[ubuntu-uk] 8.04 username and password problemr, closing thread

[Lucy]

2009/6/2 mike daniels <mikezz1011 at yahoo.com>:
> Have not knowingly reset anything, the root password request follows when I
> select route shell, followed by enter. I dont have any files currently on
> the Ubuntu machine, so a reload is not a problem. Why the machine rejected
> my username and password may well remain an unsolved mystery. It does appear
> to be loss of both username and password that is causing the problem. Maybe
> understandable as it would be a major security issue if an Ubuntu 8.04
> machine could be accessed easily by unauthorised users. Looks like a
> recheck, then reload, thanks for your input Sean, much appreciated.

I don't know why you're being prompted to enter a root password. Did
you install ubuntu yourself?

Two other things come to mind.

Firstly, it's not a security issue to be able to bypass the
username/password set up on the computer. Give someone physical access
to a machine and a live cd, and they can access everything on your
computer regardless of whether it's running Window, Mac OS X or Linux.
If you're particularly worried about this look into encryption (Ubuntu
can give you the option to encrypt a 'Private' directory and in future
your whole home directory easily).

Secondly, I assume that you were getting the original message because
you needed to run a manual fsck on your hard drive after the automatic
one failed. You can do this via a live cd (bypassing the
username/password issue) and I found the following post which may
help, but if as you say you have no important files on the machine a
reinstall may be easier (less interesting though):