How Do I Change a Forgotten User Password Without Booting?
I Can't Log in to My Root User's Account. I've Looked for a Solution, but All of Them Tell You to Do It from the Boot Options. the Thing Is That My Laptop's...
I can't log in to my root user's account. I've looked for a solution, but all of them tell you to do it from the boot options.
The thing is that my laptop's screen has turned black and it doesn't work anymore, so I've connected another monitor to the laptop so I can work on my computer, but I won't be able to see the boot menu on my new monitor.
Is it possible to change my password without using the boot menu?
Thank you!
1 Answer
No, that's not possible as that would defeat the purpose of a password-protected super-user account.
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Boot recovery mode blindly
I recommend that you first try to boot to recover mode “blindly”, i. e. try to open the Grub menu and selecting the boot entry for recovery mode without actually seeing what you're doing. It may a few tries, maybe 10 or 20 until you find the right key sequence and timings. The secondary screen is going to start to work during the boot process probably. See How do I reset a lost administrative password? for general instructions and refer to this answer for the current structure of the Grub menu to reach the recovery mode entry.
The key sequence should be:
Shift at the right time to cancel the countdown for the default boot option and to show the Grub menu (if it's configured to not show without user interaction). There should be no harm in spamming Shift every second or so after boot or, if supported and enabled, after the single beep that confirms a successful BIOS POST.
↓ (downwards arrow key) and Enter to select “Advanced options for Ubuntu.”
In the sub-menu, ↓ (downwards arrow key) and Enter again to select “recovery mode.”
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