[SOLVED] Boot Login and Password?

[Odhinnsson]

I have SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 installed on my HP mini and have recently run into a debilitating problem. A week ago, I had to manually shut down my computer because it had locked up. After a week of non-use (the semester is over), I turned it back on and got the black boot-screen. After the boot syntax had finished running, the following appears:

"Welcome to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 SP1 (i586) -- Kernel 2.6.16.54-0.2.5--default (tty1)"

Below this is a prompt:

"(none) login:"

I have no idea what my login is. I've tried several combinations of words I use pretty much universally on my computers, but to no avail. Also, after I put in the login ID, it asks for a password, of which I also have no idea. I get a message every time that says "Login incorrect."

Is there any way to bypass this or reset my login and password? I've shut off and restarted by computer several times and have gone through the boot menu several times with no luck.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me with this.

Odhinnsson

[D-cat]

Try this:
Linux Forums - howto-recover-root-user-password

FTR again: I protest the use of "recover" in the above post, it should actually be "reset."
Good luck!

[Odhinnsson]

Hello D-Cat,

Thanks for responding! Prior to posting my initial post, I tried the instructions on the thread you gave. After having no luck with it, I tried logging in with "root" and using my standard password with success, to my surprise. However, after entering the password, I get a command prompt that says when I last logged in. Directly below that appears the following command prompt:

(none):~ #

What should I enter here? I've looked on this forum and others, and haven't seen anything pertaining to this issue. I've never seen anything like this before, but then again I am vastly ignorant when it comes to computer programming.

Odhinnsson

[gogalthorp]

This is the command prompt. I'm guessing you want to start the GUI so try

int 5

report any error you see if the GUI does not startup.

[D-cat]

This is the "root user" command prompt. From here, you have complete control over your computer, though this is a text interface.

I suggest you type yast , which should bring up the SuSE AIO setup tool, text mode version. Navigate to Users and Security -> Users and Groups. From here you can modify your user name and password to something you can easier remember.

Or

If all you need is to change your user's password, type

passwd username

And, as root user, it should simply ask you for the new password for username.

After the change, type reboot to restart the computer.
edit: or a GT just suggested, init 5 should bring up the graphical log in.

[Odhinnsson]

Good news! I changed my username and password through yast and can now login successfully. However, after I enter my password, I get the following prompt:

[username]@(none):~>

I've tried entering "init 5" and reboot, but I get "bash: init:command not found" each time. Any recommendations?

[gogalthorp]

Both of those commands require you to be root. They do not work for common users.

You can temporarily become root by typing
su
then the root password (note the password does not echo to the screen!)

then try

init 5

For some reason you are booting to the command window rather than the GUI.

[D-cat]

I'm guessing it has to do with the /boot/grub/menu.lst

It probably is set to init 3 instead of init 5 (or is not set at all)

Try executing startx and see if the GUI starts. If it does, it's an init thing. If not, it might be something else. If it doesn't start, please post back any errors.

[Odhinnsson]

The GUI started after I executed startx (thank you, D-Cat). After my desktop loaded, I got a warning message, stating:

Power Manager
This program cannot start until you start the dbus system
This is usually started by your operating system by default, and is normally called messagebus
It is strongly recommended you reboot your computer after starting messagebus

I tried to locate messagebus and dbus with the search application, but nothing turned up. Where do I find or how I can I start messagebus/dbus?

Thank you for all your help!
Odhinnsson

[D-cat]

This is just further confirmation that you are not starting in init 5.

These are system services that are normally started at boot, it sounds like you are being started in a failsafe mode. Without the dbus daemon running, certain automatic device functions will not work. We should investigate.

Please post the output of the following:

sudo cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

Also, are you running Gnome or KDE as default? It'll help with the next command.