following command:-

adduser foo

where "foo" is the name of the user you want to create

Alternatively if you want to find out the name of the user that already exists on the system try this command at the recovery prompt:-

grep 1000 /etc/passwd

This will tell you the username (first column) of the user that already exists.. Here is what I get on my PC:-

alan@mother:~$ grep 1000 /etc/passwd
alan:x:1000:1000:Alan Pope,,,:/home/alan:/bin/bash

Once you know that you can reset their password:-

passwd alan

(would do it in my case).

Alan I have a question

if you add a user with adduser this will be the root

I have the same problem with signing on ----the boot menu runs too fast to enter or get the safe mode--or recovery mode-----it lasts for ---say--5-6 deconds...barely enough time to even read the boot menu---how can I start in recovery mode only?

I'm not sure how to get into recovery mode. Any suggestions?

Answer to get into the "Root Shell":During boot hit esc when you see the countdown

drop down to the newest Kernel with the "recovery Mode" behind it

Now you are in the Root Shell (like a "C" prompt)
then type the adduser ______ , after which you enter passwd ______ with your desired new password -and enter, then do it again (TWICE total) which will give you a reply of New Passwd accepted or something like that.

I'm new also but this worked for me.

"Help" will give you other commands....just like after a "C" prompt....

Moses