Re: password
On Mon 04 Apr 2022 at 08:59:15 (-0400), Noah Sombrero wrote:
> On Mon, 04 Apr 2022 05:30:01 +0200, David Wright wrote:
> >On Sun 03 Apr 2022 at 21:25:45 (-0400), Noah Sombrero wrote:
> >> On Mon, 04 Apr 2022 03:10:01 +0200, Greg Wooledge wrote:
> >> >On Sun, Apr 03, 2022 at 07:56:56PM -0400, Noah Sombrero wrote:
> >> >> I understand that debian 11 does not establish a root password during
> >> >> installation, regardless of what the installer says.
> >> >
> >> >This is not correct.
> >>
> >> So much for online help.
> >You don't describe any symptoms of "not establishing a root password".
>
> True, because I do establish one during installation.
> >> >1) The root account has a password, and you can use this to login directly
> >> > as root ON A TEXT CONSOLE (not necessarily in a GUI), or to switch to
> >> > root with the su command.
>
> Does not work.
>
> >> I have installed this debian many times in trying to fix video
> >> problems. Not once has an entered password worked.
> >
> >Without some evidence, the reasons for your difficulties will
> >remain undiagnosed. I'm certainly not going to try to guess.
>
> Thanks for not guessing.
>
> I have finished reinstalling debian. I did take care to make sure
> that I have not disabled access to root during installation. And I
> did enter passwords. The situation is as before: no access to root,
> no way to establish a password.
>
> I started it in system restore mode. It was suggested by another
> person here that this would take me to root. It does not. It takes
> me to my default user account with no elevated privileges.
>
> >> >2) Your initial user account -- the one you set up during installation --
> >> > will be able to ascend to root privileges with the sudo command.
> >>
> >> Does not work for me.
> >>
> >> >In the second case, if you wish to give root a usable password, all you
> >> >have to do is run:
> >> >
> >> >sudo passwd root
> >>
> >> I get "user is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be
> >> reported."
> >
> >That figures. Obviously you don't fall into the second case,
> >but the first. There are simple ways to make case one fail.
> >For example, if you configure an inappropriate type of
> >keyboard and then reboot, all your password attempts will be
> >mistranslated and fail; you might be able to construct a
> >translation table by using the username field as a testbed,
> >then again you might not.
> >
> >> Getting entered in the sudoers file seems to require
> >> having a root password already.
> >
> >Obviously it does if you try to do it later, otherwise any
> >old user could just put themselves into the file. But if
> >you don't set a password during installation, the sudoers
> >entry is added for you, by the installer at that time.
>
> That has always been my beef with linux. It is optimized for the
> multi-user environment. Getting it to behave itself in a single-user
> environment is a pain. Specifically: don't protect me from myself,
> and realize that I am the administrator. It is true that I might
> horribly mess things up, in which case, I agree to reinstall linux and
> learn something.
Hmm. I think the other thread (on Toshiba video) might answer both the
complaint in this paragraph, and also your password problem.
>From the other thread:
"And often online advice is at least 5 years old, usually more.
Time enough in the world of debian for things change, change back,
invert and circle for a landing. I am adventurous to simply try
things. Eventually, usually, something works."
"Actually it was from a ubuntu support site 7 years ago, and knowing
that ubuntu is derived from debian, it was worth a shot."
IOW your methodology seems to be "just try things, hit or miss".
Cheers,
David.
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