Totally oblivious to LInux

[rikku2122]

Hey you guys, I'm new to thie forum as well as linux.
I got a free computer from my aunt and uncle, and unfortunately it runs an OS i have no idea how to do. I'm a veteran and avid WIndows user. Anyways, that's beside the point.
I do understand that LInux (I run Debian Squeeze amd34) does not run .exe programs, but I do have wine, and I've been trying to access it, but apparently there is a root password that I do not have access too. I have been playing around, looking for answers to how to change the root password and i did the instructions, got to my GRUB screen changed the last part of the linux kernel to init=/bin/bash and i tried to mount and change the password by doing passwd, it gave me an error that read Authentication token manipulation error password unchanged.

I cannot install anything on here without putting this root password in, this computer is totally worthless to me til i can atleast get flash i386 (i think that's what it was) running. Can someone please help me, and please tell me in a way i actually will understand?

[yancek]

Are you able to boot Debian? But cannot access the wine program? There would be no reason to need a root password to use wine as it usually installs to a users /home directory.

What exactly happened that makes you think you need a root password to run wine? Wine is usually in a hidden folder in your /home directory. If you open the file manager and go to your /home/user directory, you should be able to click on the View tab and click Show Hidden Files and see .wine. If you don't see the directory, then it's not installed and you should go to the Debian repositories and install it. I'm not a Debian user myself so I don't know if it part of a default installation.


Answer the questions above to get some help.

[rikku2122]

THe wine part of the password is asking for a synaptic password. I tried to install flash, and it asked for a password. SO I don't know what to do

[rikku2122]

I just realized it's not the root password, it's the administration password....My uncle gave my mom administration rights, and that's the one I'm using, but every time I try to install something, it's asking for the password. I put in the same password I logged in with, and it isn't working

[jayd512]

Hello there!

First, just a few comments to help clear up a little confusion.
You're talking about Wine and Flash installation, as well as the root password. These are 3 different issues that can be tackled individually, because they are totally separate from each other.

root password. If you need to reset it, there are several methods for doing so. The easiest would be to ask your uncle or your mom. Failing that, take a look at this thread: HowTo: Recover (reset) Root Password
Several methods are given.

Once that is done, you'll be able to install Flash. And it has no connection to Wine. Once you have the root password, just open a terminal (similar to a Windows command prompt), and type the following command:

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

and you should be in business.

Now, for Wine. It's basically an emulator for Windows programs. I use it to run Diablo 2, others use it for WoW or PhotoShop. See here: WineHQ - Run Windows applications on Linux, BSD, Solaris and Mac OS X


Hope that helps.

[rikku2122]

mwilt@debian:~$ sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree
[sudo] password for mwilt: 
mwilt is not in the sudoers file.  This incident will be reported.
mwilt@debian:~$

That's what i get when i try to do anything consisting of the sudo command

But I realized mostly all these problems are wrapped up with the administration password, I put them one i logged into in, and it says wrong password. I was told before it's the same password i logged into the user with, and it's not working

[jayd512]

I forgot that Debian doesn't use sudo by default.
If you think you might have the actual root password, do this instead:

su -
<enter the root password>
apt-get install flashplayer-nonfree

[cynwulf]

You should be able to boot in single user mode (in the grub boot menu, I think it's called "recovery mode") to a root shell and just do

passwd

If it's not in the grub menu you may want to follow this guide which I found:

How-To: Recover root password under linux with single user mode | Debian/Ubuntu Tips & Tricks