On 12/14/23, Charles Curley <charlescur...@charlescurley.com> wrote: > On Thu, 14 Dec 2023 17:01:19 -0500 > David Sawyer <drsaw...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> This may seem to be a simple problem. I set up Debian with a password >> that I wrote down to be sure. > > Password for what? Your user account? A root password? Disk encryption? > > (This is why, when setting up passwords, I will type them in [both > times, if necessary] in clear test when possible.) > > If the former, did you type your user account name incorrectly?
Is this via GUI interface or via a console/terminal? Does the system show dots or asterisks that make it so much easier to tell how many characters were typed in? I abhor having to type into the console. Apparently I "slur" my keystrokes while the system has a pretty fast keystroke repeat going. I thought I poked the key quick two days ago.. and saw six of the same letter staring back. SIX of them in a split second. Regressing to beginner keyboarding by using ONE FINGER to hen peck passwords in is the only way I can ever successfully log in with consoles. Why it's not nearly as bad for the GUI, I don't know. I use slick-greeter there. I've always a-sumed it's about what stage of the operating system is loaded at the time of keyboard use. The "passwd" command exists out there, but I'm pretty sure that root already needs its password set first. It seems like someone here on Debian-User went through giving root a password afterward, but I don't remember any details. Am saying that because it feels like that might be part of the situation in this thread. DISCLAIMER: I don't know how safe the following is so warnings from others are welcome. A creative search about resetting root's unknown password found this: https://phoenixnap.com/kb/how-to-change-root-password-linux It's down where it says, "Resetting a Root Password in Ubuntu." That's 2018 so it's possible something has changed to make it harder to do that. It talks about going into recovery mode, dropping out to shell, remounting as read/write. It's pretty hefty. Reminds me of a long time ago where I said something about how easy access can be if the wrong person simply picks up our computer hardware and takes the whole thing home with them........... Back on track, I just tested passwd on a random extra user. I gave my user, snowball, the same password as before. The command was processed without it complaining that a password was reused. I got the feeling that was a nice extra tidbit to know in this instance. For others, new passwords can be forced as needed. Just need to track down the tips on how to set that up. Cindy :) -- Talking Rock, Pickens County, Georgia, USA * runs with birdseed *