Can't login anymore

[donde]

Been using latest Mint Debian for months. No problem. All of a sudden, I can't login at username. I know my username and password are correct, but today it won't work. I think I might have created a root password using passwd the other day, but not sure. I tried the alternate boot and login, but same problem. I tried going in as root, but same trouble.I have the liveCD. What should try next. I don't want to loose and data, like bookmarks and Thunderbird mail. Please help
I'm typing this on a laptop with Mint Debian, not the box in trouble.
Thanks

[CtrlAltDel]

I would recommend downloading the Rescatux program and burning it's .iso file to a disc, booting with it, and changing your password in this manner.

http://www.supergrubdisk.org/category/download/rescatuxdownloads/

[Watch video to have an idea of how to change password with Rescatux]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovrg0n0ZAso

[Oscar799]

Moved here by moderator

[widget]

I don't like using 3rd party applications to do things you can do with native tools. This is, of coarse, up to the user.

With the live CD you could chroot in and using "passwd" reset your password.

The point about "maybe setting a root password" worries me.

You really should know if you did that.

You would have had to run, as root;

Code: Select all

passwd root


This would have then asked for the new password (twice) and set it.

This should not in any way have effected your ability to log in as <user name>.

You really do need to reset the "user" password though, as root;

Code: Select all

passwd <user name>


which will do the same as discribed above but for your user name.

I really wish they would drop the Ubuntu security model sudo policy and use the Debian dual pass word at installation. The current sudo policy, I think, will cause this type of problem occasionally as it is a perversion of basic Linux (Unix really) file permissions system for a multi user system which, of coarse, Linux is whether you are the only user or not.

That is really my only real problem with LMDE. Other wise I think it is a great distro that does a great job of providing a stable OS based on Debian Testing. Basically what Ubuntu was meant to be.