Root password

[Rashkae]

On 03/12/2012 04:23 PM, Bill Stanley wrote:
>
> Now we are getting somewhere!  However, I didn't actually mean the 
> root password.  Is the administrator password you need to sudo 
> commands the same as the root password?  It looks as if it is.   If it 
> isn't, how do I change it without knowing the old one which was lost?
>
> Bill Stanley
>

In a default Ubuntu install, the 'administrator' is the first user, and 
the password used by sudo is the same password you use to log in.

You need the know the username of this account.  If you are locked out 
of the account and need to recover with the root shell as I described, 
then you can use /usr/bin/passwd <username> to change the password for 
that username.

If you don't know the username of the adminstrator account, then you 
need to find it.  Use /usr/bin/less /etc/group and look in the group 
file to see what usernames are part of the 'admin' or 'sudo' group 
(sorry, I'm not sure which Ubuntu uses)